Anxiety and resentment pair poorly with a glass of wine. While wine service can feel fussy or pretentious (something you might safely ignore in the privacy of your own home), there is a practical rationale underlying the rules. Understand the reasons behind the ritual and you can focus solely on maximizing your enjoyment.

Wine is a remarkable liquid, the miraculous result of the conversion of sugar into alcohol by yeast. Its principal components include water, alcohol, acid, sugar, phenolic compounds (which give wine its color and structure), and volatile organic compounds (responsible for flavor and aroma). Temperature directly influences a wine’s profile by affecting both the volatility of aroma compounds and how intensely we perceive structural elements like acidity, tannin, and alcohol. The limitations of our senses determine the optimum temperature range for tasting wine, from approximately 45 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

When you take a sip of wine, you immediately begin receiving information about its temperature, acidity (that slight, mouthwatering feeling on the sides of your tongue), tannin (the drying, mouth puckering feeling), and alcohol level. (The weight of the wine in the mouth is mostly due to alcohol; lighter bodied wines generally have less and fuller-bodied wines more.) Wines higher in acidity but lower in tannin show best at cooler temperatures while wines lower in acidity but higher in tannin show best at warmer temperatures. Racy, acid-driven wines will taste flabby or flat if served too warm; tannic wines served too cold will taste bitter and astringent. The volatility of ethanol is suppressed at cooler temperatures but rises exponentially at higher temperatures, overwhelming the palate in a rush of heat.

Flavor and aroma are determined by hundreds of organic compounds of different chemical classes, each of which exhibits varying degrees of volatility. Those of high volatility are readily apparent at lower temperatures while those of medium to low volatility require higher temperature to express themselves. The compounds that produce the floral and fruity notes that give white wines their character are highly volatile. Since most of these wines are also high in acidity, they are best served chilled. Those that produce notes such as leather, smoke, or black pepper are most often found in red wines high in tannin, which are best served somewhat warmer. Those flavors and aromas that come from barrel aging fall in the mid-range for volatility. An oaky Chardonnay will show best if served a little warmer than one that is unoaked. Unoaked reds may be better slightly chilled. While cooler temperatures will dull your perception of sugar, sweeter wines are usually served cold in order to emphasize the acidity and balance out the sweetness. An older, vintage dessert wine may be served slightly warmer to accentuate its richness and complexity of flavor. Skin contact whites, or orange wines, with a higher proportion of phenolic compounds, may be served slightly warmer than their unmacerated counterparts.

In practice, most people store their white wines in their refrigerator and their red wines in a rack on the kitchen counter. The default temperature setting on most refrigerators is 38 degrees and the average room temperature 72 degrees. This means that most white wines are served too cold and most reds too warm. The usual solution suggested is the 20/20 rule. Twenty minutes prior to serving, remove your white wines from the fridge or put your reds in. More important than any rule, however, is the knowledge that changes in temperature will alter your experience of the wine. If a white tastes dull or closed, give it a few minutes to warm up in the glass and see if it opens up. If a red wine tastes flabby or hot, don’t hesitate to chill it.

WINE OF THE WEEK

2024 Lukas Hammelmann Zeiskam Aus den Dörfern Chardonnay

Tart. Taut. Tactile. The epitome of restraint. Less is so much more.

Note: Serve at precisely 10 degrees Centigrade. Or not.

The thrill of discovering a rare grape variety for the first time is surpassed only by the exhilaration of encountering a familiar grape variety in an unexpected location. Germany is not known for its Chardonnay, at least not yet. Historically, the climate was too cool for the grapes to ripen properly, but global warming is changing that. The planting of new vineyards has accelerated in the past decade, particularly in the regions of Pfalz, Rheinhessen, and Baden. The emerging style is explicitly though not slavishly Burgundian.

WINE REFERENCE OF THE WEEK

Bonné, Jon. The New Wine Rules: A Genuinely Helpful Guide to Everything You Need to Know. Ten Speed Press, 2017.

I wrote that there is no user’s guide, no owner’s manual when it comes to wine. I lied. This is it. You don’t have to read it cover to cover, but at some point you will likely have read every chapter more than once. It is, as it says on the cover, “genuinely helpful.” Inside is everything useful you would ever want to know about enjoying wine. And don’t skip the Introduction, where Jon encourages us all to “…drink with joy — and never let go of your curiosity.” Very much in the spirit of Wine in Common. I’ll drink to that.

