Wine is for enjoyment first, and appreciation second, but it’s also true that learning how to appreciate wine can make your wine experience more enjoyable. The following three factors are considered to be wine tasting essentials.

Appearance: This could be the first sign that a wine is out-of-condition. Dull in appearance, with a hint of brown may imply it being faulty, but you can’t be certain until the next action. It’s worth noting appearance as wines can vary vastly. In reds you may find an intense, deep ruby red Shiraz, or a light garnet Beaujolais. Purple indicates youth and brown colours are indicators of age. With white you could have a light, pale lemony coloured Sauvignon or a deep, golden Chardonnay.

Nose: This part also doesn’t have to be pretentious, and it really is half the experience. The aromatics of wine can be so engaging. Many a time I find myself in heaven, nursing a glass of aromatic red or white without tasting a drop until minutes later. You’ll also detect any signs of cork taint (think wet cardboard) if there is any. Fill your glass about half full, pop your nose in and have a good whiff. You could be getting those wonderful citrus aromas of a German Riesling, or the soft plumminess of a Chilean Merlot that may not be as obvious on the palate.

Palate: And here’s the big test. Sweetness, acidity, tannin, body and length. It’s all there. And from here, you can make conclusions on the balance between sweetness and fruit, acidity and tannin, how long those flavours will linger in your mouth, the intensity or concentration, the complexity, structure and expressiveness. Inexpensive wines may have fewer, simple flavours, whereas a little more investment could provide layers of complexity, including different spectrum’s of fruit, like red, black and even blue fruits in a good red.

There are no set rules. Whatever you get out of an elegant red Burgundy or a zesty New World white can’t be argued with. It’s completely subjective.

Be careful when you’re judging wine. You may have noticed a wine you’ve tried on separate occasions to be fowl one time and sensational the next. If you know your palate isn’t clean, don’t be too harsh. An exaggerated example – don’t eat of packet of extra strong mints before wine tasting. Some will also only come to true form with food. This is particularly true of certain Italian and French wines. For food and wine matching, don’t miss out Mike’s post on the matter, as well as his and Niall Harbison’s Look and Taste series. I think he loves his food and wine more than his mammy.

Without becoming a wine ponce, it’s worth investing in a couple of ISO tasting glasses, an Essential Wine Tasting Guide and, if you want to get a little more serious, a blank notebook for making notes – because if you try new wines regularly, it’s great to look back to compare and contrast. Much to learn, yes, a lot of fun, yes.

It has to be the world’s most recognised red wine. The Dark Knight of the wine world comes from the black Cabernet Sauvignon grape, and interestingly so, it only came to the fore when Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc were crossed in south western France in the 17th century. Ever since, it seems to have touched all corners of the world.

There are a number of reasons why this noble grape variety has become so popular. For a start, it’s easy to pronounce. Along with Chardonnay, it always seems to be one of the first grape varieties that one will mutter when they have that first introduction to wine. Secondly, The Dark Knight is tough. Its thick black skins provide the resistance it needs against elements that other varietals may not withstand, such as certain degrees of rot and frost. It is also traditionally easy to cultivate, hence the reason it’s so widely grown, and it generally seems to maintain fairly consistent flavours and structure.

Typically, Cabernet Sauvignon makes rich, tannic wines, many of which can age well. You can expect flavours of blackcurrant, green pepper, chocolate and spice amongst others. Oak ageing helps to give Cabernet balance and additional complexity, whilst softening some of the tannins and adding oaky flavours, such as smoke, vanilla and coffee.

Bordeaux in France will claim to be the classic home of Cabernet Sauvignon, and indeed, it’s responsible for producing some of the world’s best. They can be tough when young, but with age the tannins soften, with flavours of black fruit and toasty fragrant oak developing into vegetal, tobacco and cedar complexities. Many premium Bordeaux wines are made outside the most prestigious appellations, so keep your eye out for those labelled Bordeaux AC or Bordeaux Superieur AC.

Premium Cabernet can also be sought from Chile, Argentina, South Africa and Australia. As for the USA, you’ll often pay a big premium on these, although it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Thanks to Cabernet’s hardiness, it can be cropped at quite high levels and winemakers still manage to produce inoffensive and often excellent, well-priced bottles. South-west France (Vin de Pays), South Africa, South Eastern Australia and Chile’s Central Valley have some real stars under €10.

