How do you become a better wine connoisseur? With practice and a lot of curiosity.
For wine fans, there is nothing more exciting than an intensive tasting of several crus. Each new wine can trigger a great experience and inspire the taster, but it can also surprise or even disappoint. But in any case, you learn something, and if you take the necessary time and really concentrate, you sharpen your sense of taste and expand your wealth of knowledge: with every tasting, you gain a little more experience.
Practice makes perfect
If you study wine intensively in all its forms, over time you will become a lover, then a connoisseur and finally even an expert. It’s like any hobby: the more you immerse yourself in the subject, the better you understand it, and when your interest turns into passion, you are definitely infected by the virus.
But what is the best way to acquire a basic knowledge of wine and then gradually discover and categorise more and more hidden nuances? Basically, there is only one answer: practice makes perfect. You have to dive deep into the subject matter – you can taste as much as you like, but you also have to be prepared to read a lot, including about the grape varieties, the geological conditions, the technical and oenological parameters. Because a wine is not simply the fermented juice of grapes, but the result of very many natural and technical processes.
Alone or among connoisseurs
The pleasant thing about wine tasting is that it is great fun. But tasting wine is also an art that requires time and patience to perfect. In any case, it is important to taste as many different wines as possible: Grape varieties, vintages, appellations, regions. You can do this at home, of course, but more exciting and informative are wine tastings with friends or in clubs.
Discovering wines with several enthusiasts is a good opportunity to taste very different wines that you didn’t know before, to expand your radius of knowledge. You may be interested in one or another region in particular and prefer different grape varieties, but to improve your wine knowledge and skills, it is essential to try as many different wines as possible. In doing so, you also learn from experienced wine connoisseurs, and sometimes such intense conversations develop that you are sure to learn something new. The opinions of others can also help you discover new aromas or flavours that you have not noticed before.
Taste as many different crus as possible with other wine lovers, with friends or even with family members, who don’t have to be experts. In principle, everyone has their own taste, and everyone tastes and judges a wine a little differently. There is no such thing as a wrong opinion, there are just people who do not have such a distinctive vocabulary as someone who deals with wine day in, day out. But one is always amazed at wine descriptions that are so simple and accurate that one simply has to take one’s hat off to so much judgement and natural talent.
Of aromas and flavours
Also make notes about the wines you taste. This way you can document your findings and refer back to them later to improve your knowledge and skills. Taste older wines that are a few years old. Old wines often offer a deep complexity of aromas and flavours not found in young wines. This applies to the taste, but also to the aromas of the wines, which can sometimes change greatly over time.
As already mentioned, one naturally acquires important knowledge by reading reference books, wine magazines, wine guides and other specialised literature. There are also some well-made blogs, but not all of them are serious and well-made. Trust in serious wine journalism, this will save you time and above all you will not be misled by hidden advertising or disinformation. Expert opinions, descriptions of wines and the stories about the regions and the personalities behind the wines are exciting non-fiction.
The more you taste, the better you will be able to tell wines apart, and the more you know, the better you will understand and enjoy wines.
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