Jon Bonné has been writing about wine and food for over twenty years. He was the Wine Editor and Chief Wine Critic at the San Francisco Chronicle for nearly a decade and has written for many other publications too numerous to list here. In addition to The New Wine Rules, he authored The New California Wine and, most recently, The New French Wine, a remarkably comprehensive work in two volumes.

On December 13, 1818, Thomas Jefferson penned a letter to the French ambassador to the United States. He made clear his opposition to the high tariffs imposed on imported French wine. High prices made wine a luxury affordable only by the very wealthy, while the common man turned to hard liquor to satisfy his thirst. In early 19th century America, whiskey and rum were consumed at every hour of the day and in such quantity that visiting Europeans were shocked by the degree of drunkenness among the citizenry of the new republic. Jefferson’s commitment to lower tariffs reflected both his ideal of an agrarian society and his personal desire to lower his own wine bill. He spent so much money on imported French wines that he died deeply in debt. The contents of his wine cellar, along with his entire estate, were sold off at the time of his death to help repay his creditors.

Two centuries later, the most sought after French wines are still a luxury only the rich can afford. A single bottle of Grand Cru Burgundy or First Growth Bordeaux can sell for thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. Unlike our colonial forbears, however, we have access to much cheaper wines. A 750 ml bottle of Yellowtail Chardonnay can be yours for the price of a Starbucks latte.

Faced with a bewildering selection of wines that make comparison difficult and success uncertain, we all resort to shortcuts when purchasing a bottle. We might be seduced by a pretty label or recognize with relief a familiar appellation or producer. Mostly though, we rely on price to guide our choice. Should we though? Can we trust ourselves to make sound judgments based on price alone? To what extent does price reflect quality? Does quality always increase along with price?

For the consumer, buying wine on price alone is an absolute minefield. Retailers are aware that the $10 and $20 price points command consumer attention and will adjust their costs in order to hit that $9.99 or $19.99 target. They may advertise a much more expensive wine alongside a cheaper one, which we then perceive as a better value by comparison. Behavioral scientists call this “anchoring bias”. Three price points may be presented with the intention of upselling the low-price buyer to the next tier. This is what’s known as the “Goldilocks effect”. It is in our nature to want to avoid spending too much or too little so most will choose the medium-priced wine. The current prevailing market trend is what the industry calls “premiumization”, meaning consumers are spending less money overall on wine, but increasing the amount spent per bottle. In response, producers are focusing more heavily on the $15 to $25 price point. Some of these wines offer good value but many are wines of lower quality “dressed up” with fancier packaging.

The formula for making a profit selling wines at less than $10 per bottle is low cost, low margin, and massive volume. Low-priced wine is produced on an industrial scale. Barefoot Wines, owned by E&J Gallo and one of the top wine brands in the world, sells over 250 million bottles each year. Vineyards are mechanically harvested with yields of ten or more tons per acre. Oak flavor is achieved by adding wood chips or staves. Lightweight bottles and screwcaps or synthetic corks are chosen over more expensive options.

Producers who offer wines at higher price points can afford to spend more on production. Grapes are hand harvested, sometimes from a single vineyard. Yields are much more strictly limited, often as little as two tons per acre. Barrel aging is typical, with new French oak barrels costing $1000 or more. Packaging is often tied closely to brand quality, with heavier glass bottles, natural corks (often sealed with wax), and finer labels.

The key thing for the consumer to understand is that the fixed costs of bringing a bottle of wine to market such as packaging, logistics, applicable taxes, etc. are more or less the same regardless of the per bottle price. This means that the first real jump in quality, where the price begins to reflect more of the value of the wine itself, is between $15 and $20. As a general rule, this optimum price to quality ratio continues up to the $50 price point. Beyond that, you pay a price premium that reflects a number of other factors over and above quality per se such as limited production, a prestigious producer, appellation, or single vineyard, or a 100 point score from a revered wine critic.

I have been drinking wine for more than forty years. In that time I have had the good fortune to taste a number of rare and expensive wines. Yet I typically spend no more than $15 to $25 for a bottle I will drink during the week, and $30 to $40 for a bottle to enjoy on the weekend. That $15 to $30 “sweet spot” is where I tend to find the most value. The pleasure one gets from tasting a once in a lifetime wine is easily matched by the undiluted joy of discovering a wine you would happily buy more of for less than $30.

