At what age did you start appreciating wine?

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At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 1:58:09 AM

pjaines

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I was having a glass of wine with the in-laws and my wife a while ago. They have a very impressive collection of wine, and my sister-in-law (who is 18) keeps trying all these nice wines but keeps saying "It tastes just like red wine - they all taste the same". No matter what she drank (table wine versus fine wine) it all tasted the same to her.

I was thinking about how taste and taste buds change through your life and there must come a point where you start to appreciate wine because you taste buds allow you to appreciate it.

For me it was about 20, 30 years old before I either had the money or the taste buds to really buy wine. Before that I didn't really have the palate for it. Having said that, before I hit 30 I couldn't really afford really good wine either.

Thoughts?

< Message edited by pjaines -- 10/14/2008 1:59:40 AM >

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 3:07:33 AM

Serge Birbrair

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I was 6 when my parents gave me my fiorst sip of homemade wine...the taste of it is still in my memory banks and I cherish it more than any 100 pointer.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 3:09:13 AM

Colonel Lawrence

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Most people can differentiate sweet and dry.
I suggest you find out what your sister-in-law prefers and then start her on the exact opposite.
After she finds that repulsive, switch to a good wine of the sweetness/dryness she prefers.
Hopefully she isn't a medium/sweet-dry drinker - in which case she probably does dislike everything - rightfully.
L.

< Message edited by Colonel Lawrence -- 10/14/2008 3:10:44 AM >

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 3:16:19 AM

pjaines

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I think the sister-in-law prefers vodka and espresso martinis.

I remember when I was 18 that drinking wine was a grim experience because you are not used to that sour, tannic taste.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 3:22:01 AM

Colonel Lawrence

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Not familiar with expresso martini,
could suggest a Dirty Martini.
L.

PS You should probably mark this thread "don't try this at home" for our US audience.
It's still 21+ there, except for joining up.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 3:30:53 AM

pjaines

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Pah ! 21 my ass. I bet there is not a single American user on this site who was not regularly getting hammered at a much younger age.

We give our 3 year old watered down wine. Although not in restaurants otherwise social services would be round in a shot.

Espresso martini:
2 shot of super strong espresso
1 part Kahlua
1 part vodka
Stick in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake the hell out of it and serve.

It is the best pick-me-up after a rough night on the wine.

< Message edited by pjaines -- 10/14/2008 3:31:32 AM >

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 3:40:46 AM

NiklasW

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Definitely around 30 before I began appreciating tastes and smells in wine, before that wine was a way to get sloshed faster than with beer, but slower than with vodka...

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 5:16:49 AM

nwinther

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Is it against US law for a person under 21 to drink alcohol? Here in Denmark you can't buy alcohol (legally - but actually you can) under the age of 18, but there's no lower limit to when a parent can serve alcohol to his/her child.

Anyway - on topic. I began appreciating in 1999 at the age of 20. My eye-openers were Lafite 1985, Latour 1983 and Gruaud Larose 1982 served with game (deer). I developed a taste for port a few years later.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 5:28:56 AM

pault

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Hmm , not sure about appreciate as I cant buy the really high end stuff, but my enjoyment started during the winter of 1972, and don't laugh, but what I remember is bottles of Mateus kept out on the window ledge of a NY city hotel, ya the windows opened then. Since spouse doesn't drink wines , cept champagne, I find I am the only consumer.Fast forward to the last 10 years, and I have started buying a few and found I did not really have enuf space to really get up a cross collection, so I can now store about 150 btls.

BTW, I also made my own wine back in 1975, having cab sauv grapes flown in from California then, group buy. I found that I would always want to try "1" , and before i knew it, the case was gone before its time.

As a side note, where I lived(1972), I picked tons of Concord grapes, type for jelly, crushed, fermented and made a rose wine. I experimented and put a tad of sugar in every bottle and ended up with some pretty neat, sparkling rose.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 6:01:58 AM

Colonel Lawrence

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My only home-brewing experiences - both as assistant brewer I hasten to add - were with a friend and beer, and a relation and vermouth.
Results were identical - caps blew off and it rotted the flooring in the kitchen.
Also the smell permeated the whole house for weeks.
So whatever score I give wine now, it can only be worse than what we made if it's seriously off.
L.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 6:07:23 AM

J2K

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I drank wine randomly and my parents would let us have a glass of white with Christmas, Easter dinner or Thanksgiving but I didn't really approeciate wine until around 35.
In your young days it's much cheaper and easier to drink beer or liquor (vodka is my choice) especially in the college days.
Plus it's a little difficult to drink wine on the golf course or at a (american) football game.
Tailgating with a glass of wine at a Pittsburgh Steeler game just doesn't work.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 6:43:48 AM

pbm

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I've been drinking wine for 30 plus years. Maybe 20 years ago I developed an interest -- but I didn't start appreciating wine until New Year's Eve about ten years ago. We opened a bottle of Chateau Beychevelle and it blew everyone away. The aromas and complexity were like nothing I'd ever had -- and this after an evening of drinking all night. That's when I fell for wine in a big way and the true appreciation began. Building a cellar a couple of years ago just made the addiction official.

