What is the best way to learn wine?

Question

I recently got a job at a 5-star, fine dining restaurant as a server. They offer over 200 wines but I don't know much about wine or fine dining. Their training program isn't as comprehensive as I assumed it would be so I need to find an additional way to learn.

Answer 1

There are classes you can take through colleges such as UCLA.  You could also go wine tasting in places like Paso Robles or Napa, Ca.  Talk to people who work at wineries.  Also try these links:

http://wine.about.com/od/winebasic1/ht/w...

http://www.wineloverspage.com/taste/

Answer 2

The only way to truly learn about wine is to taste a lot of different wines.  And with time you'll notice that your palette matures and your favorites change.  In the same way that little kids eat different cereal than adults, new wine drinkers prefer different wine than experienced wine drinkers.  This understanding can be supplemented by "book knowledge" but not replaced by it.

Lots of places conduct regular wine tastings for a small fee.  Do a web search for wine tastings in your geography.  I live in Southern California and my favorite haunts for wine tasting are my local grocery store (Gerrards), BevMo, The Wine Club in Santa Ana, wineries in the Cucamonga Valley, and wineries in Temecula.

Answer 3

Don't let yourself too much bluffed by the apparent diversity of the wines Carte - try to learn how to categorize wines according their structure, dominant taste, and ABOVE ALL pairing - learn how a wine is elaborate, how grapes are grown, the importance of the climate and SOIL ( terroir ) - There are excellent books about all this in libraries and on-line book-sellers -

Answer 4

You don't have to take classes or go to college to learn about wine.

First learn the major grapes used for both red and whites. From there you will learn which wines are light, bold and robust, dry and sweet.

The food pairing is pretty simple from there.

If you are near a Barnes & Noble or a Borders book store, there is a vast collection of books on wine and you should take a little time to read.  Some of the best are;

"The Wine Bible" by Karen MacNeil..this book is very informative, but may be a bit deeper than you need.

"The Only Wine Book You'll Ever Need" by Danny May..This is a great book for beginners. It's an easy read and very informative, and inexpensive.