WINE OF THE WEEK

2022 Vignaioli Boniperti, Carlin Colline Novaresi Nebbiolo

100% Nebbiolo (known locally as Spanna) from northern Piedmont in the shadow of the Italian Alps. From family vineyards abandoned after World War II and reclaimed/replanted in 2003. This region of Alto Piemonte is producing some of the best values in Italian Nebbiolo today. Forget the prestigious crus of Barolo and Barbaresco to the south, this is where you go if you want a bottle to drink tonight that won’t break the bank.

Perfumed. Polished. Beguiling. Classic. Pour yourself a glass and you’re suddenly transported to a little osteria in Novara, eating risotto and sipping the local wine. Less expensive than airfare to Italy, and you can lean your seat all the way back if you want to.

WINE REFERENCE OF THE WEEK

Sohm, Aldo, and Christine Muhlke. Wine Simple: A Totally Approachable Guide from a World-Class Sommelier. Clarkson Potter, 2019.

This is a totally approachable guide from a world class sommelier. I know because it says so right on the cover. Aldo Sohm, is a, well, somm. He is originally from Austria but since the early 2000’s has been firmly established in the NYC food and wine scene. Wine Simple is a beginner’s guide in the traditional mode but is anything but traditional. The text and graphic design are an unexpected delight and beautifully reflect the wry humor that imbues every page. It is seriously unserious, full of useful information that most readers won’t fully appreciate immediately. And it is painfully and admirably earnest in wanting to help you enjoy wine more.

The section in Chapter 1 on “Key Winemaking Regions” also includes frequent asides on where to find the best values in wine. And be sure to read “Aldo’s Wine Rules” on page 19. The last two, “Wine’s number one job is to bring us together” and “In the end, there are no rules when it comes to wine”, qualify Aldo as an honorary member in good standing of Wine in Common.

The human brain faces cognitive overload when confronted with a large number of undifferentiated items from which to choose. Our anxiety abates, and we breathe a mental sigh of relief, when we reduce the demoralizingly complex problem of wine selection to a simple binary choice between “red” and “white”.

Narrowing your options at the outset by deciding “let’s drink red tonight” or “a chilled bottle of white sounds great” allows you to focus your attention on perhaps two or three wines only. Research shows that you will be more satisfied with a choice deliberately made than a wine picked at random due to decision fatigue.

There is risk in relying too heavily on visual cues. Our brain prioritizes optical information over that provided by our other senses. It devotes more resources to it, and processes it much faster. Color can become a proxy for flavor, shaping our expectations of a wine before we have even tasted it. In a now famous 2001 study, a group of enology students at the University of Bordeaux were presented with two glasses of wine, one white and one red. The “red” wine was actually the same white wine dyed with a neutral food coloring. Tasters overwhelmingly described the doctored white wine with notes that we typically associate with red – “tannic”, “spicy”, “berry”. Their eyes told them they were drinking red wine, and so they relied on memory to fill in the appropriate taste descriptors.

Winemakers are all too aware of this tendency. They know, for example, that we associate depth of color with ripe, concentrated, high quality wines. A purple so dark it appears to capture the light signals full-bodied, robust flavor while a pale red is assumed to be “thin” and “weak”. Large industrial producers in California use additives such as “Mega Purple”, a commercial product made from Rubired grapes, to heighten the color of their low to moderately priced red wines. Our brains are fooled into thinking that we are drinking something much more expensive.

One final cautionary note. It is all too easy for “let’s drink red tonight” to default to “I only drink red” or worse still “I’m a red wine drinker”. The choice of a moment hardens into a fixed, unwavering preference and ultimately becomes your entire identity.

“Red” and “white” can be a useful shorthand but a great deal of detail and nuance is lost. “Red” also includes rosé wines. “White” includes macerated, or orange wines. Both include wines made in a dry or sweet style, still or sparkling. And within each type are light bodied and full bodied wines and everything in between. There is such an incredible diversity of wines to explore that I urge you to taste broadly and fearlessly. And don’t forget to take a moment to admire the color.

