What Would You Do Differently?

People who write wine blogs are great group of people. They are friendly, informative and very helpful when it comes to learning about wine. I’m impressed by the knowledge and willingness to share that I’ve experienced as I visit various wine blogs around the web.

Last year I posted a question to several wine bloggers and wine forums that I thought would help me learn more about wine. I asked,

“If you were able to go back in time to when you were first getting into wine, what would you do differently?”

I thought I could pick up some wisdom if I got a long time wine lover to think about the “mistakes” they made in the beginning or opportunities they missed because they were newbies.

I got a lot of cool advice like:

• Don’t pay attention to ratings


• Develop a relationship with a wine merchant in your area


• Don’t get stuck in a rut, try everything


• Don’t read too much at first, experience the wines first hand and then learn.

I expected a few emails (which I got) but I was blown away when one blogger included my question in their blog post. It was Tim Elliot of Winecast. Tim does a podcast on various wine topics. On episode 72, he interviewed Bill Wilson who does the blog Wine for Newbies. Tim asked Bill several questions and then they discussed mine. It was cool to hear these two bloggers answer my question! They gave some great answers and I still visit their blogs from time to time to learn more.

Another cool piece of advice I got was about Bordeaux futures. One member of a wine forum (I can’t remember which one) said he wished he had bought Bordeaux futures the year he first got into wine because it was a great year. By the time he became familiar with Bordeaux wines, that vintage was too expensive to buy from wine shops. He recommended buying 2005 futures even if I didn’t know if I liked Bordeaux wines. I took his advice and I have two bottles which I'll receive in June of this year. It isn’t much, but I thought it would be a great way to get my feet wet even though I’m only getting two bottles. I have tried some Bordeaux wines of a different vintage and enjoyed them, so I’m looking forward to getting my own 2005 Bordeaux wines.

I may still be able to take advantage of the wonderful 2005 Bordeaux vintage. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal last Friday on the 2005 Bordeaux, “Looking for Value in a Prized Vintage” by Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher. Their focus is on affordable 2005 Bordeaux that can be found on market shelves today. It seems the supply is hit or miss and goes pretty quick. If you find a bottle, better pick it up. Good values can be found for between $9 and $15: what a deal!

I’d still like to get answers on my question, so please post a response: If you could go back to when you were first learning about wine what would you do differently?