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When I first started buying wine, I dreaded coming off like an idiot. You know that feeling: You scan the aisle for a familiar label, but then the shelves close in and paranoia creeps up: “The clerk, he’s watching, isn’t he? He knows I know nothing about wine, doesn’t he?!” You pretend to read a bottle, like you somehow just learned French. The only thing you can decipher is the price, which is even scarier than asking for help. You grab the closest bottle and get the hell out of there. But not anymore! With these tips, you’ll walk into wine shops as confident as Hermione Granger with the right answer.
Rule 1. Find a Good Shop
Not a grocery store, not the chain with 20 percent off “Six or More Bottles”—but a shop that’s dedicated to selling wine (maybe beer and spirits, too). Wine shops may seem intimidating, but they’re generally filled with nice people who love wine and love talking about it. Employees can take a 30-second convo about how you want a red to pair with skirt steak and turn it into six rousing recommendations. Give a shop a few visits and try a few bottles to get a sense of its style of wines and customer service until you find a place that suits you.
Rule 2. Learn How to Ask for a Great Bottle
First, I let the shopkeeper know what I’m buying for because wine for a backyard barbecue is not the same as wines for a romantic night in with homemade lasagna. Second, I ask these questions:
“What’s new?” Buying something that’s new to the store and new to you means you’re always learning. It’s also often fresh on the staff’s mind, so they can tell you a lot about it.
“What are you drinking?” Since wine-shop staffers are tasting wine all day, the wine they want to go home and drink is usually pretty special. Not special as in pricey or rare, just that it’s simply delicious.
“What’s like…?” You’re not going to learn much if you drink the same thing all the time. Always ask for something that’s like what you love but from a different producer. This shows you the many variations a wine can have by region, fermentation, and terroir.
“What’s weird?” Whatever bottle is the most out-there, never-knew-this-was-possible—that’s a bottle for me. Weird may not be the adjective for you, but find the types of descriptors—low-octane, say, or refreshing—that you like, and explore them as often as possible.
Rule 3. Tell Them Your Budget
I know, I know‚ it feels icky. No one likes talking about money, but you gotta do it. Most people buying wine are on a budget, and not only is it not weird to make budget a part of your buying criteria, it’s absolutely essential. There are great wines being made at all price points, and by being honest about what you can spend, you’ll find bottles that are both tasty and affordable.
Rule 4. Don’t Sweat Awards
You know those “Winner of Best Pinot Grigio!” stickers? Ignore them. Those competitions only include big wineries rich enough to enter. And those 100-point ratings? Don’t put any stock in them, either. It’s all subjective, and just because some random old dude gave a wine a low rating doesn’t mean you wouldn’t give it a 110.
Rule 5. Summer Bonus: Buy Seasonal!
Just like you can’t wait to see the brightest strawberries or biggest heirloom tomatoes hit the farmers’ market, you should be excited about wineries’ summer releases. Amazing summery wines, including Italian Rosatos, California Pinot Gris, and Austrian pét-nats, are on wine-shop shelves right now. And it all comes back to that question we talked about in Rule 2: “What’s new?”
Want to learn more about buying, drinking, and talking wine without dying of boredom? Check out Ross’s smart, funny, and informative new book, Wine. All the Time.: The Casual Guide to Confident Drinking—out this month!, from which this is excerpted.