Wine Basics…Learn About Wine
Wine has been around for thousands of years, and for a newcomer wine can seem very intimidating. Really, many people in the world drink wine simply as a healthy, enjoyable daily drink. Many people make wine in their own back yards out of the available fruits and berries found there. Wine should not be intimidating or pretentious. It should be something you enjoy for your own personal taste preferences.
The best way to learn about wine is to dive in and start tasting some! Learn for yourself which wines best suit your particular palate.
Tips for Getting Into Wine
Many people who were not raised in a wine drinking family decide they want to start drinking wine in their adult years, both because it adds a lovely flavor to meals and because of the health benefits. How do you get started with healthy wine drinking?
First off, it would be impossible for me (or any other 3rd party) to tell you what type of wine YOU are likely to enjoy, flavor wise. We all have different taste buds! Maybe you have a sweet tooth and would love the light, White Zinfandel variety. Maybe you are a tea drinker and would enjoy a red with a bit of tannin in it. Maybe you’re a coffee-with-cream drinker and would love a smooth, buttery Chardonnay.
Your best bet here is to order random wines in restaurants, by the glass. Most restaurants serve very “middle of the road” wines that appeal to the widest range of palates. Each time you go out, try a different wine and keep a notebook of which you like, which you don’t like and why. There’s no right or wrong here. You are free to hate any wine! But soon you’ll see a pattern of what types YOU enjoy, and those are the ones to then try different brands of and learn more about.
Next, people sometimes think that some wines are better for health reasons than other wines. They even go so far as to ask which brands of wine are healthiest! The big point is that both red AND white wine give benefits – and that the benefit is that the wine comes from a “red grape” and a “white grape”. Researchers don’t do research based on brands of wine. They do research on “all wine.” The research is then duplicated in other labs using entirely different sets of wine. So really all that matters is you are drinking WINE – and it doesn’t matter if it’s a bargain $3.99 bottle or an expensive $99.99 bottle.
Most wine drinkers drink a glass of wine with dinner each night, so you should drink a wine you enjoy! You don’t want this to be a “chore” you have to do. So choose wines that you like the taste of that fall within your budget range, whatever budget that might be.
We will be adding “Wine Tips” on a continual basis. Keep checking back with us for more...
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