Wine Basics For Beginners
When it comes to wine basics for beginners, one of the best resources can be found in the sommelier world.
A sommelier is a wine enthusiast who, at top restaurants, earned educational credentials as a specialist in wine.
Like most people who want to learn about wine, sommeliers start out learning the basics.
If you want to increase your wine knowledge, start with wine basics.
You will also want to begin wine tasting sessions and record your tasting notes in a book.
Wine Basics For Beginners
**Click Here for Wine Resources**
We can easily divide the world of wine into a few easy-to master-categories.
Let’s start with red wine and white wine.
In this brief introduction to wine basics, let us familiarize ourselves with just three of the most popular international grape varieties for red wines.
And three of the most popular grape varieties for white wines.
Wine Basics For Beginners : International Red Wine Varieties
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir are grown around the world. You can find these three core red wine varieties in an assortment of unique styles, different quality levels, and varying price points.
For international red wine varieties, you will want to taste them a focus on their structure and tannins.
We can think of tannins as the tea-like astringent feeling you experience when the wine goes from your mouth to your throat.
Many people feel that Pinot Noir, for example, has silky tannins.In contrast, some people think that Cabernet Sauvignon has tannins more similar to velvet.
Wine Basics For Beginners : International White Wine Varieties
Some of the most popular white wine varieties are Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Grigio.
White wines are often characterized by their aroma. Sauvignon Blanc remains the classic example of a white wine with a very intense aromatic profile.
Additionally, white wines are often judged on their acididty. Acidity can be described as the refreshing sensation you feel when you take a sip of wine from a variety such as Pinot Grigio. It’s almost like an enlivening squeeze of tart lemon as it refreshes the mouth.
Wine Basics For Beginners : Sparkling Wines
Virtually every country in the world makes sparkling wines. You will find several ways to add the “sparkle” to wine. They employ some methods to keep fruity aromas in a wine, like Prosecco.
Other methods are time-intensive, such as the “traditional method” used in Champagne. In this method the fruity flavors are deliberately repressed. Instead the winemaking process encourages the wine to take on yeasty, brioche (baked bread) flavors via long aging on the spent yeast cells called lees.
Wine Basics for Beginners: A Sommelier Speaks
Aldo Sohm remains one of the most well-known wine tasting professionals in the world.
In 2007 he won the Best Sommelier in America competition. In 2018, he won the Best Sommelier in the World competition.
Normally, Aldo Sohm can be found working the floor as wine director / sommelier of the 3 star Michelin restaurant Le Bernardin in New York City.
Aldo Sohm also looks after the Aldo Sohm Wine Bar just a few steps away from the Le Bernardin restaurant.
The Aldo Sohm Wine Bar was partly created for wine enthusiasts who enjoy finding “undiscovered gems.” These gems are less expensive than most of the wines at Le Bernardin.The Aldo Sohm Wine Bar also offers wine from a wide variety of wine regions around the world.
Wine Basics For Beginners
For well over a decade, Mr. Sohm has developed a reputation for helping customers learn about wine.
This includes the mostly wealthy, business-oriented crowd who visit Le Bernardin. As well as the“wine geeks” who flock to the Aldo Sohm wine bar.
Wine Basics for Beginners : Aldo Sohm Wine Bar
Many guests at the Aldo Sohm wine bar are wine enthusiasts who want to learn more about wine.
Many are also in wine certification programs like the Court of Master Sommeliers and the Wine and Spirits Educational Trust.
During our interview about wine basics for beginners,, Mr. Sohm revealed he became interested in wine at a very young age.
He worked in a variety of restaurants in his native Austria, first as a server.
It was in this position that he observed people ordering wine and became fascinated by the subject.
He begins to order books (this was in the days before Kindle) and study wine. Then he moved to New York and got a sommelier job at the Austrian restaurant, Wallsé.
Eventually, his desire to learn more about the winemaking process would see him develop a partnership with Austria’s Gerhard Kracher.
Aldo Sohm has been working at Le Bernardin for over 15 years. He remains a very welcome face for the restaurant’s many wine-loving regular customers.
In speaking about Mr. Sohm, guests often mention that in ordering a bottle of wine, they receive a mini-education about the region and the style.
Wine Basics : The New Internet World of Wine
Mr. Sohm remembers the difficulty of studying wine in Austria. The key challenge was the difficulty of ordering foreign wine books in the pre-Internet days.
Today, he says, it is much easier for wine lovers to learn about wine. And towards this end, he felt compelled to write a book.
Wine Basics for Beginners : Education Made Easy
“Much of the book is based on the questions people ask me at the restaurant and wine bar,” Mr. Sohm says.
“This includes subjects like the origin of different wines, how I go about pairing wine with a dish, and the best value alternatives to very rare and expensive wines.”
Wine Basics for Beginners : Wine Simple
The book, Wine Simple: A Totally Approachable Guide from a World Class Sommelier, is available now
Mr. Sohm explains his reasons for writing a wine book, while there are already so many books to choose from.
Wine Basics for Beginners : Simple Language
“Most wine books are written by professional writers,” he explains. “The language can intimidate to someone who’s just learning about wine. The aim of the book is to make the wine simple for everyone to understand.”
Wine Simple, with its colorful infographics, has received very positive reviews and is a great tool for the new wine lover.
**Curious about Willamette Pinot Noir** Read the article via #Forbes
Please SHARE this article visit the social media links and subscribe to my newsletter here
If you like this article you will like:
— Dominus Estate
— Chappellet Family Winery
— Hess Collection
— Frog’s Leap
Curious to Learn More About Wine? Start Here
Want to Grab Quick Wine Resources? Click Here
About Author Marisa D’Vari
D’Vari contributes to Forbes.com, Financial Times, World of Fine Wine, Quarterly Review of Wine, Decanter Robb Report, San Francisco Chronicle, South China Morning Post, and more.
She holds the (WSET) diploma, Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers, a Certified Wine Educator through the Society of Wine Educators … to see it all, please click on bio
