So You Want to Know More About Wine

Graduating from Grocery Store to Fine Wine Shop

So you’re finally to the point in life where you need to know more about wine. Maybe new developments have occurred. You start getting invited to fancy work parties, and bringing a good bottle of wine would be an appropriate gift. The chemistry in your body suddenly passes on a cold beer, and for some reason, you feel gravitated towards a bottle of red wine. The under $15 bottle of wine you’ve relied on is no longer cutting it, and you want to improve your wine knowledge. Maybe you didn’t grow up around a wine-drinking culture and don’t have anyone around you to ask. If you’re anything like me, finding the answer in an article is easier than asking questions in a fine wine shop. Well then, my darlings, here is one for you.

Graduating from Grocery Store to Wine Shop

While popular culture doesn’t see the grocery store as a place to buy fine wine, the truth is you can find gems in the grocery store. With more wine knowledge, you can decipher the wine code and pick a good bottle. However, I suggest choosing a good wine shop with knowledgeable staff for this part of the learning stage. The experience is similar to when we go from drugstore makeup to fine cosmetic shops. Yes, the drugstore has some good gems, but sometimes it takes some experience with higher-end cosmetics before we can find the truth in what we want between two shops. Wine shops are like high-end cosmetic retailers like Violet Grey, Dermstore, and Credo. Each has its ethos with various producers that fit the company image. The key is choosing a shop that you feel comfortable shopping with. Choosing a shop solely based on prestige can be an unpleasant experience. There were times at the beginning of my wine journey when I would walk into a well-esteemed wineshop without a clue, and shop somm would shoo me like a Victorian shopkeep chasing out a guttersnipe. Find a shop where you feel welcome to ask questions and be open to their suggestions. Small independent stores can be great for choice selections, and big chain stores are great for deals. Lodi Wine Shop, Corti Brothers, and Betty Wine Bar are a few local wine shops with a diverse range. Just make sure you ask questions; the pros didn’t get fancy certifications just for you to blind-pick bottles. Don’t have a nearby wineshop? Check out a reputable online retailer like Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa that breaks the wine into easily understandable categories and showcases their blog for suggestions.

Find a Varietal and Producer You Trust

You might already be familiar with popular grape varietals like Chardonnay. Better yet, you might even have a wine producer that makes some of your go-to Chardonnays at the store. A trusted grape and producer will help you navigate restaurant wine lists the size of a romance paperback novel. This works because there are only so many ways you can manipulate a grape during the winemaking process, and most of the time, they will hold the key varietal typicities. The names you see in the restaurant will probably differ from those in the store. So feel comfortable asking the restaurant if they have something similar to what you already know. Chances are, with an open mind, they will open your palate with something new to love.

Finding a wine producer you trust is like finding a cosmetic brand you feel comfortable buying the entire product line. If the price is right, the product suits you, the packaging is satisfying, and the founders’ story is something you resonate with, the better you feel investing in their company. Wine producers are the same way; there are larger wine houses with multiple product lines and independently owned brands producing their specific style. Like the filter on a website storefront - if you want pretty bottles, complex earthy reds, and Latin owned - let me introduce to you Anaya Wines, owned by Gerardo Espinosa, producing one of my favorite Tempranillos. There is a producer for every niche if you look hard enough. When you’re ready, branch out to try brands with similar styles to expand your breadth of knowledge. Let the producer know why you appreciate their wines if it's available. In this tough wine market, we can all use the love.

Take Advantage of Tastings

Of course, trying more wines is the best way to improve your wine knowledge. One way you can do this is through tasting rooms with different varietals to try in many different formats. Whether at a winery or in a wineshop, tastings offer multiple wines for relatively affordable costs. Wineries will showcase their product for you to try and see if you enjoy their winemaking style. Wineshops will offer different wineries with niches - Italian wines, natural wines, fine wines, etc. Not only are tastings a fun way to learn more about wines, but they are also fun experiences in general. Whether alone chatting with the tasting room staff or with your family having a picnic when delightfully greeted by the winemaker - tasting rooms offer intimate experiences to have fun and relax.

Writers, Podcasters, and Publications Oh My!

In the Wild West of wine media, prophets, martyrs, and giants are all trying to catch your attention. It can be a lot. My best piece of advice is to assess where you are in your wine knowledge and find something that fits the call. I started with Aldo Sohm’s Wine Simple, the perfect blend of mod-inspired graphics and useful anecdotes I still hold onto. Classical food pairing education calls for What to Drink with What You Eat, written by Andrew Dornenburg et al. with advice from sommeliers who’ve crafted America’s wine pairing palate. For deeper cuts inside the industry, I poured through archives of writers like Randy Caporoso and Eric Asimov to catch up with wine industry history and follow them for their current-day tone-setting pieces. For my audio learners out there, plenty of podcasts for you. My favorites are I’ll Drink to That by Levi Dalton, Wine 101 by Vinepair, and Beats, Vine and Life by MJ Towler. Last but not least, of course, I started learning about wine by watching Andre Mack’s Bon Appetit, a super fun and educational video series on wine.

Never feel silly for not knowing more about wine. Like most things, you look silly when you act like you know everything because even master sommeliers will admit that they don’t. Now, with an open mind and an empty glass, go learn something new. Love, an unapologetic oaky chardonnay girl.