As a wine connoisseur myself, I am for ever searching for new ways to broaden my wine knowledge, even after 20 years of wine tasting.
The challenge, when it comes to wine appreciation, is how to manage with the landslide of new wines and vintages that appear every season from thousands of wineries all over the world. The question of how to keep up is compounded with the increasing number of new wineries coming into production, as well as new wine blends and new regions emerging.
However, once you have begun to climb the ladder of wine knowledge, you can taste a percentage of premium wines begin to selectively enhance your palate’s wine knowledge.
First of all, remove the high number of wines on the market that should be classified as quaffing wines or of average quality – this will eliminate 85-90% of wines available in the market. Still, a huge number of high quality, premium wines remain, so what is the next step towards arriving at a manageable number of wines to taste?
How about only tasting wines that have been recommended by prominent wine masters, such as Robert Parker?
I was not surprised when I recently discovered a series of premium wine clubs whose wines are selected by wine experts and all of the wines score 90 points and above. All wines are effectively of Gold medal wine quality. The wines are judged by the likes of Robert Parker, Stephen Tanzar, and Wine Enthusiast magazine – I mean these guys all have huge reputations in the wine world. What better way to assure yourself of the premium quality of the wines you are tasting?
Have you thought about growing your wine knowledge and palate by trying international red wines? Wines such as New Zealand Pinot Noir, Australian Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, and South African Pinotage are shaking the wine world with their quality. Add in some old world wines such as Tempranillo and Montepulciano and you have the building blocks for rapidly enhancing your wine expertise. The WSJ Wine Red Wine Club is perfect for introducing you to premium international red wines in small quantities. As in the Premium wine club, wine selection is carried out by a wine panel of experts, and you can control when and how much wine you wish to purchase.
Should the time you have for wine tasting be minimal over the next 12 months, one idea would be to join a Gold medal wine club that only has the very best ultra premium wines available in small quantities – very exclusive for a limited membership. This wine club has only the best wines – and yes that also equates to being more expensive – but when selected for you by wine experts, there is no guesswork regarding the wine quality. You will achieve fantastic value for your money with of this wine club membership since you are receiving only the very best wines and in manageable quantities.
