Wine Courses for Beginners

with your local wine retail shop. Ditch trying to navigate chain or supermarket-style stores who purchase wines at a corporate level and instead connect with retailers who individually taste and select the wines they sell. They are an invaluable free resource for wine and can help you hand-select wines you love so you don't waste money on wines you don't like. Download Lindsay's local list of retailers.

Select two different wines of the same general style (red, whites, etc) to taste against each other. This will help you see the differences and grow your palate faster.

This is a biggy. If you are constantly buying one brand or style of wine (say, only Cabernet or Chardonnay), your palate's growth will be limited and slower. Instead, venture out and try wines you've never tried nor can pronounce. The more "tasting reference points" you can gain by tasting different wines, the faster your palate will evolve. Be brave!

Fastest and easiest way to start building your palate's tasting memory is by using training wheels.  This means instead of trying to blind taste, come up with a list of the main grapes and their common attributes then taste the wines while looking for those main attributes. Download Lindsay's here.

You will spend more money and time going at it by yourself.  Invest in some wine courses and classes to help get you going in the right direction.

I hear many beginner students claim they dislike xyz grape(s).  Keep an open mind as there are many different style variations of certain grapes or regions to discover.