Wine flights and tastings (how appropriate) are a great way to learn more about your own tastes. This one was on offer at the Nashville City Winery.
In my last post I wrote about owning your drink choices. The guy in question got a second date but didn’t last much longer than that for one simple reason: he wasn’t willing to move past boxed wine. It’s great to own your drink preferences, but you have to be willing to compromise in a relationship. Part of this means expanding your interests and trying new things with your partner. His past experience with wine meant he didn’t have much interest in trying new wines.
To get a second date with Kathleen, you must be willing to try new things.
Everyone has different tastes. Some people are beer drinkers, others are wine drinkers. Clearly I’m a wine drinker, but I haven’t always been. In college, I was more likely to order a beer than a glass of wine. It took years of refining my palate and tasting many different wines for me to truly appreciate a nice glass of wine.
As a beginning wine drinker, I gravitated towards sweet white wines; they were the easiest to drink. I was reluctant to expand my repertoire, and I might not have done so without the encouragement of others.
One of the best things I did as I learned more about wine was participate in Tuesday wine nights with Andrew and our other friends. Those nights allowed me to taste both red and white wines from around the world and the country. Despite my still limited knowledge of wine, I began to appreciate the differences in varietals and in regions. I learned I don’t particularly enjoy oaky, buttery Chardonnays, but I do like stainless steel Chardonnay. I gained an appreciation for Spanish reds, particularly those from Rioja. I discovered the beauty of a glass of red and complexity of the flavors within each sip. I became a wine drinker.
Anyone can learn to enjoy a glass of wine. You just have to be willing to try new things and expand your palate beyond the boxed wines out there.