How do I start drinking wine?

Hello.





I'm 26 years old and aside from a taste here and there, I've never had a drink in my life. For me, the taste of alcohol is quite bad, to say the least. But lately the idea of drinking wine has become more and more appealing. Sitting outside at the terrace late in the evening with good friends and a bottle of wine seems like a nice way to enjoy life. The taste of wine is so horrible though!





Aside from drinking lots and lots of wine, what can I do to improve my palette?





Thanks a lot of any and all answers!|||You are going to get a thousand answers from a thousand people on what is a good wine. The only way you can decide is from experience because we are talking about personal taste.





First. Learn about what types of wines are out there. When you try out a wine, make note of the type and make (label). Give it a mental grade (1 to 10) and compare it to subsequent ones you drink. Part of the culture of wine drinking is learning about the history of certain wine and their makers. This is not a requirement, but you may find it interesting.





Second, there is a way or method to drink wine and I do not mean this in terms of ritual. The taste sensory cells (taste buds) in your mouth, tongue, and nose is what gives you the sense or feel of the wine. The various sensory cells are located in different areas. For example, salt and sweet sensors are located on the front of the tongue, but sour sensors are on the sides. The bitter sensors are towards the back of your tongue. All this is in regards to an adult because all this tends to be in flux during childhood and adolescent. When you drink wine, you want the wine to flow around from the front towards the back while trying to get as little as possible on the back of your tongue (bitter sensors). Just don't choke trying to manuever the wine around your mouth ;-)





You also want to before and after breathe in a whiff of the aroma through your nose to flood the sensors in your nose. There are experts in wine who claim that the nose is more sensitive than the taste buds, but I'm not an expert so take that for what it is.





Third, drink it slow and in small amounts. Don't gulp it down unless you are in a hurry to get drunk. And try it with a light meal or snack -- to see how it compliments different foods AND keep your drinking pace slow.





Lastly, don't let so-call tradition stop you from trying things out. You may have heard the so-call rule that red wine is for meat and white wine is for fish or seafood, but that's just plain bunk. This is propagated by people who simply repeat what they have heard and don't understand. White wine tends (not all) to be lighter in flavor and so can be overwhelmed (covered) by food that has a strong taste. Red wine tends to be more robust in aroma and taste, so is not likely to be erased by the taste of strong flavors in some foods. So, the moral of the story is try it before you make a decision.





Enjoy.|||If you live in wine country or have a good wine shop, they'll have tastings.





I suggest that you go to a tasting (have a non-drinker do the driving).


You'll taste a variety - reds, whites, dry, sweet... etc. This is a good way to find what you like or can tolerate.





Generally, I would recommend a white wine (except for chardonnay). White wines are generally sweeter and not as tannic (oaky)... In the name of the wine look for the words "Blanc", "Pinot", "Riesling" or "Gewurztraminer".





Also, you don't need wine to relax on the terrace. There are many other options - iced tea, margaritas, daiquiris... etc. My preference is gin and tonic.|||I would suggest a nice Reisling. I started with Columbia Winery Johannasburg Reisling or Chateau St. Michele Reisling or a Brand called Relax (it's in a cool blue bottle). These are sweet white wines. White Zinfendel is also an easy wine to start with. You can find this in many brands. I like Beringer or Sutter Home. This wine is also on the sweeter side.





I don't prefer red wines, but you might like them. I would start out sweet and move up the line to dryer as you go along. Give your palate time to adjust. Happy Wining!!!|||A good "starter" wine for red is Pinot Noir. Nice, clean and fruity.





A good "starter" wine for white would be Pino Grigio some times also called Pinot Gris but it is the same thing. Pino Grigio is excellent for the purpose you had mentioned and they do that kind of thing in Europe almost every day.|||Red grape wine undoubtfully tops the list of the healthiest foods on the Earth http://geniuscook.com/wine-extends-life-鈥?/a>