What's wrong with this glass? It's Empty!

Good Morning!

I receive tons of emails each week and since I have been ask about this several times I thought I would discuss it today. I have been ask how to become a “red” wine drinker?

Some of you may not understand this because reds are your thing, but I understand. When I first started drinking wine, it was pink, cold, sweet and came in a box with a super cool spigot on the side and it tasted good. I was a beer drinker for years. I use the term “beer” loosely because today you have millions of choices, Ales, Stouts, imports, crafted beers, you name it they have it. When I drank beer it was Bud, Bud Light and if I were being fancy, Michelob.

I drank beer for two reasons. It tasted better than fruity or strong boozy cocktails and beer was easy to order. When I started to drink beer, I did not like the taste either. My folks did not drink at our house but my grandparents all had beer and booze around so it kinda intrigued me as something you can only have when you grow up thing. In high school of course we all tried anything we could get our hands on and if you did not like something, we drank it anyway for the buzz.

I still like an ice cold beer after mowing the lawn or some outdoor activity, but other than that, it has become complicated so I just keep Miller Lite in the house for the rare occasions when I want one. So what does this have to do with becoming a red wine drinker? Hang on…

I started hanging out with a group of women who drank red wine. The LOVED it and would sit for hours and drink and chat it up. They looked so much happier than me sitting there drinking my brown bottle of beer. They looked sexier, the laughed more and they wore sundresses and I wanted to be just like them. I was ask to dinner and a friend said let’s have wine and ordered a bottle of red. YUCK…but when she went to the bathroom, I put a couple of ice cubes in the wine and then it seemed at least drinkable.

If I were smarter, I would have said to myself right now with the wine being colder it tastes less alcoholic and it seems to have less acidic taste, but I liked the lift the wine seem to give me. The next week I was at the store I bought a bottle of the same wine Chianti and I put it in the frig. It sat there for 3-4 days and I decided one night to open it and try to find something to eat. I found a box of Triscuits and a log of goat cheese. I opened the bottle of wine and I loved these things together. Now I understand that chilling the wine took the heat of the alcohol away from my mouth and the tangy goat cheese really smoothed out the strong tannins. But I liked it and was so happy I was now in the “Red” wine group.

Later on I was at someone’s house and they had a bottle of Merlot and I poured a glass, but it was room temperature and it tasted so powerful to me. (Keep in mind, I was soooo silly that I thought all red wines were the same grapes, just the different producers had different labels…UGH, I still embarrass myself thinking about how much I did not know). So I found the same bottle at the store and chilled the wine a few days and got out the Triscuits and goat cheese. Merlot was good, but I ran out of goat cheese and had Vermont cheddar….OK, so that was WAY better…you can see where this is going.

Loving red wine or anything with a strong flavor takes some time. Some people love spicy hot peppers, some folks like cilantro, it is an acquired taste, wine is the same. If you were raised drinking it, you might love it right away, if not, your gonna have to try some new ideas. I find if someone tells me the hate red wines, they do not like the dry feeling from the tannins after they have a sip. Try a sweeter red, they are everywhere in the stores now. You might tend to like higher residual sugar in your wine…

My number one rule, Trust you palate!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi