4 Wine Tips For Novice Tasters

After living in San Francisco for 10+ years, I’ve spent my fair share of time at wine tastings up the road in the Napa and Sonoma vineyards and wineries (and Santa Cruz and Monterey…). I’m also a bit of a wine and spirits nerd, and have done a copious amount of research for my cocktail blog Geeks with Drinks, including the occasional wine and cocktail classes.

So imagine my excitement when we booked Master Sommelier and all-around wine and spirit guru Richard Betts to teach a wine tasting class at CreativeLive. Richard has an easy and very approachable theory about wine and he’s created a system to help people discover what types of wine they like through tasting.

Chiefly, he believes that wine should be for everyone. Which doesn't mean that there isn't something to be learned. Here's what I took away from the class:

Wine tip 1: Buy wine from the source

The wine business is complicated, and a lot of the money you spend on wine goes to other places (distributors, restaurants, etc) -- so if you can, purchase your wine directly from the vineyard either in person or via their wine club. Usually, you’ll get a better price and be more educated about what you're getting.

Wine tip 2: Barrels matter

I’ve gone to enough wine tastings to see “aged in French oak” or “aged in new American oak” listed, but never really understood the difference. Apparently, American Oak can lend a lot of flavor, including a strong dill taste to the wine. Don’t like dill? Stick to wine aged in French Oak.

Wine tip 3: Sommeliers are your friends

Just like it’s important to have an auto mechanic that you trust, it’s good to find a friendly wine seller/sommelier to help guide you. This can be at a wine shop, bar, restaurant, or the corner liquor store. Once you find someone you like, talk to them -- ask them questions, tell them what you like to drink, what you’re cooking/eating for pairing suggestions, etc. It seems like a no-brainer, but I think we all get a little intimidated when asking for help with wine selections. Don’t be scared, just ask.

Wine tip 4: Online sommeliers exist

There are a lot of groups for wine pros and consumers online, but I learned that the Guild of Sommeliers produces content that they make available to the public, including a monthly wine podcast, high-quality videos, and featured articles.

Now it's time to track down a bottle of my new favorite wine (which I also discovered in Richard’s course), the Produttori del Barbaresco, a delicious Italian wine.