Our star under €10 is another recent addition from Santa Alicia, Chilean Winery of the Year, 2007 (IWSC). Another brilliant New World red is Woodstock‘s luscious and age worthy Cabernet Sauvignon form McLaren Vale. If you’re really curious about Bordeaux, the Chateau Reignac still has 15% off the indicated price, and we challenge you to cellar it until 2013. Oh, go on…

Ireland is finally starting to catch on to dessert wines. It was Canadian ice wine that ultimately did it for me, and since, I’ve managed to convert plenty of people, but it must be remembered that these aren’t glugging wines. Often an ideal accompaniment to dessert, or simply on their own, they are to be enjoyed in smaller doses, as you would perhaps a Port or a Sherry.

Yeast converts sugar into alcohol. With standard dry wine, fermentation continues until you can no longer detect the sugar. For good sweet wines, the fermentation is interrupted before all the sugar can be converted into alcohol. Although some may have sweet liquids added, such as unfermented grape juice.

You may notice that an over-ripe banana is much sweeter than a young banana that still has a green ting to the skin. It’s the same with grapes in a vineyard. The winemaker simply leaves the grapes on the vines until they achieve the appropriate sugar levels. The alcohol content will be similar to normal wine, so even though the fermentation is interrupted, there was more sugar to start with, so an alcohol content of, say 13%, can still be reached with residual sugar remaining.

There are three methods used to concentrate the sugar levels, which gives that lovely richness to dessert wine:

Dried Grape Wines: Drying causes the grapes to shrivel, water content to evaporate and concentration to improve. Recioto wines of Italy are good examples.

Noble Rot Wines: When the Botrytis (pronounced Baw-try-tiss) cinerea mould attacks healthy, ripe grapes, it weakens the skin, speeding up the evaporation, causing them to shrivel (as in the above picture), and concentrating sugars and acids, with the mould adding its own unique flavours. Certain conditions are needed for this to happen. The grapes must have a problem-free ripening period to start with. Damp, misty mornings encourage the growth and spread of the Botrytis mould, and warm dry afternoons speed up drying. Certain grape varieties are susceptible to noble rot, including Riesling, Semillon and Chenin Blanc (although we have a Botrytis wine from the Sauvignon Blanc grape).

Frozen Grape Wines: Ice wines are harvested in the winter when the water in the grapes is frozen. They are crushed with the ice crystals being removed, leaving an intensely concentrated sugary grape syrup. The concentrated juice from these healthy grapes results in wines with very pure, pronounced, varietal-fruity flavours, high acidity, full body and syrupy sweetness. The best ice wine I’ve ever tasted was the Decanter Trophy winning Seifried of New Zealand. Unfortunately, due to silly legislation, Irish and UK wine merchants can’t stock New Zealand dessert wine.

Dessert wines tend to be more expensive than most standard wine when considered drop for drop. Labour is more intensive as careful, handpicked selections are required, and more grapes are needed to make the same amount of wine. Most will come in 375 ml bottles, as opposed to the usual 750 ml. But as mentioned, these aren’t glugging wines. They are to be enjoyed is small quantities. A good dessert wine will have the acidity to balance the sugars, so if you come across one that is sickly sweet, you’ve probably got a bad one.

We have managed to source some of the best dessert wines available in Ireland from three different grape varieties. One is also included in our Curious Easter Mix. Naturally, there is no added sugar.

Italy is a country known for making wines to go with food. They rarely sit down to a meal without a bottle being opened. Among its vast range of differing grape varieties and styles, expect to find big acidic reds, which are simply made for food, and crisp, refreshing whites, perfect as aperitifs or with white meat and fish. Like France, the Italian government has introduced categories to class wine. Their version of Vin de Pays (Table Wine) is Vino da Tavola (VDT), many of which come from southern Italy. They are mainly high volume, inexpensive wines that may not list a region or vintage on the label and are often blended.

Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) is the next step up. This is part of the QWPSR (Quality Wine Produced in a Specified Region) as discussed in last weeks ‘Quality Guaranteed‘ post. The highest level is DOCG. The system as a whole aims to recognise traditionally outstanding wines and establishes the geographic origin, grape variety or varieties or be used, minimum alcohol content and aging requirements.

