The question may seem absurd to some! You just drink it. Well, yes that the basic idea of course. You find a wine you like and then drink it, but let’s delve a little deeper.

First of all, what makes a good wine, a wine you’ll be more likely to enjoy? It’s very simple: it you like it, it’s good. If you love it, it’s great. Wine is about enjoyment. Scrap notions of imagine or popularity or other nonsense. And although prices of the world’s most famous wines like Chateau Latour and Lafite have skyrocketed out of range of all but the rich, the availability of really good enjoyable wine for under 10 or 20 dollars a bottle has also skyrocketed!

If you try a wine and don’t enjoy it at first, don’t give up yet. It may need some time to breathe, to loosen up since the bottle was open. Many bottles may soften and blossom with a little time in your glass. Also a wine may taste totally different when you have it with food, and yes, often much better.

Keep in mind that occasional bottles of wine may be “off” or bad.” If it tastes bad, the bottle may be bad. Wine doesn’t like hot weather so it may have been literally cooked during shipment or storage or it may have been contaminated by the cork.

When I first open a bottle and pour a glass, I usually first look at it in the glass, then smell it, and have a taste. Good wine looks good, smells good, and taste good. Don’t be surprised if the tastes are unexpected or surprising, only pay attention to whether you enjoy the wine or not. Sometimes it may take a glass or two to be sure, especially with the myriad of wine tastes and aromas that are out there, ranging from earth and dirt to fruit to minerals and everything in between.

It’s simple to find wine you enjoy. Feel free to experiment with different wines as well as drinking them with different foods. There are no rules. Just open a bottle and enjoy.

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