Helping Folks Feel Comfortable With Wine
Have you ever met anyone who felt uncomfortable around wine?
Are YOU uncomfortable around wine?
You can probably thank the wine industry for that.
A clueless wine industry full of fermenting wine snobs for many years promoted the idea that wine was only for "connoisseurs". Advertisements and articles on wine implied that if you weren't willing to devote your life to "learning" about wine, well then, you weren't worthy of uncorking a bottle.
It's a happy fact that things have changed. Thanks to groups like the Wine Institute, wine and especially its advertising has gone mainstream and more people are now drinking wine than beer in America.
However, many people still feel snubbed by wine. Old images die hard.
A person may have been embarrassed by a snooty sommelier in a restaurant years ago and shut the door to wine forever more. Or,
an officious tasting room staff might have intimidated and therefore
poisoned one's feelings about le vin.
Not to worry. We have ways of approaching the wine cautious that can support and direct them toward a happier relationship with one of life's greatest pleasures.
Here are five ways to help anyone get comfortable with wine:
1. Throw a FUN wine PARTY. Don't invite them to a wine tasting. It's a wine party, and never forget it. Serve up a bunch of appetizers and wines and let everybody say which wines they like best with which hors d'oeuvres. There are no right answers, because this is a party, not a quiz!
2. Request the friendliest wine sommelier at a restaurant. This way, you'll be sure to get some good advice on which wines to try, without the attitude.
3. Attend a large wine festival. A big wine festival is perfect cover for the hesitant wine explorer. Whereas in a tasting room, it can be hard to blend in, at a wine festival you have pretty much total anonymity if you want it. Two come to mind: The Zinfandel Advocates and Producers Annual ZAP Festival in San Francisco and the Paso Robles Wine Festival mid-way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. You can try dozens of wines, ask questions and enjoy.
4. Make a "Wine Dinner". You can find all kinds of recipes with wine suggestions on winery websites. Find one that's appealing and try it.
5. Join a wine club. The kind that delivers wine by mail to your door. This way, anyone fearful of wine can put those fears to rest. They can sniff, swirl, taste all they want. They can find out which wines they like and which they don't. All in the safety of their own home.
Wine snobs are just old relics of the past. It's a new day for wine and time
to enjoy it whatever way you want to. Comfort worth uncorking!