A young white, bright yellow, the color of a daisy’s eye…she loves me, she loves me not. A mature red, tawny orange, the fading memory of a glorious summer remembered now only by a few. A rosé, dusky pink, a brooding twilight hue, a lullaby singing the westering sun to sleep.

Wine in our glass, we rush it to our lips, eager to taste. Pause for a moment, please, and lift it to the light. Color can reveal much about a wine, but for the moment, let it keep its secrets. Let us admire it only, thrilling in the interplay of light and shadow, a kaleidoscope of color.

WINE OF THE WEEK

2023 Maxime Magnon Métisse Corbières Rosé

What is rosé and what is red? Where is the line drawn? Does it matter?

From the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains north of the border with Spain. A blend of 60% Grenache, 20% Cinsault, 20% Carignan. 80 year old vines. Direct pressed.

A quiet, bookish wine with nothing to prove. Reserved. Cerebral. Enjoy it in companionable silence.

WINE REFERENCE OF THE WEEK

de La Rivière, Florence, and Bénédicte Bortoli. The Look of Wine: Reading Wine Color. Photographs by Jérôme Bryon, Abrams, 2025.

Published in French as L’Oeil du vin: Lire les couleurs du vin. A remarkable marriage of science and art, this is a serious reference work masquerading as a coffee table book. Visually stunning. Illuminating.

We all love drinking wine, but most of us hate buying wine. Why is selecting a bottle from a retail store shelf or a restaurant wine list so fraught with trepidation? Choosing your next bottle should be a joyful pleasure not an onerous chore.

Your experience of a wine begins when you buy it, not when you pop the cork, fill your glass, and take your first sip. What you perceive as flavor is only partially due to the sensory information available to you at that moment. Your brain also relies upon the setting and context, your prior knowledge of the wine if any, and the level of excitement and anticipation you may be feeling. The way we feel about a wine can actually alter our brain chemistry as we consume it and change how we experience it for good or ill.

It’s not just about what’s in the glass. What’s in our head matters, too.

You’re in a wine shop. You stand in front of a veritable wall of wine, bottles lined up side by side, row after row on shelves from floor to ceiling. You’re in a fine dining establishment. The sommelier drops a wine list as thick as the Oxford English dictionary on your table with a resounding thud. You’re in the grocery store, stopping to pick up dinner on your way home from work. After the day you’ve had there is no way you’re not going to be drinking wine tonight, but you’re in a hurry so you grab the first bottle you see and toss it in the cart.

Behavioral scientists have studied human decision making extensively, seeking to understand why and how we make the choices that we do. It turns out humans are predisposed – hardwired by evolution – to think in certain ways, particularly when faced with a lack of information and a shortage of time.

The decision making processes inherited from our Paleolithic ancestors take two different forms. Type 1 processing operates automatically, rapidly, and with little to no conscious effort. It relies heavily on “gut feelings” and immediate context to make rapid sense of the world. Type 2 allocates attention to mental operations, logic, complex calculations, and self-control. It is slow, deliberate, and requires a lot of metabolic energy. For the sake of efficiency, Type 1 is our default mode, always on. Type 2 is on standby in case higher order thinking and analysis are required for problem solving. The two processing types work in tandem to maximize survival and minimize energy consumption. Unfortunately, what was adaptive and essential to survival for our forebears in the Pleistocene is less so today. Early humans never had to shop for wine.

The modern marketplace actively defeats both our systems for making decisions under less than ideal conditions. In an average wine shop, shelf talkers displaying critics’ point scores or staff recommendations clamor for your attention. Hoping for more information, you scrutinize the labels front and back, inundated by unpronounceable place names, unfamiliar grape varieties, and technical information you have no reference for. Overwhelmed by too many options and fearful of making a mistake, you grab a bottle that looks vaguely familiar, hoping you haven’t paid too much or too little. You take it home, resigned to disappointment.

Why do we settle time and time again for a bottle that fails to delight us? It turns out that humans by nature place greater value on avoiding loss than realizing potential gain. In other words, we would rather purchase an acceptably mediocre wine than risk our hard earned money on a more expensive bottle that we ultimately don’t like.

We don’t have to remain at the mercy of our biology. We can “hack” our own brains by consciously shifting from mitigating risk to anticipating reward, comprehensively altering our experience of wine. Rediscover joy in your glass by shopping with intention, establishing a strong emotional connection between purchase and consumption. Wine genuinely tastes better if you take pleasure in buying it.

