My dear Wine enthusiasts,
Here is a question I get quite often when I'm inviting friends to wine bars to try out some wines: out of all the wines out there, how do I know the one I'm going to like?
Or more precisely, when we are sitting at a wine bar: how can I spot in the menu the wine I will enjoy?
The main thing wine beginners are afraid of is paying a large amount of money for a wine that they will not enjoy at the end of the day. Since they don't know the basics of the aromas, they tend to know that a too cheap wine won't have a good taste or smell, but they also don't want to pay too much for a glass.
Here is an easy way to figure out what wine you are going to enjoy: compare it to your coffee taste (I'm talking about your red wine taste here).
We can distinguish 3 types of tastes when it comes to coffee:
1) A person who likes strong black coffee
2) A person who likes his coffee with milk
3) A person who doesn't like coffee
The first person who likes black coffee enjoys the smell and taste of roasted beans, of strong tannins, of flavours which will literally wake you up and blow your mind out.
The grapes equivalent to those hints would be:
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Malbec
The second person who likes coffee with milk enjoys medium tannins, softer tastes, something more smooth, which corresponds to:
- Merlot
- Shiraz
The last person who doesn't like coffee will need low to no tannins, a more juicy taste, so he will try to find:
- Grenache
- Pinot Noir
- Unoaked white wines
Warning: this is only a rule of thumb, not a general rule. I myself hate coffee, and yet Cabernet Sauvignon is one of my favourite grapes.
But at least this will give you a better idea of what you should be looking for!
Here is also a short video where a sommelier explains what you should sense in your wines:
As a bonus, I here add the main flavours that you should sense in the wines made of these main grapes, so you can associate to your preferences as well:
- Cabernet Sauvignon: blackberry, black cherry, black pepper, bell pepper, cedar
- Malbec: blackberry, black cherry, milk chocolate, tobacco
- Merlot: currant, plum, black cherry, oak
- Shiraz: black fruit, black olive, spice, black pepper
- Grenache: red fruit (raspberry, strawberry), white pepper
- Pinot Noir: red berries, mushroom, wet leaves, "game" (pigeon or other hunted animal smell)
Once you have these basics, you can make less errors when ordering wine, and you can then focus on other elements of the tasting (length, depth) which we will discuss later on.
Until then, enjoy your drink!
