The best educator in connecting me to wines I love has been myself, simply by trusting my own palate. That is what I advise folks who enjoy wine to do -- trust your own likes and dislikes.
To discover what wines please you, get out and try a variety of wines. Free wine tastings make an excellent resource. They accommodate a journey to loving and understanding wines, per your own agenda.
Here is a mini-guide to approaching free wine tastings.
Find free wine tastings.
Most wine shops offer them weekly. Bigger wine stores offer them sporadically.
If you like a wine establishment, sign up for its wine tasting and event announcements. And if you happen to stumble upon a free wine tasting, take a cup and try the offerings. Each wine is offered as a "pour," and each pour in a tasting is a sip to sample the wine at hand.
The tasting table
Wine tastings are arranged from left to right, starting with light to heavy whites, and then light reds to heavy reds. This to accommodate the tasters' palates in adjusting among the variety of wines.
As you approach a tasting table, the pourer likely asks where you want to start among the line-up. I always say, "begin from the beginning," as I am poised to taste and learn. Yet if you prefer to taste only specific offerings, begin your selections from the left.
Sip and enjoy
Take each taste as a slow, savory process. Listen to what the pourer says about the wine and what it brings to the palate. Then taste for yourself.
Do not feel obligated, yet feel free, if so impelled, to share your reactions to the tastes. It could promote a fine exchange with the pourer and fellow tasters.
The bucket
Most tasting tables have a bucket to discard unwanted wine. Therefore, if you meet a pour you need not taste more, you may tip out the rest - gently - into this bucket before going to the next taste.
I say tip gently, to avoid splash-ups from other discarded wine -- some that was spit from other tasters. With that in mind, should you choose to spit your unwanted wine, spit gently.
A little etiquette: By no means, after a wine tasting, are you obligated to purchase. Yet the tasting is a courtesy offered by the establishment to help you find wines that suit you.
If none of the wines offered hit the target, perhaps they come close enough to describe what you would prefer. For example, "I liked the 'such-and-such' red, yet prefer something lighter," or "I liked the such-and-such white, yet it was out of my price range. Do you have something comparable?"
They likely will love your questions. You are reaching out to their expertise, and helping them assist you best in a selection.
When you are finished with a tasting -- that results in a purchase or not -- thank the pourer(s) and bid adieu to your fellow tasters.
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Jacquee Thomas, known as Jacquee T., is the former columnist for "Letter from Chicago," providing perspectives and vignettes about Chicago life. She is the proprietress of "Detour Productions" publishing and entertainment company that features her writings and videos.
Jacquee T. lives life romantically. Wine is a part of romance, she avers. She considers herself an "aficionada" instead of a connoisseur. She is passionate about wine, and always learning about it, a perpetual and avid student.
For more information, visit her web site http://ARomanticsPerspective.com, and select "The Wine Corner."
To read a short essay about her dream "Wine Villa," visit http://jacquee-t.com and select "Wine."
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