Chianti Classico is a recognised DOCG wine. It must be made primarily from the Sangiovese grape, have a minimum alcohol content of 12% and come from a particular zone in central Tuscany. With a higher alcohol content (12.5%) and a few additional years ageing prior to release, it will be known as Chianti Classico Riserva. However, as mentioned last week, these quality controls guarantee where and how the wine is made, not necessarily how they will taste.

As well as the southern parts of the country, such as Sicily, there are a number of regions in Italy that are of particular note in the wine industry:

Veneto (Northeast) Fantastic for whites, including Pinot Grigio. The whites of Soave and the red blends of Valpolicella are what this region is known for.

Piemonte (Northwest) Keep your eye out for those full-bodied Barolo’s or Barbaresco (both DOCG’s) from the Nebbiolo grape.

Tuscany (Central-western) The home of Chianti. Medium-bodied Sangiovese dominated red, which don’t have to be expensive.

Abruzzo (Central-east) Get on your broots, your sexy broots, oh – OK, you have to see this post, then you’ll know everything you need to know about the red Montepulciano.

It’s a Curious fact that in France, the Italian Trebbiano grape is known as Ugni-Blanc. Another Italian special is from the Malvasia grape. Both make beautiful white wines that you should certainly consider the next time you’re exploring. For a good place to start with the reds, you should try a DOC Montepulciano or a Sangiovese. Perfect with our Spaghetti Bolognese for an all-round authentic Italain dining experience.

"Hmmm, maybe I should have stuck to the rules"

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away someone came up with the bright idea of regulating wine production. A number of wine producing countries use these quality controls today, whether it be nationwide or regional, and by doing so, they attempt to guarantee a standard of quality, which ultimately helps the consumer to have a better idea of what they’re purchasing.

The European Union divides its wines into two quality categories: QWPSRs (Quality Wines Produced in a Specified Region), and Table Wines. For any named region of production, if the name appears on the label then the wine must be made within laws that specify the limits of the area, vinegrowing and winemaking techniques and grape varieties.

Some producers prefer fewer restrictions, so they may choose to make wines in the Table Wine category. Being outside of QWPSR, they have more freedom to experiment with vinegrowing and winemaking techniques such as irrigation and oak chips (as opposed to oak barrels). For export markets they allow grape varieties and vintages to be named, and give an indication of the area of production.

Nearly all non-EU wines in the international market are ‘Wine with Geographical Description’. Take Australia for example. The Label Integrity Scheme controls regional, varietal and vintage labeling. Although there are some prestigious exceptions, the majority of wines with state or multi-state regional designations are large-volume, inexpensive wines. You’ll often see wines from ‘South Eastern Australia’. This is not a state, like South Australia or New South Wales. It’s a regional designation that allows blending across most of the country’s wine producing regions.

The most stringent regulations are probably in France. French laws covering the use of AC (Appellation Controlee) names rarely permit the naming of grape varieties. As mentioned in last week’s Wine for Dummies, you may not have realised that all Chablis is made from the Chardonnay grape – and that’s by law! Head to the south west of France for those Vin de Pays (Table Wines) and expect to find much more open winemaking.

Provided winemakers can maintain a consistent level of quality, the regulations can help a region to build brand consistency, to an extent, within the various price brackets. Many wines from the likes of Chateauneuf du Pape, Sancerre and Beaujolais-Villages can fetch a high price, but people are willing to pay it because they’ve a good idea of what they’ll be getting.

Generally, regulation will add a premium – most of the time a premium that is matched by the quality inside the bottle. That said, regional or Table Wine will also have some real gems.

Ah, the infamous Chardonnay. The classy, sophisticated wine of the 90′s, made popular by those people who just didn’t know how to pronounce any other type of grape. “I’ll have a Chardonnay please.”

Well, as it turned out, this uber-trendy group of beautiful intellectuals turned on their beloved Chardonnay in the post-90′s era, when the new cool was ‘anything BUT Chardonnay’. Maybe in some cases with good reason. Commercialised, flat, characterless, sugar-laced and complete with essence of oak, cheap volume Chardonnay flooded the marketplace to tend for those thirsty ‘too cool for schoolers’.

But was it a thirst just to be accepted by their peers, or was it genuinely a thirst for good, honest, enjoyable wine? To be fair, as the new millennium came and went, it was probably just Chardonnay’s time to take a back seat and let Sauvignon Blanc take the lime-light for a while.

