If you’ve ever spent some time with people who really know their wine, you’ll understand how overly complicated it can be. As long as it tastes nice- right? Well, apparently there’s more to it than that. So, if you ever have to attend a wine lover’s party and you’re worried about what you can contribute to the conversation, here are a few ways you can cheat yourself into being a wine expert.

The Color

Before you take a much-needed gulp of that wine, take a look at its color first. The color of red wine particularly can tell you a lot about the type of wine it is. For example, the darker a red wine is the richer the taste and flavor. You can tell whoever you’re talking to that you expect the body to be full because of the darkness in color. When you swill the wine around your glass, an older wine may fade in color from a deep red to a brick red. That’s a great way to estimate the age of a wine.

Learn Your Fruits

We all know that wine comes from grapes, but grape isn’t the only flavour you’ll taste when drinking wine. A lot of the red wines will have darker fruit tastes, like blackberries, raspberries, cherries and plums. Whereas white wines could have citrus fruits or tropical fruit scents and tastes. The type of fruit you taste could give you a hint as to where the wine is from. For example, a lemon or grapefruit Sauvignon Blanc could likely be from New Zealand or France. The best way is to learn your fruits is to pay a visit to the online wine shop and get tasting in preparation!

Choose a Region

You probably already have a good idea of which type of wine you prefer. Once you’ve chosen one you like, stick to wines from the same region. It’s a great way to learn about the flavours that come from that country and you may pick up some fun facts to share as you learn about your wines. That way, you have a good bit of knowledge about one particular region and if you’re asked something about another wine, all you need to say is, ‘Oh I only ever drink White Bordeaux as it’s my favourite’.

Breathe

That includes you and the wine! Don’t hyperventilate over fear of knowing nothing about wine. You have to act the part. Take a deep breath and always insist on the wine doing the same. Even if wine doesn’t need to breathe, insisting that the wine needs to breathe will make others think you know something they don’t. Even if you picked up the cheap, nasty wine from the corner shop on sale, decant it and let it breathe. Then once it’s had a decent amount of air, pour some into your wine glass and swill it around like its life depends on it. Then take one short sip, followed by a satisfactory ‘mmm’ sound.

You can act the expert at anything when you’ve got a few tricks up your sleeve.

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