The Secret Language of Wine

We’ve always been big wine drinkers in my family. Last summer, our brother became a certified sommelier, and we’ve spent the last year taking advantage of his vast wine knowledge. He’s probably annoyed with us constantly texting him photos of wine bottles asking him which one we should buy. I truly didn’t realize just how complex wine is. There is so much to know. Clearly, as Ethan has a full time profession based on it. I’m typically guilty of picking a wine out at the store based solely on how cute the label is. Turns out, this isn’t such a great strategy as I often don’t end up loving the wine I chose.

Wine, as with many other things, can be an acquired taste. With so many different varieties out there, it’s hard for a novice wine drinker to know what they like or don’t like, or even know the right questions to ask in order to gain more knowledge about wine. In my opinion, going to wine tastings is really crucial for establishing your baseline, and learning tips to help you on your way to being a wine connoisseur. The next step is to cultivate a close relationship with a good wine shop. 

Last week we attended a wine class, hosted by our brother, at Some Good Wine. This class focused on “Old Word vs New World” and was the first class in the series titled “The Secret Language of Wine”. This series of classes has a goal of its students leaving the class with the confidence “to taste a random wine from around the world and describe it, without dread or fear, in one two sentences, while understanding that wine is a language above all else”.

The class structure was perfect. It started with a brief lecture about the goals of the class and a little about the history of wine, before launching into an 8 wine tasting. Even though I consider myself someone who as an above average knowledge of wine, I did learn several things in this class. Namely, how to tell the difference between an old world wine (any wine coming form European countries; usually has more notes of earth and minerality) and new world wine (any wine produced from basically any other county in the world; notoriously fruit an oak forward) solely on smell and taste.