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There’s a belief that wine is a complex beverage that takes years of training and experience to fully appreciate. There are countless grape varieties and their varying characteristics to memorize, there’s the different soil, climate and topographic features of thousands of regions, and then of course there’s the human factor and all of the cultural and technological variations in production that have serious implication for wine quality to learn about.
And on top of it all, every year, you have to throw in vintage variation due to changing weather patters, and additional research to do to find out whether such and such chteau bought a new concrete fermentation egg or if Domaine XYZ’s harvest crew showed up on time. It’s maddening.
If it all seems like too much for the sake of enjoying fermented grape juice, read on for some reassurance that you, too, can get more enjoyment out of glass without a wine PhD.
Step one is to understand that enjoyment is about perception, and depends on a myriad of factors that have nothing to do with (well, not as much as you’d think) what’s inside a bottle of wine. It’s called the psychology of quality: if you think it’s good, it is good. So without having to learn everything there is to know about wine, follow these 10 simple guidelines and I guarantee you will enjoy every sip a little more.
Always:
1. Drink with friends
Friends make you happy. You enjoy their company and consequently your mood improves. People in good humor enjoy wine, and life, more.
2. Stick to the familiar
We are programmed to be distrustful. Unfamiliar is unknown, and unknown is scary. When it comes to food, most scientists claim that it takes on average a dozen or so experiences with a new flavor/taste to gain familiarity, and with that, the capacity to enjoy it. Why waste your time? Just drink what you already know and there’s no risk.
3. Don’t drink too much
This is a real danger, one that wine experts fall into all the time. I’m not talking about getting inebriated, but rather knowing too much. The more you taste, the more you learn and develop expectations. Expectations are dangerous, as they set you up for disappointment. How can you be upset that the wine you’re drinking isn’t a textbook example of Chianti Classico if you don’t know what Chianti is supposed to taste like? You can just enjoy the hedonistic pleasure of the wine without the baggage. Ignorance is bliss.
4. Drink wine out of fancy glassware
A simple but effective means of making the ordinary taste extraordinary. Beautiful hand-blown crystal stems will make any plonk look, and therefore taste, like a grand cru. The initial capital outlay is recovered 10 times over in pleasure and money saved on expensive wine.
5. Sit somewhere comfortable
Setting is a key of atmospherics, the sum total of your surroundings, which will affect your mood. Whether you’re more at ease in a grungy pub or the elegant dining room at the Trump Tower, wherever you’re most comfortable you’re most happy. And happiness means more enjoyment drinking wine.
6. Play your favourite music
Background music is also part of atmospherics. Music primes the mind with thoughts, and those thoughts will change what you think and do. A study back in the 1990s concluded that classical music caused shoppers to buy more expensive wines on average than when Top-Forty pop was played in the same shop. In another study, French music (an accordion) and German music (oompah band style) was played in a supermarket. The style of music subconsciously primed thoughts of “Frenchness” or “Germanness”, and sure enough, with French music playing, French wines outsold German wines 5 to 1. So I reckon that if you play your favorite music while drinking, your mind will be primed with happy thoughts, and you’ll enjoy the wine more.
7. Follow label cues
Labels are perhaps the single biggest factor in consumer purchasing decisions. An elegant, traditional label makes wine taste, well, more elegant and traditional. An edgy, ultra-modern label does the same. So go with your gut feeling: which label attracts you? Chances are the wine will follow suit. Also, allow your mind to be taken in by such seemingly harmless but totally insidious mentions such as old vines, single vineyard, limited production, unfiltered, or proprietor’s special reserve, among dozens of others. These mentions have symbolic value: they make the wine seem so much more special that it ends up being so.
8. Buy only 90+ rated wines
Again, a question of expectations. If an expert likes it, then so should you.
9. Buy only expensive wines
Countless studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between higher priced bottles and greater enjoyment. Of the identical wine served to the same person but with two different stated prices, the more expensive sample is invariably rated higher. Why fight nature? Just buy as expensive a wine as you can afford and you’re sure to like it more; expensive wine always tastes better than cheap wine.
10. Don’t be ashamed: drink sweet wines
I guess it’s a hangover from the liebfrauenmilch or white zinfandel days, but sweet (off-dry) wines have a déclassé image. But humans are biologically programmed to prefer sweet tastes and reject, sour bitter and astringent ones (most naturally occurring poisons are bitter and astringent, and sour signals unripe, whereas sweet signals calories and nutrients essential for survival). Sure, you could learn to like sour, bitter and astringent wines like the experts, but why bother? That takes time and effort and lots of money. So don’t be ashamed and stick to cheap sweet wines, as nature intended, and you’ll be happier.
Cheers to that.
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John Szabo is a master sommelier and wine writer for Toronto Standard. Follow his tweets here: @johnszabo.
More recommendations by John Szabo at www.johnswines.com
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