But I would like to make a stand. Chardonnay is back, baby! It’s awesome and it’s here to stay. One of the problems is, you might not even know you’ve been drinking a good Chardonnay. Ever tried a Pouilly-Fuissé or a Chablis? 100% Chardonnay, and generally cracking at that.

Chardonnay is not a particularly aromatic grape – it is less pungent on the nose than a Sauvignon Blanc, for example. It possesses delicate fruit and subtle ‘mineral’ nuances, and these are the main reasons for it’s suitability in expressing the oak and yeast-derived flavours. Flavours of toast, vanilla and coconut occur because of oak treatment, whether it be from ageing in oak barrels, from the use of oak chips or artificial oak flavouring (oak essence is generally only used in cheap Chardonnay). Malolactic fermentation, and stirring of the dead yeast cells once fermentation has ended, will give a smooth texture with yummy buttery and creamy flavours.

For those that are all about the fruit, fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks and they have no contact with oak. In cool climate regions, like Chablis, you can expect green fruit (apple and pear) with citrus and occasionally mild vegetal notes (like cucumber). In moderate climates, such as in Burgundy, the wines may taste of white stone fruit (peach) with citrus notes and hints of melon. Warm regions, such as parts of Australia, the wines will have expressions of tropical fruit, like banana and pineapple.

Wherever you’re getting your wine from, remember to ask a member of staff what they recommend based on your preference for your style of Chardonnay, because it is one of those wines that can be so different from bottle to bottle. I’ll suggest four from our range, two unoaked and two with a touch of oak, to get you asking for Chardonnay once again.

• Palazzi Chardonnay: Fresh, crisp and unoaked, the Palazzi is one of our most popular whites under €10.
• In Situ Chardonnay: Chile often produces staggering quality at low prices, and this lightly oaked white is the perfect example. There are few wines at this price where the oak is as well integrated as in this fruity number.
• Rockbare Chardonnay: This is the one that got me thinking deeply about Chardonnay again. A little oak, but in no way overpowering, the fruit is allowed to shine through. There’s lovely nutty, savoury tones on the mid-palate with a lemony finish. Famous wine critic, Robert Parker, rated this wine as ‘outstanding’, with 91 out of 100 points.
• Brocard Chablis: If you prefer a classy French with no oak, Brocard’s organic Chablis is for you. Delicate and fruity, with a touch of minerality – fairly typical of Chablis. Fermentation is carried out in stainless steel tanks. For more on Brocard, see this blog post from last month.

“Come, for I am drinking stars!” -Dom Perignon

You’ve probably been to a party, event or some kind of celebration where sparkling wine was served. If you didn’t like it, the chances are you aren’t drinking the right stuff. Proper sparkling wine isn’t just mass produced carbonated grape juice, dressed up in a pretty yellow price tag on our supermarket shelves. I’m not talking about the sugar-loaded, fizzy alcoholic pop.

Yes, sparklers do start out as regular bubbleless wine. The secret to it all is the second fermentation, which requires the addition of yeast and sugar. A little more alcohol and a lot of heavenly bubbles are a result of this second phase, with the natural carbonation (no dry ice is used for these babies) and complex flavours developing the once still wine into something else all together.

The tank method of fermentation stops the carbon dioxide gas from escaping. It dissolves into the wine, which is bottled under high pressure in order to retain the bubbles.

Bottle fermented wines are more labour intensive and production costs are higher, but when it comes to quality, there are two mains advantages. With the extended contact the wine has with dead yeast, complex bready and biscuity flavours develop. Secondly, the bubbles are much smaller and longer lasting.

According to many, the best sparkling wine in the world is Champagne. And surprise, surprise, it’s made by the traditional bottle fermented method. On top of this, there is the demand. Champagne carries value in its name and you’ll pay for that too. Is it worth it? Personally, yes, but its not an everyday wine. You wouldn’t be opening one in front of Coronation Street on a Monday night. It’s for special occasions. Christmas, birthdays, weddings and so on.

Then we have our less expensive alternatives. Don’t turn your nose up. There are many, many really good sparkling wines, particularly from Spain and Italy, that use the bottle method or the tank method of fermentation. Spanish Cava and Italian Prosecco‘s offer beautiful, fruit driven sparklers that are becoming more and more fashionable.

