The Starter Case
Written By: Jon Aronson on Tue, Jul 17th 2007
When I first started buying wine seriously, I really had no say in what I ended up bringing home. In fact, I took myself completely out of the equation, and relied on someone who knew a lot more about wine than I did to decide what I’d be purchasing.
This may sound risky, of course: Allowing a virtual stranger to make purchasing decisions for you is certainly not how most of us spend our money.
But wine is different. There’s so much out there, such a staggering variety of styles, grape varieties, and price-points, that there’s really no other way to get started. Because in the beginning, you’re essentially blind, and walking into the wine shop or state store can be not only intimidating, but downright bewildering.
Which is why you should just leave it to someone who knows what they’re doing.
The first step, of course, is to find someone you trust at a store with a decent selection. Your best bet in this case is to seek out the advice of friends and acquaintances who have done it before. And these days, as more and more people are getting into wine, it shouldn’t be all that difficult to find someone who’s willing to tell you about their favorite wine shop: Wine people, as you’ll certainly learn, love to talk about wine. (They’re kind of like the fermented version of golf people, always yammering on about their latest experience.)
Once you’ve decided on a wine shop, and hopefully a specific salesperson, you’ll need to decide on your budget. This is the part that most newbies get worked up over: Good wine, popular logic tells us, is expensive wine. So buying a case is out of the question.
The truth, however, could not be more different. For these days, there is more delicious, well-made, affordable wine in local shops than there ever has been before. So setting a budget of $10 - $15 per bottle is perfectly reasonable, which means that you’ll be able to walk out of the wine store having spent no more than $180 for a case of wine, and often a great deal less. (In fact, a good salesperson should be able to average less than $12 per bottle for your first case, though certain wines, like pinot noir, almost always cost a bit more.)
If you’re at the point where you’re ready to purchase a mixed case of wine, then you probably already have certain flavor and style preferences. Let the salesperson know about these, but don’t be limited by them.
If, for example, you’re a big fan of Yellow Tail shiraz, you probably have an affinity for rich, bold wines with a lot of fruit and obvious alcohol. Make sure you get one or two bottles of wine made in that style. But you really should keep an open mind when it comes to the other bottles in your purchase, because with such a wide variety of wine styles out there, there’s just no way you’ve tasted everything. And you may find that you actually enjoy other kinds of wine even more.
My advice is to ask for a mixed case of 6 reds and 6 whites. A good salesperson will find a balance between familiar grape varieties (shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay) and ones you may not have heard of before (tempranillo, garnacha, albariño). Ask for a variety of wines—some lighter and some richer, with maybe a sparkler thrown in there for good measure (Prosecco and Cava are both affordable, and fabulously refreshing this time of year). No matter what you do, keep an open mind.
Over the course of the next month or so (or however long it takes you to work your way through the case), take notes on all the wines. What do they taste like to you? What do you like and dislike about them? Did you pair them with food? The more of your impressions you write down, the better your salesperson will be able to fill up your next mixed case of wine, beginning the process of tailoring what he or she recommends based on your developing sense of your own palate and preferences.
Eventually, you’ll gain a real understanding of your own taste for wine. And your knowledge of it will increase faster than you may have thought possible in the beginning. The best way to learn about wine, after all, is to taste it. It’s the most enjoyable educational experience you can possibly have.
