Wine Tasting for Beginners (part two)

So you've been out and about tasting every and any wine you could lay your hands on, despite that January is meant to be a month of relative abstinence after the excesses of the Christmas and New Year period... fair enough! You are, after all, doing it in a quest for knowledge, not just to get pissed, and your friends would admire you for it if only they realised the educational slant to your consumption. In any case now that February has usurped January you must get down to some serious work, and that includes reading I'm afraid!

But seriously... Rome wasn't built in a day and your deep wine knowledge is not going to be either, so slow down and take the methodical approach to this. Rushing around like a whirling dervish is not the best introduction to the subject - as we said before patience is needed - so spend more time reading up, adding to your general and then detailed knowledge of the subject. Read about grape varieties, viticulture, how to make wine, styles of wine, old and new world approaches, producers. Read about France, Italy (and many others) and discover the most famous wine-producing areas in the world, but also the lesser known but equally interesting parts of the wine making countries. Read more than one account about how grapes are harvested and how wine is made in order to dispel the stupid myths that surround this. This is all essential background information that will aid you in understanding the wines you are tasting and slowly, gradually, in noticing their distinct characteristics, then think about them and be able to distinguish and describe.

By all means after the description of every wine you taste (yes, every wine!) do note down whether you liked it or not, but at this stage this is not truly important. You are on a journey through wine taste 'country' and your perceptions will change again and again, being shaped as you find out more about your subject. Be interested and critical, look for basic tastes and then the nuances, search and note everything. And yes, it is frustrating and takes time but is ultimately extremely rewarding; we are talking about a great sensory reward that will enrich your life and add colour, aromas, taste and texture to your days, to your meals, to your relaxation.

If you are a serious taster you will need at some point to think about the type of glass that you use. This is important for a variety of reasons and should have nothing to do with showing off and reinforcing your status - leave that to the politicians and the nouveaux riches. In any case proper wine glasses should be clear - never contain any colour or design - and preferably be made of crystal. The absence of colour on the glass allows us to see and evaluate the colour of the wine properly, crystal being finer interacts better with the texture of the wine and transforms our experience. The little tumblers used in simple restaurants all over southern Europe are for glugging, not tasting, and should generally be avoided; they add nothing - in my opinion they detract - from the tasting and drinking experience and are often part of a misplaced reverse snobbism. Don't worry, however, about specific glasses for specific wines as even expert opinion is divided on that, and you have a long way to go before you can think of yourself as an expert!

Keep on reading, learning, tasting and evaluating - it is after all a life-long pursuit as you can never know too much - and stoke your passion for the stuff. You will have so much to look forward to!