If you’re keen to try an affordable Cava in your next case, don’t miss out on our award winning Mas Macia Cava Brut, currently on sale with the rest of our Spanish range. €14.39 won’t break the bank, and for that special occasion, there’s the Sommelier Gold Listed Lallier Champagne to wipe the floor with any other Champagne within its price range, or the Decanter 5 star Duval Leroy Grand Cru Champagne 1996, which is our true sparkling star.

Everyone needs a human touch now and again, as Bruce Springsteen well knows. It’s the same with grapes. They need to be nurtured, protected, cared for, loved and caressed (OK, maybe caressed is going a little too far, but you get my point).

In the vineyard it is man who decides on location and aspect to the sun. It is man who manages irrigation and prunes vines to enhance concentration. And it is man who decides when it’s the right time to pick the grapes. Consistently tasting the berries and testing the sugar levels, the farmer decides on the exact day, and right time of the day, to start harvesting. The fun begins after harvest.

After all the time and work dedicated to growing the grapes, they are hand-picked or machined harvested before being placed into baskets and brought to the winery. For whites wines, white or pink grapes are used (the white Pinot Grigio, for example, is made from a pink grape of the same name). Most white wines don’t endure prolonged contact with the skins, so the grapes are crushed with the skin and juice being separated.

The juice goes into a settling tank, where the the undesirable solids sink to the bottom. When the winemaker is happy with acidity and sugar levels, the juice is ready for fermentation. This is the stage that the natural sugars in the fruit juice are converted to alcohol.

Typically white wine is fermented between 18-20 degrees centigrade in the Old World (Europe), and 12-17 degrees in New World countries (the Americas, South Africa, Australia, etc.) where there is a greater determination for fruit. Fermentation can last for anything from a few days to a few weeks depending largely on the temperature.

Red wine is fermented at higher temperatures (typically 25-30 degrees C), and as a result tends to occur more rapidly (usually 3-7 days). Red wine is made exclusively from red or black grapes as its the skins that give the wine its rich colour. Depending on the grape and the type of wine desired by the winemaker, the skins are left in contact with the juice during the fermentation process. More contact means more colour and richness, but can also mean more astringency (you know, the harsh, puckering taste you might experience in cheap or wines that need ageing?), so the balance is essential to getting the structure of the wine right.

After fermentation, both red and white wines are clarified to remove any remaining skins or other solids, and left to rest in steel or oak tanks. Much wine these days (in the particular the volume supermarket stuff) is bottled very soon after to provide quick sale and cash-flow for the wine-maker. Other wine is held back for ageing to develop more complex flavours. This is particularly true for wines aged in oak.

Some grapes suit ageing better than others. Most reds will benefit from some, and in the whites the likes of Chardonnay and Riesling are quite capable of lengthy ageing processes, particularly in the bottle.

So, the year of vintage printed on the bottle now gives you an indication of the type of wine you should expect to taste. The vintage is the year the grapes were harvested and the wine made. So a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc should be crisp, clean and straightforward, with lots of fruit to the fore, whereas a 1998 Chablis (made from Chardonnay) is going to be more complex, less fruity but with other complexities like yeast, or spice, or even a creaminess to the texture.

Happy, and more knowledgeable, wine-drinking this weekend.

You may have heard of the commonly used French term, ‘terroir’ (pronounced tare-wire). Well, there’s no direct translation into English. It’s really a French word used specifically in the wine industry. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it relates to ‘a sense of place’, but generally speaking, it’s understood to mean the combination of factors that influence the grapes when on the vine and therefore help determine the end product that ends up being washed gleefully down your gullet.

Terroir purely deals with ‘where‘ – the location of the vines. It does not consider human interaction in the vineyard. It’s the total natural environment a grape is grown in. There are three main factors to explore.

Soil: The soil in Champagne tends to be chalky, while in Germany’s Mosel the vineyards are full of pebbles. The best wines come from soils that are very well drained, and furnish a steady, but only moderate, water supply to the vines. Studies at Chateauneuf-du-Pape have shown the benefits of stone cover in improving temperatures and fruit ripening. The colour of the soil and the composition of pebbles and stones affect temperature absorption and retention. Surprisingly, the best soils for grape growing also lack good nutritional value. This helps restrict growth, leading to fewer, smaller berries and ultimately better quality grapes.

