Say you enter a wine store. You walk around the shelves reading labels, mouthing the names of the grapes and the wine estates that produced them. Someone approaches you offering help and you blurt out, “Oh, I know what I want.” You quickly grab a bottle but you have no idea why you did that.

That uneasy – even defiant – feeling is called “onephobia,” the fear of wine. But that’s all right. We were not raised in a wine drinking environment or culture. We only discovered wine in our adult years because it adds a lovely flavor to meals and because of the health benefits. What scares you is not the wine per se; it’s the embarrassment of not knowing anything about the wine and, worse, overpaying for a wine that turns out to be inferior. 

TIP: What info should you look for in a wine label?

- Vintage or age of the wine. Most of the wines sold in stores are young and are meant to be consumed right away so buy this for a start. When you’ve grown familiar with the young wines, you can then progress to the older wines but do it at your own pace.

 - Alcohol content. Alcohol levels of 15 percent are said to leave the wine unbalanced although some classic wines do have high alcohol content. For beginners, keep it at 14 percent or below for obvious reasons.

 - Logo. Usually the drawing of the chateau or wine estate is printed on the label; if you see cute animals, you’re most likely buying cheap wine. Some of these wines are very well priced and value for money, but is not always the case.

 -Estate-Bottled. This means the one who made the wine also grew the wine on their own plot of land. This is a good sign. In French the term used is mise en bouteille au chateau or au domaine. Wine growers stake their family reputation on the wine they produce and the label says so.

TIP: Gain confidence in your own taste even if you end up choosing something that may not be a popular label. Each time you go out, try a different wine and keep a notebook of which you like, which ones you don’t like and why. Someone said, “There’s no right or wrong here. You are free to hate any wine! Soon you’ll see a pattern of what types you enjoy, and those are the ones you should try different brands of and learn more about.” In choosing wine, you literally “suit yourself.”

TIP: The most expensive wine may not be the finest and the best for you, because we all have different taste buds. Choose wines that you find agreeable to your taste, and that fall within your budget range, whatever budget that might be. Don’t allow any second or third party to choose for you unless you ask.

TIP: Start simple. Best of all, eat something with the wine like some finger food or with a plated dish. Your wine must complement your food.

Source: philstar.com