Cultivate a curiosity about wine. The virtue of this is that it doesn’t matter how much you know, only that you are open to learning something new. Every great wine has a story – the unique history of a particular place or culture, an ancient grape variety saved from extinction, a maverick winemaker breaking all the rules. Your connection to that story, your investment of attention, your engagement with the wine is what will elevate your experience to something truly transcendent.

Finally, don’t fear making a mistake. It is ok to buy the “wrong” bottle or try something new that you may not like. We learn more from the wines that challenge our preconceptions than those that reinforce them.

WINE OF THE WEEK

2024 Eulogio Pomares Pedraneira Rías Baixas Val do Salnés Albariño

Two different wine buyers from two different shops recommended this wine to me on the same day. I didn’t recognize the name of the producer. It was only later that I discovered Eulogio Pomares is the winemaker for Bodegas Zárate, one of my three favorite Albariño producers (in case you are wondering the other two are Bodegas Albamar and Do Ferreiro). This is his side project, which gives him the opportunity to explore experimental vinification methods, rare plots, and forgotten Galician grape varieties. (Insider’s tip: If you hear about a famous vintner’s “side project” it’s a good bet the wines are worth seeking out.)

The grapes come from a single vineyard in the coolest of the five subzones of the appellation, with some vines a literal stone’s throw from the ocean. This is the historic home of Albariño, and the wines from here are considered a benchmark for the varietal.

Pull the cork and you can practically hear the cries of gulls and the sounds of waves lapping on the shore. Saline. Intensely mineral. Electric. Full of coiled intensity.

Vintage note: The 2025 vintage has been released so you may run across either vintage or both if you are exceedingly lucky. The 2024 was cooler, more classic. The 2025 warmer and riper for those who prefer a bit more generous fruit. If you find either vintage in magnum, buy it, and open it for your family and friends at Thanksgiving.

WINE REFERENCE OF THE WEEK

Goode, Jamie. I Taste Red: The Science of Tasting Wine. University of California Press, 2016.

Jamie Goode is a veteran British wine writer and unequivocally the best translator of the science behind winemaking and wine tasting for the less scientifically literate masses. He renders what can sometimes be technically opaque, accessible and fun. See especially Chapter 3 Wine and the Brain.

This is a system created by and for the people who sell wine. The retail store clerk. The sommelier. It reflects how they are trained. The course materials for all professional certifications are standardized in this way. It also reflects how the wine industry is structured. Importers and distributors are mostly small businesses built on personal relationships, language fluency, and a deep knowledge of the regions and producers they represent. As a result, they often build their portfolios on the wines from a single country. This classification scheme is so entrenched that few wine professionals think to question it.

There is no malice here, no conspiracy to thwart the desires of hopeful wine drinkers, no plan to complicate wine in order to protect the jobs of store clerks and sommeliers. But this blinkered approach ultimately works to the detriment of consumers.

Lumping every wine from a given country under one national banner encourages the mistaken impression that they are all very much alike, or at least more like each other than wines from elsewhere. The risk is that you might reject all wines with a common origin on the basis of a single negative experience. A single positive experience should lead you to seek out other similar wines. But would you be more likely to find a match from a different region a thousand kilometers distant or from a nearby vineyard inconveniently situated on the wrong side of a national border?

In the northeast of Italy one finds the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Within lies the province of Gorizia and the appellation Collio Goriziano. Its twin, Goriška Brda, is just across the border in Slovenia. The two even share a name. In English, both translate to “the hills of Gorizia”. This is a land blessed by Nature and a benevolent God, ideally suited to the production of world class white wine. The towering peaks of the Julian Alps rise to the north, holding back the coldest of the northern winds. Warm sea breezes blow in from the Adriatic to the south, helping to create the diurnal temperature variation so essential to preserving acidity and aromatic complexity in the grapes. The vineyards are planted on steep, terraced hillsides with sun-drenched southern exposures. The bedrock that lies underneath is Eocene flysch, a stratified mix of clay marl and sandstone formed by an ancient seabed some fifty million years ago. The soil is rich in minerals with good water retention, imparting an intense salinity and complex minerality.

