Pixies Place Forums - View Single Post

I am sorry I missed this when it was first posted.
Wines are a special passion of mine as it was such a huge part of my entrance into adulthood.
I began drinking a glass with dinner from age 12 years (my Mama was born in France, grew up in Quebec where she met my Papa, so they had a VERY different attitude towards wine than most Americans)
I learned that I loved wine, and I began learning all I could.
I was so into the romance and passion of wine that when I was 14 I wanted to be a sommelier. I was crushed when I was told that as a female I would never be allowed to become a sommelier in NOLA. Things have changed of course, but by now I have forgotten a lot of the intricacies of wine lore.
All the best advice has already been given, especialy the part about going to tastings. There is no better way to learn. It is important that you go to a tasting oriented towards newcomers to wine, otherwise you end up spending a lot of time feeling awkward and left out. Wine folk people can be VERY mean and snobbish. Local restaurants often sponsor tastings for beginers.

Basic wine- taste runs from sweet to dry (i.e non sweet) There is a HUGE range here. Dry wines (my favorite) might be more an aquired taste for you, but can taste wonderful with certain foods.
The really sweet wines are called dessert wines, and can be served with sweet desserts. (Not all dessert wines go well with desserts. The low alcohol wines don't taste that good with dessrts. It is complicated, just give it time)
Sweeter wines are easier to drink alone, without meals. Eiswein or Icewine is a good example. Eisweins are made from frozen grapes and are very refreshing, wonderful just to sit and drink on a hot day.
Dry wines go better with foods and sometimes called table wines for that reason.
Sour or tart is NOT the opposite of dry, but means how acid the wine tastes. Bitter means how much tannin is in the wine.
Right after opening, a lot of wines taste better if a little of the alcohols (there are more than one kind in wine) evaporates as the wine oxidizes. This is called "letting it breath". Also some people will take a sip of wine and then suck air into their mouths to help the taste. It looks and sounds very funny, but the difference in taste is noticable.
There are lots and lots of other terms, non of which are important right now, like body, legs, big, earth, complex, fat, dumb, and so on and so on.
Just go to a tasting and try lots of wine.
By the way, the crackers are to be eaten between sips of different wines so your tongue taste the new wine without "left over" taste from the previous.

Go have fun.

(Wanda talks too much and is being boring)

WW