Basics of wine tasting – important things to know before visiting wineries.

We live in California – a paradise for wine enthusiasts. When you look at the state map I bet you can find a wine growing region within an hour or so drive from where you are in the Golden State. The closest winery to my house is just about 20 minutes’ away. Wine is an inseparable part of California history, culture and traditions. So in a lot of my posts you will see a recommendation of a winery to visit.

It is all well in good but what to do if you feel intimidated by wines? No worries, I am here to help! If you are not properly acquainted yet with the wonderful world of wines, then start thinking about wine the way you think about ice-cream. Imagine that all your life you were eating just vanilla and chocolate variety and nothing else. But the world of ice-cream flavors is so big: from fruits and berries to nuts to exotic flavors and all the bright combinations thereof in between. Citrus-y Riesling, peach-y Moscato, spicy-sweet Gewürztraminer, caramel-filled Port and many others are waiting to be discovered by you.

Some people say wineries and kids do not mix but I would disagree. During our trips we only visit kids-friendly places (and there are a lot of them), each has something exciting to offer for the young ones in your family and we never felt unwelcome or uncomfortable.

Some people feel awkward going to wineries because they think that they don’t understand the jargon, cannot express what they feel or define wine tasting notes and some are intimidated by the winery hosts. I was the same way when I moved from the Midwest to California and this is why I decided to write this post about basics of wine tasting – to help you overcome your reservations and have fun with wines.

Here are my tips for beginners:

1. Don’t feel intimidated at wine tastings. The winery staff is there to please you in all ways possible because if you like their wine you are going to buy a bottle or two or even better – signup for their wine club.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask the staff any questions you have, speak up if you don’t like a certain wine and spit it out.
3. Be adventurous: try new types of wines that you have not tried before and winemaker blends. Also try lesser known wineries. If you have not seen a certain winemaker name in a local supermarket, it does not mean their wine is not good. Quite on the contrary – many boutique wineries produce great wine and you may get more attention there as a customer than at big brand name wineries. If you are not sure which wineries to visit buy a good wineries guide. I have in my library Citizen’s Guide to California Wine Country: Napa and Sonoma (Wineopolis). It covers Sonoma and Napa wine regions which I found to be indispensable.
4. Ask the staff at the winery if they have complimentary crackers or any other small bites to clean the palate between the wines. Also feel free to bring your own small bites that accompany wine well such as cheese and crackers.
5. Don’t cram too many tastings in one day. Wine tour companies may have up to 5 wineries in their itinerary but I suggest not more than 3. That’s why I always like to devise my own wine tasting itineraries so that we can leisurely enjoy them. Check out my easy California family-friendly wine tasting itineraries and family-friendly wineries for ideas:

Kid Friendly Wineries in Sonoma – Sonoma County one day family road trip itinerary 

Napa Valley 1 day family road trip itinerary in the footsteps of the movie “Bottle Shock”

“Sideways” family road trip itinerary (featuring Paso Robles and Santa Barbara County wine regions)

Santa Cruz Mountains wine region 1 day family road trip itinerary

6. Be prepared. Read a wine tasting guide for beginners before your wine tasting adventures – see my book suggestions below. These two books helped me immensely.

To learn the basics of wine tasting and wine varieties is actually quite easy if you have the right materials at hand. In fact, for starters you only 1 book: Wine: A Tasting Course. This book starts from level “zero” assuming you do not know anything about wine. It talks about types of wine, wine regions, wine tasting notes and suggests easy wine tasting exercises. It is written in a simple, straightforward language without any fancy jargon, it is super easy to read and understand. It will be your basic workbook, your everyday guide, your knowledgeable companion. The information provided in this book is more than enough to go out and start exploring.

If you want to go one step further beyond the basics of wine tasting, I suggest this book: Oldman’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine: 108 Ingenious Shortcuts to Navigate the World of Wine with Confidence and Style. It is written not as a text book (as the former one) but as a collection of stories about different types of wines, advice on wine selection, wine and food pairing, etc. Once you have read this book you will earn a reputation of a wine connoisseur among your friends and will be able to casually drop in interesting facts about wine in conversations around the table.

However, the best way to learn about wine is by hands-on experience and I promise to give you guidance on all the best wineries per each wine region – so go get your glass ready – CHEERS!!!

I have also created a detailed wine tasting card with wine tasting notes to take with you for tastings (wineries don’t usually provide any). It is available on my SHOP page. I have designed this handy card so that it is easy to use for beginners. You will receive a PDF file which you may re-use as many times as you like.

If you found this post useful, please do me a little favor and share it with others, for there’s a good chance that it will help them with their travel plans. 🙂