The wines from Gorizia have been prized for centuries. Livia Augusta, wife of the Roman Emperor Augustus, lived to the extraordinary age of eight-six, attributing her longevity to drinking the wines from this region exclusively. A feudal land lease and tithe agreement dated 1336 allowed for the payment of rents in the form of barrels of wine in lieu of gold or silver coinage. A major land registry and tax reform initiative instituted by the Hapsburg Empress Maria Theresa resulted in the publication in 1786 of the Wine Classification of the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca. The region’s vineyards were ranked by market price and the perceived quality of their wines into nine categories or crus. This classification system predated similar efforts in Bordeaux and Burgundy by nearly a century.

The line that currently divides what was for many centuries one region was established in 1947, imposed on Italy by the victorious allies following the end of World War II. Gorizia was partitioned, with the new border literally bisecting some established vineyards. In practical terms today, however, that border no longer exists. Slovenia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, and joined the European Union in 2004. Both grapes and vineyard owners can move freely across the border once again, and the region is producing some of its best wines ever. Unfortunately the political boundary that once divided families and vineyards is functionally preserved by a system of wine sales and distribution that treats nation-states as the sole framework for exploring wine.

Humanity and wine have a shared history dating back thousands of years. Nation-states and national borders are a relatively recent phenomenon. As you seek out that next great bottle, I encourage you to consider those factors that often transcend national borders – geographical features, soil geology, climatic influences, and common grape varieties. If you enjoyed a Friulano from Collio, try a Jakot from Brda. It’s a good start.

WINE(S) OF THE WEEK

2021 Azienda Agricola Gradis’Ciutta Collio Friulano

2022 Blažič Goriška Brda Jakot

The Blažič is brash. Wild. Unrestrained. The Gradis’Ciutta is its calmer counterpart. Composed. Congenial. Possessed of a quiet generosity.

Sauvignonasse. Sauvignon Vert. Zeleni Sauvignon. Tocai Fruilano. Tokaj. Friulano. Jokat. This grape is known by many names. That last one is an inside joke. In 2005 the EU awarded Hungary the sole use of the name Tokaji for its admittedly famous sweet wine. Some winemakers in the region still haven’t gotten over it. “Jokat” is Tokaj spelled backwards.

Friulano is possessed of a lively acidity and rarely sees oak. Cooler sites and certain clonal variations may produce more pronounced aromatics.

WINE REFERENCE OF THE WEEK

Johnson, Hugh, and Jancis Robinson. The World Atlas of Wine. 8th ed., Mitchell Beazley, 2019

Yes. OK. After that tirade above it may seem odd for me to recommend a wine atlas. Credit where credit is due however. Within the pages for “Friuli” there is a lovely map of Friuli and western Slovenia which includes both Collio and Brda. Besides, maps are cool. And not entirely useless. This is an essential reference book for your personal wine library. Hugh and Jancis are legends. They have both forgotten more than most people know about wine. Be sure NOT to run right out and buy the 8th edition; the 9th edition will be released in early October in the US and you only want to pay for this once.

Please allow me to repeat that. It’s not for you, and it was never intended to be.

It is the approved method for blind tasting that is part of the training for wine industry professionals. Candidates for certification by the Court of Master Sommeliers or the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), for example, are required to correctly identify four to six wines (depending on the course and level) and to do so under strict time constraints.

Most consumers are unaware of this; most professionals never question it.

Presented without context, the ritual of swirling and sniffing, of identifying aromas of “pencil lead” or flavors of “raspberries” serves only to perpetuate the perception of wine tasting as elitist, pretentious, and inaccessible to the general public. Worse still, it leaves consumers feeling intimidated and fearful of “getting it wrong,” leading many to either give up on wine entirely or to tragically limit themselves to a few safely familiar bottles.

The modern movement to establish professional standards for members of the wine trade began in London in the 1950s and 1960s. By that time, the city had been at the center of the global wine trade for centuries. For brokers, blind tasting was a necessary skill, essential for detecting fraudulent or adulterated wines. Ultimately, the long-established practice of blind tasting was incorporated into the training and certification of wine industry professionals. Today, the process is less about detecting fraud (although this is still very much a problem) than establishing objective criteria to judge the character and quality of wine. Following a rigorous, step by step analysis, candidates build a logical chain of evidence to deduce the grape variety, country and region of origin, the vintage year, and the quality level.

