Let’s face it. Wine is an acquired taste. Unless of course you’re fairly Mediterranean in origin, in which case I might even argue, it’s still an acquired taste, you just acquired it at an age that you don’t have any memories of. It’s hard to remember, after discovering wine, how much you disliked it before, and so, when a non-wino stayed with me over the summer, I was continually surprised by what she did and did not like. I did my best to test out new wines in hopes that we might find a collection of easy-going wines that could be shared over dinner… and so here’s a primer, if you ever have to introduce a non-drinking friend to wine.

1. Mixing with fruit juice is a start. Sangria, as we all know, is the nectar of the gods. A shiraz/merlot mixed with some pomegranate juice is half the reason why I started drinking wine. Bellinis (white peach puree & prosecco) & mimosas (orange juice & champagne) are always well-liked. However, none of this being actual real wine, I find that it doesn’t prepare a person for liking the taste of just wine by itself. If anything, it sometimes causes a bit of a mental sour/bitter shock when the new wine drinker tries wine alone.
2. Thirst-quenching, boring, easy wines, without all the complexity that you find interesting, tend to be good. One that everyone’s liked so far is vinho verde, literally “green wine” in Portuguese. While not exactly “sparkling”, its got just the slightest hint of a carbonated kick. Goes down easy, and incredibly cheap to boot. I think Trader Joe’s has a $4 version that’s pretty decent.
3. Sweet wines work well. Sweet German reislings, especially cheaper table wines ones like Kabinett, worked wonderfully.It’s a hard balance, though, of finding one that’s just sweet enough without being an overpowering dessert-type wine. In this regard, I’ve had more like finding friendlier wines in the cheap category, rather than the riper category of German wines, or, spätleses (p.s. Germany, can ya pleeease do something about your wine classification system? something a little more understandable for us mere Earthlings?).
4. However, low alcohol content is more important than sweetness. Or at the very least, the scent of a low alcohol content wine. I had a flash of brilliance one day; I should give my friend some port! Port is sweet! Port is delicious! She’ll love port! Well, let’s just say that experiment failed horribly, despite a lovely Stilton blue cheese accompaniment. Apparently port reeks of pure ethanol, and made it completely unpalatable. So I guess the fortified dessert wines are out. In retrospect though, I should have tried other dessert wines that are less hardcore than port, such as a nice cream sherry, or a Sauternes. Supposedly everyone likes ice wine (but props to you if you can afford it).
5. Of course, we all know that people generally start with white wines before discovering they enjoy reds too. I’ve had good luck with white zinfandels and some white wine blends. Chardonnays tended to be hit-and-miss, while sauvignon blanc didn’t seem to work well at all. Roses tended to be very accessible. For the first red wines, try fruit-filled table wines, such as a Portuguese tinto, or perhaps an easy pinot noir. Try to stay away from darker, fuller red wines (that first taste can be put off a first-time reds drinker for years), especially cabernets, shirazes, or gawd forbid, something like a Côte du Rhône.
6. Despite what happens, keep on trying! Mustn’t let anyone, much less a good friend, miss out on the wonderful and delicious world that is wine.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 20th, 2008 at 1:43 am and is filed under Wine.