Strategies for Learning Wine

Recently, after close to 8 years, I met up with an old friend and amidst the conversation, I shared how I had gotten into wine and had a modest wine collection. He asked how I got into wine (more on that in a minute) and how he expanded his wine knowledge by focusing on a particular for a year - say Italy for a year, France for year and so on.

It got me to thinking, what are some of the great and enjoyable ways one can get into wine?

For me, I started kind of small, trying a glass of wine here and there with dinner and trying to make note of what I liked. Of course, that didn't go so well mainly because 1) I didn't keep a very good list and 2) Even I had that list, I couldn't use it to understand what I liked or whether I would like a given bottle.

I eventually found that I needed to develop a vocabulary that described the elements of wine and figure out which of those elements I liked. After that, it's about figuring out which regions and types of wines have those elements.

I took a few classes and did a fair amount of reading to develop the vocabulary and to gain experience (i.e. taste a lot of wines). Visiting wineries, joining a wine club and going to wine tastings also helped a lot. Ultimately, there is no substitute for experience and the great thing about wine is gaining that experience is the joy.

The other thing happened unconsiously was that I did focus on particular regions. There was two reasons for that 1) Finding wines I liked in a particular region, say Burgundy, fueled learning more about that region and 2) visiting particular regions, Napa, Sonoma, Willamette Valley brought those regions to life -- nothing will bring a wine region to life like having to figure out driving directions, which wineries to visit and tasting some of the differences between say Stag's Leap and Alexander Valley.

I do believe narrowing focus in order to learn is a great tool because the reality is that the world of wine is huge. It is overwhelming.

I like the example my friend gave of focusing on a particular region for a year. That doesn't mean if you are in the mood for something else you shouldn't act on that mood, it just means you expand yourself in a particular region for a given period of time and round out that exploration with drinking, looking at maps and reading about it.

If you are really lucky, you can also spend time in each region.

Having a wine buddy to share this with will also help in a lot of ways. For me, I've been lucky to share my passion with my wife as a mutual interest which in turn has helped us bond.

What strategies for learning wine would you recommend?