By the 2000s the increasing popularity of wine in the US led many consumers to pursue wine education for themselves. Professionals answered the demand for introductory books and courses by teaching the same techniques they had learned. The influence of the movie SOMM (released in 2012) and its sequels led many to enroll in the same courses previously open only to members of the wine trade. In 2020, the COVID lockdown supercharged this trend as the desire for and availability of online courses swelled.

It is clear in hindsight how a curriculum created for wine professionals became the default standard for consumers as well. Unfortunately, while there may be some who fantasize about quitting their job and pursuing a career as a sommelier, most wine lovers have more modest goals. They simply want to learn enough to enable them to find wines they like.

For our purposes then, wine tasting can be reduced to: Step 1. Pour wine from bottle into glass; Step 2. Pour wine from glass into mouth; Step 3. Enjoy. Why interpose between steps one and two what feels like an overly elaborate and entirely unnecessary ritual? It comes across less like an established method for tasting wine and more like a prank or a fraternity hazing. As a result, there have been many attempts to “demystify” or “simplify” wine education, followed by the inevitable backlash decrying the “dumbing down” of something irreducibly complex.

I am not suggesting either of those things. What I am proposing is the replacement of an overly rigid and ill-suited catechism by a more flexible and open-ended approach, one designed to meet every wine drinker where they are.

I would like to invite all of you to discover the simple pleasures of wine in common with others. My intention is not to enforce a rigid code but to preserve wonder, foster joy, and help you build the confidence you need to explore the amazing world of wine without fear.

WINE OF THE WEEK

Domaine Sérol Turbullent Vin de France Pétillant Rosé

There are some wines that defy categorization. There is nothing about the style or the grape or the producer or the region of origin that defines the wine or allows you to compare it to other similar wines. Your first taste of the wine is like the firm, sure handclasp of an old friend. Familiar. Heartwarming. Full of unspoken emotion.

The pétillant rosé from Domaine Sérol is one such wine. From the Côtes Roannaise in the upper, upper Loire, far enough upriver that the limestone of the Paris Basin gives way to the granite of the Massif Central. It is home to Gamay Saint-Romain, a local clone of the Gamay grape peculiar to the region. The local appellation doesn’t extend to the production of sparkling wine, so it is bottled as a simple Vin de France. Most of the thirty independent producers that call this tiny region home make a little bit of sparkling wine, typically in the pét-nat or méthode ancestrale style. The name Turbullent is a play on words; the French word for bubbles is bulles.

WINE REFERENCE OF THE WEEK

Theise, Terry. Reading between the Wines. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.

From wine importer and singular champion of German and Austrian wines Terry Theise. A philosopher of wine of sorts (he prefers wine guru). One of the most thoughtful and introspective wine writers around. He has spent more time than most exploring the aesthetic side of wine, a counterpoint to the dominant analytical paradigm. Anything profound or insightful I might say after twenty years in the business of wine has already been said by Terry in the pages of this book. Very much worth your time to read through it. And then do so again. And again.

I rejoice in the vast array of options available to today’s wine consumer. Yet I despair, knowing that many aspiring wine enthusiasts will never experience them. I frequently hear comments like “oh, I never drink [insert wine style, region of origin, or grape variety here]” or “the wine I usually drink isn’t very good but at least it’s not expensive” or “I don’t really know that much about wine, so when I find something I like I just stick with that.”

We all deserve better.

In a perfect world, every wine you drink should elicit an “oh, wow!” moment of transcendent joy. If not it should at least teach you something about your preferences so that your next selection brings you ever closer to this ideal.

My personal goal is to open as many bottles of wine as I can with as many people as I can until all the barriers that stand between us and savoring wine to its fullest have fallen. My intention is to foster a community of drinkers dedicated to the unfettered enjoyment of wine. Wine tasting is not a spectator sport, and no one should drink alone.

If this resonates with you, I invite you to grab a glass and discover your next favorite bottle along with me.

Accept no limits. Discover your passion. Taste fearlessly.

Each week I will share my reflections on the world of wine, some notes on the wine that made the strongest impression on me most recently, and for you autodidacts out there a reference to a favorite website or wine book or expert whose opinion I value. Join me won’t you? We’re just getting started.

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