Are you afraid of wine?

(If so, here’s what to do about it)

AI generated image of anxious man with winelist

A book was published recently called Who’s afraid of Romanée Conti. For those of you who don’t even know what Romanée Conti is it’s a hugely famous and wildly expensive red burgundy.

The author Dan Keeling has a very successful magazine and restaurant business called Noble Rot (which you also have to be in the know to be aware is a particular kind of fungus that shrivels grapes and reduces their juice to an luscious syrupy sweetness. (Like Sauternes)

However he and I are on the same page with his opening sentence. “There’s a pernicious myth that you need to know much more than you do to enjoy great wine.” (Or everyday wine, I’d add.)

Never mind Romanée Conti, most people are overwhelmed by the wine section in their local supermarket, not to mention - ultimate dread - being handed the wine list.

I’ve lost count of the number of times someone on discovering what I do says “I’m afraid I know nothing about wine.” Which a) almost certainly isn’t the case but b) why should it worry them? Nobody goes round saying I don’t know much about cheese or fish and there’s plenty to know about both. Nobody looks down on them.

Whose fault is it? The finger is generally pointed at old school wine merchants and snooty sommeliers but to be honest they’re a dying breed.

More people in wine shops and restaurants have tattoos than red trousers these days and bend over backwards to be empathetic and helpful rather than make you feel small.

The main problem, on which Dan and I agree, is the perception that wine is something you can’t enjoy unless you have in depth knowledge which you need to acquire by going on courses and buying scholarly books about it.

Confession time I’ve never taken a wine exam in my life. I’ve learnt just by tasting (lots, admittedly) and travelling and asking loads of questions and writing about it.

Granted, I was lucky to have fallen into it so what can you do if life hasn’t given you that kind of a break?

• Be curious. Take an interest in what’s in your glass. If it’s something you like take a snap of the label or make a note on your phone. Then look out that type of wine again.

• Don’t be afraid to ask. Say firmly “I’m looking for a wine like X (X being a wine you like) and want to pay about Y”. (If you don’t want to mention money point to a similarly priced wine on the shelf or wine list

• If you’ve got to go out with colleagues with whom it would be embarrassing to do this check out the wine list online before you go and even drop into the restaurant to find out what they’d advise. Obviously they won’t know what you’re going to order but they could at least point out some versatile wines that would take several different dishes in their stride.

• Don’t stress about not being able to describe what’s in your glass. When you tell your friends about a wine you’ve enjoyed you don’t embark on an elaborate description of the kind of fruit - or other - flavours you find in it. You just say - or I imagine you say - “I’ve tasted this amazing Portuguese (or whatever) wine. It’s fantastic with seafood. I think you’d love it.

• It’s impossible to know everything about every wine region. I’m more knowledgeable about Austrian wine, to take a random example, than Bordeaux - a vast and complicated subject that you could spend a lifetime getting on top of. Just ask the people who know. What’s delicious? More to the point with Bordeaux, what’s good value?

Obviously I’m not saying don’t study or take steps to acquire knowledge if you’re minded to. Just don’t feel you have no right to have an opinion if you don’t.

Finally, if you’ll excuse the plug, do join my monthly online tastings which are not so much a masterclass as a chat in the course of which we swop impressions about what we’re drinking (everyone brings a bottle that fits in with the theme). You absolutely don’t have to be an expert to join in - it’s more like a get together in a wine bar than a formal wine tasting.

The next one, next Monday (March 31st), is on grenache a grape variety you don’t often find featuring on labels but which is an essential component of southern French reds like Châteauneuf-du-Pape along with its habitual bedfellows syrah and mourvèdre (sometimes flagged up as G.S.M.). Grenache, or garnacha as the Spanish call it, is usually red but can be white and rosé too.

I’ll be sending out a few suggestions of bottles you might buy and bring along later this week. (Spoiler - did you know that the iconic Whispering Angel includes a significant amount of grenache?)

You need to be a subscriber to take part but you can join for as little as a fiver.

Take the opportunity to ask me anything. (So long as it’s not about Bordeaux , obvioiusly 😉)

Are you bothered that you don’t know about wine - or if you do - that it worries your less knowledgeable friends? (If so maybe pass this on to them)

If you enjoyed this post and found it helpful it would be great if you’d give it a ❤️