Macro-climate: Also known as regional climate, put simply, it is the rainfall received and temperature range experienced in a large scale area or region. Fairly obvious. Too much rain can lead to bloated grapes, too little and the vines could die. Too hot, and the grapes may ripen too quickly and too early, whereas if it’s too cold, they may not ripen at all. This is what makes some vintages better than others. In Bordeaux, you will get exceptional years of almost perfect weather conditions, and in others, the summer may never arrive – as we’re all to used to in Ireland, eh?

Micro-climate: Zoom down onto ground level and you have a mini climate. If there is heat absorbed by the soil during the day it should keep the air around the vines warmer at night. To be precise, this is known as canope micro-climate. There are micro-climates on or close to the surfaces of individual leaves, grape bunches, or even berries. It exists at various positions or depths within the soil. The best results are usually attained depending on the aspect of the vines to the sun. The higher points of the vineyard will also be cooler, but may provide uninterrupted sunlight during the day for perfect ripening.

The Old World countries, like France and Italy, generally believe terroir to be the most important factor influencing the quality of your wine, whereas, if pushed, the Aussie’s and the Kiwi’s will say that human intervention has the biggest influence. Next week is where the fun begins. We’ll explore human intervention and you can decide what you think is more important.

If you’ve just joined our weekly Curious Wines tutorial, welcome. You can play catch up with the two previous posts by clicking on the ‘Wine for Dummies’ tag at the bottom of this post, and scrolling down to view the previous posts.

Take your pick. There’s plenty to choose from. Perhaps a crisp Chardonnay or the in-fashion Pinot Grigio? Maybe it’s red. What about a hearty Merlot or a fruity Pinot Noir? The second installment of ‘Wine for Dummies’ delves deeper into the basics of wine and we’ll take a peek at grape variety – probably the single biggest influence on the style of your wine.

Now, when I say a Chardonnay might have a whiff of citrus and banana, it doesn’t mean that the wine has been blended with banana puree and a carton of Five Alive. These aromas are a result of natural chemical reactions fused during the wine making process. They are likely to evolve and change with age, and contact with air once the bottle has been opened.

Remember that there are numerous other factors that are responsible for variation among wines of the same varietal, such as climate and wine making processes, but don’t worry about these just yet.

Another one for the record. Think of acidity as biting into an under ripe orange. It’s the high acid level that makes your face screw up like a bulldog. When an orange is left to ripen properly, the acid levels fall and is replaced with sugars, giving sweetness as opposed to tartness. Imagine tannin, which comes from the skin of the grape, as the mouth drying sensation you get when you drink black tea. It’s acidity and tannin that help good wines age. Most won’t have an appropriate balance of these two, allowing the wine to live for only two or three years before declining.

Here are two grapes you’ll be very familiar with, each giving very different wines:

Sauvignon Blanc (white grape): Aromas of tropical fruit in warmer climates and cut grass or nettles, gooseberries and asparagus in cooler climates. Usually pale gold, sometimes greenish in colour, with crisp acidity, herbaceous notes (woody and foresty, like rosemary or parsley) and fruit; passionfruit being a common one.

Cabernet Sauvignon (black grape): On the nose you may get blackcurrant, green pepper, chocolate, mint, jammy fruit when young, cedar and tobacco with age. Deep purple/red in colour, you’ll often find moderate acidity and good fruit to balance it out (so one shouldn’t be overpowering), firm tannins and good length. A good Cabernet should have plenty going on in the palate, with length to follow, so you’ll still be tasting it a few seconds, or longer, after swallowing.

You might observe some wine buffs swirling a glass and rhyming off twenty different aromas from sawdust and cat’s pee, to diesel and new shoes. Take no notice. There’s no right answer. What ever you experience from it, that’s what really matters.

Wine is one of the most subjective topics around, and if you want to learn along the way, swirl the glass (unpretentiously) to release the aromas, stick your nose in and say the first thing that comes to mind. Anyone is capable of training their senses and practice makes perfect. There are wines you’ll die for and others you’ll hate. If you don’t like it, ask yourself what it is that you don’t like about it. Deciphering this also helps the learning process and will make you sound a lot less ignorant.

If you’re having problems finding the honeysuckle in a Riesling, check out the Essential Wine Tasting Guide. I picked these up in Australia last year and I keep it by my side every time I taste. It lists 21 of the most common grape varieties and the aromas and flavours you could potentially get from each one. So go on, get tasting..!