I love New Year’s resolutions because I genuinely believe that each year will be the year I (choose as many as apply) lose 10 pounds, become the healthiest I have ever been, save more money, etc. Sadly, these have been my resolutions for the past decade or so. So this year, I’m thinking about finding a resolution that I can actually stick to and enjoy. Sounds enticing doesn’t it?
Well, thanks to Paul Gregutt, an esteemed wine journalist and author, I have an idea for all of us: Resolve to become a better wine taster. Paul recently wrote a great article on the best way to learn about wine–and that is to (spoiler alert) drink it.
Here are his expert tips:
Be A Better Taster with these Tried-and-True Tips
—Seek out regular opportunities to taste unfamiliar wines.
—Taste in flights that are related in some way.
—Train yourself to use your nose first and foremost.
—Focus on identifying principal flavor components: fruit, herb, acid, oak and tannin.
—When tasting wine, aerate it by sucking as if on a straw.
—Let the flavors completely finish before moving to the next wine.
—Make notes whenever possible—it helps focus your attention.
—The more effort you make, the better the results.
My Wine Tribe’ mission is to help all of us become better educated about what we like and don’t like in wine. I can think of no better way for us to advance than to try more wines. So, let’s make that our resolution for the year about to begin. For a change, I might even keep this one. Cheers to that, and to a happy 2016!