For the vast majority of us, buying wine can be intimidating. We wonder what will go with pulled pork, trout almandine, jalapeño cheese nachos or beef tenderloin. How do I find out what I like? Do I have to spend a lot of money to get a great wine? Are wines with screw tops not as good? And what do those enigmatic labels actually tell us?
Step-by-Step Guide to Wine Basics
illustrations by Claire Johnson
1. Server doesn't always know best When dining out, don't rely entirely on your server. With a few basic pointers, you can rely on your own knowledge without having to get your sommelier certification. Wine buyer and manager at Magnolia Cheese Company, Zachary Campbell, said this is important because your server will most likely tell you what he or she likes, which may be different from what you like. Campbell said when we find out what we like and why we like it, we can have a whole new experience with wine that's a lot more fun.
"If it tastes good to you, then it's perfectly fine. If you like red wine with fish, then that's perfectly OK," he said.
2. Find out what you like This can take time, but Central Market wine and beer manager J.R. Clark has a plan, which is to taste often. The folks at Central Market are willing to pop any bottle you would like to try. And Clark might even have a few bottles already open to help you compare flavors. They also provide wine tasting courses offering six wines every Monday night to the tune of $10.
But if you don't want to attend these classes, you can make your very own class with your friends.
Clark recommends a wine tasting party with six of your friends. Clark said it's better to pick a grape, also known as a varietal, and then pick six wines made from that grape. Take it a step further and pick three old world wines and three new world wines.
"When picking out a station wagon, you drive various station wagons. You don't drive a convertible or a Jeep," Clark said. "When you taste a group of wines [from the same varietal] it is easier to see its flaws and see what you like."
Next assign each friend a chardonnay or tempranillo from different parts of the world and have them research the wine. These don't have to be any more than $20 a bottle. Experimenting is part of the fun, and besides, you won't know until you try it.
3. Understanding the label Believe it or not, it isn't Pig Latin. A label is like a wine's nametag and is very different depending on where it is from. It's important to know if it's old world or new world when referring to wine. If a wine was produced in the old world, you won't see the type of grape on the label- tempranillo, pinot noir or cabernet sauvignon. Rather, you would see the region or village.
Let's look at this more closely. A tempranillo grape is a wine that thrives in harsh and hot climates and does well in Spain's Rioja region. That grape does really well in Texas" hot and fickle climate for that reason. So when you pick up a wine at the store and it says Rioja, you will know it is Spanish wine made with the full-bodied tempranillo grape. If you pick it up at Becker Vineyards in Fredericksburg, Texas, it will say…? You guessed it-tempranillo and Becker Vineyards.
And here's the formula to determine if it's old world or new world. If it is a country that had kings and explorers, it's old world. If it is a country that was colonized and imprisoned by a king, it's new world. Western Europe is mostly old world, and places like South Africa, United States, South America and Australia are new world.
Then take a look at the alcohol per volume. The higher the alcohol content, the drier the wine, which also means it isn't going to be a sweet wine because the sugar has been fermented out of it. Most old world wines are drier.
4. How to pair wine with food There are two rules a beginner should remember when pairing wine with a meal. Wine should complement your meal but not overpower it, and you don't have to drink white wine with your sea bass or roasted chicken. If you do want to drink a red with your fish, make sure it is a light red wine like pinot noir or a dry rosé.
"Drink what you like, but don't kill your meal," Clark said.
What goes with boeuf bourguignon? A red burgundy wine. Eating a fish from the Pacific Northwest? Get a pinot noir from the Pacific Northwest. Sounds pretty simple to me, but what if I want to drink wine with my jalapeño and cheese nachos? Pick a wine that can cut through the grease and compete with the spice. So this novice thinks a malbec would pair nicely because it is a robust, acidic and opulent wine. What the heck does opulent mean? Full of flavor.
Clark agrees. If you are cooking a white flaky fish from the Pacific and are craving a red wine, then pick a delicate pinot noir. A cabernet or malbec would overpower the delicate fish. Those reds would compete better with a steak, something spicy or heavily seasoned.
And if I'm just having my friends over for a glass of wine on my back porch sans dinner, Ray Raney with King's Liqueur said to pick up a pinot noir in the $15-$20 price range because it "is a very soft grape and not acidic [while also being] food friendly" in case we get the munchies.
While a lot of wine experts are breaking the old world rules these days, there's one old rule the experts I consulted all agree with-think regionally. "Whenever you're eating food, think about where it comes from and then get a wine from that region. If you're having Italian food, then have an Italian wine," Campbell said. If that's unclear, which it can be in the United States, then think about how mild or how spicy your food is. Does your roasted chicken have cayenne pepper all over it? Maybe a red would complement it better.
5. Bust those myths Clark answered some fun questions I've let sit on my palate for too long. He said a big myth is that expensive wine is good, and cheap wine is bad. However, if it is under $10, there is a chance it was mass-produced and is filled with chemicals that cause what my friends call "wine headaches."
Also, what's with the screw top wines? To say they are a lesser wine is a sad myth. Clark said they actually protect wine from getting corked, which is a term for when a disease in the cork from a cork tree ruins the wine, making it smell like "wet cardboard." This is why the waiter at a restaurant always asks you to taste it first to ensure he or she is not serving you a bottle of corked wine, he said.
Screw tops aren't necessarily cheaper than using corks. Clark said using a screw top can be an expensive endeavor. Some wine producers don't use them because of the myth, he said. They make the wine look cheaper. For more than a thousand years, wine drinkers have developed a love affair with the corks. They make that sound, pop. The server may hand it to you to smell and keep. You may even collect corks from nice bottles you've consumed from special occasions.
So if this hasn't convinced you that this can be a fun hobby, then there are classes for novices like me to explore and learn more. Raney has taught wine appreciation courses at TCU's continuing education school for 12 years, but they sell out fast. His wine trips to the West Coast wine country sold out in eight minutes, Raney said.
To read about Times Ten Cellars is a full-fledged grape-to-glass operation CLICK HERE.
To see some cool wind gadgets and gizmos CLICK HERE.
To see what a panel of local wine aficionados think CLICK HERE.
