Wine Journal

I frequently hear people say that wine is fun but also challenging. Understanding all of the different varietals, countries, producers, good years vs. bad years, cork or no cork, to decant or not to decant, can certainly be a lot of decisions. (By the way, it is a task that I will attempt to make easier with this journal.) But, you certainly can learn what to order by using three simple steps.

The first step is to take some time to experiment whenever possible. Try new wines whenever you get a chance. Sometimes at a restaurant, do not order a bottle of wine but try a variety of their wines by the glass, especially ones that you have never tasted before. At you favorite wine retailer, ask for advice. Tell them your price range, but ask for recommendations on what they consider to be “hot” wines. Go to wine tastings at restaurants or at local charity events. Or better yet, start your own wine tasting club that meets monthly.

Ok, you have taken the first step and you are experimenting. Now, lets continue to learn by keeping your own personal wine journal. If you can, write down what you like. If you can, write down what you like; write down as much information as you can on the wine you like, but definitely the producer, the variety and the year. At this point, it is not important to know why you liked the wine, just that you did.

Now with this list in hand, you can proceed to step three: use the resources that are available to you. Take the list that you have developed and search for professional reviews on those wines. There are lots of good sites that offer these reviews from winespectator.com, erobertparker.com, vino.com, etc. Just do a search for wine reviews and try some out. The key is to find reviews on the wines that you like and look for consistencies in the reviews. For example, I discovered years ago that all of the Chardonnays that I like have very little oak. Now, you can begin to see the characteristics of the wines you like.

Now you are loaded with information that can lead you to order well in any situation, as long as you use your resources. In a restaurant or a wine retailer, you look for the wines on your list first of all. But even if they are not there, you can ask for a specific recommendation.

So remember the three easy steps: experiment, remember what you like, and use your resources. A little research will insure that you always order well.