My son is 14 and we've been giving him shot glass size glasses of wine for years. He's very good about swirling, sniffing, and tasting and clearly prefers whites over reds at this point and the softer reds to the more tannic reds. It's clear that palate wise he's quite immature but I enjoy his comments because in some ways they are very pure. Interestingly, he absolutely loves the taste of beer and would drink a bottle of it with dinner if I let him - which I don't.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 6:44:58 AM

scottr1968

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19 - I waited tables in a fine dining restaurant to put myself through college, so I had to know wine to sell it. In the restauruant I learned most people have a natural progression in learning to appreciate wine. To jump straight to reds is a challenge at any age.

I would encourage non- wine drinkers to start with Rieslings, then over time move them to Pinot Blancs, Chardonnays, Rhone Varietals, then Sauvignon Blancs (in that order), then the ground is set for reds. I always introduced reds with food, and started with easier wines like Beaujolais, smoother Merlots, and Sangiovese before moving on to Syrah, Cabs and Pinot's. Total progression would usually take less than a year.

Over the years, I assisted in converting many customers (and my wife and all of my in-laws) into serious wine drinkers. In college, the extra tips helped a lot. Also, with the in-laws, back then I could not afford good wine, but they could, so needless to say that paid off as well!

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 7:19:23 AM

Wrighty

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Round about when I turned 30 I think. Got married that year and remember paying some attention to the wine but it was more what it tasted like than what it was. Also had some Pol Roger during the week at home so must have sought that out. It was also about this time when I went to SA and was reading, buying and trying wine.

My 4 and a half year old daughter has a good sniff and dips her finger in now, it's normally lemons or blackcurrants which, unprompted, wasn't a bad start I thought!

Wrighty

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 7:33:16 AM

Paul S

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When I was about 12 or 13. Dad and his friends were picking up new world wines lilke Cloudy Bay, Penfolds 707, Caymus, Cakebread, Mondavi Resereve, Screaming Eagle etc on the cheap. I think the SE was going for something like $200 back then. I was happily sipping away at all their parties.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 9:01:39 AM

fingers

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Does Bartles & James count? Or Zima? I drank a bunch of those during my 20's, usually because that's what someone else brought to the party. Wasn't until early 30's that I started buying wine for my own consumption at home and then it was just supermarket, middle-shelf stuff. At 40, I tasted a mature Bordeaux and for the first time I understood what all the fuss was about.
Southside Chicago, Italian family in the early '60's - Yes, there was always wine on the table and I can still see and taste the Lancer's Rose that my mom kept atop the fridge. I even liked it then! Funny, no Lancer's listed in CT which only helps maintain credibility, I suppose.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 10:05:20 AM

jhannah27

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The best wine my parents kept in the house was the big Jug-O-Wine from the supermarket, and I was exposed to nothing in the way of fine wine. So you can see why I couldn't stomach wine until later in life.

I was always a Jack Daniels man myself until 2001, at age 23, on a trip to Australia we did some wine tasting in the Margaret River region and I was sucked in. It was all downhill from there.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 10:08:57 AM

kelpcowboy

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In my first year of college (I was 18) I wandered into a wine shop a few blocks from the dorm. This was more of an alcohol quest rather than a wine quest. The shop lady indulged my curiosity about Rhones, either was unaware of my age or simply didn't care and sent me home with a couple of bottles. Thus began my real education. While my classmates were devising all sorts of schemes to acquire beer, I was on a drinking tour of France. She became a friend for whom I have a fond memory, especially when sipping a good Rhone.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 12:18:28 PM

Colonel Lawrence

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quote:

ORIGINAL: kelpcowboy

In my first year of college (I was 18) I wandered into a wine shop a few blocks from the dorm. This was more of an alcohol quest rather than a wine quest. The shop lady indulged my curiosity about Rhones, either was unaware of my age or simply didn't care and sent me home with a couple of bottles. Thus began my real education. While my classmates were devising all sorts of schemes to acquire beer, I was on a drinking tour of France. She became a friend for whom I have a fond memory, especially when sipping a good Rhone.

Ah, Mrs Robinson.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 12:28:56 PM

fingers

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Colonel Lawrence

quote:

ORIGINAL: kelpcowboy

In my first year of college (I was 18) I wandered into a wine shop a few blocks from the dorm. This was more of an alcohol quest rather than a wine quest. The shop lady indulged my curiosity about Rhones, either was unaware of my age or simply didn't care and sent me home with a couple of bottles. Thus began my real education. While my classmates were devising all sorts of schemes to acquire beer, I was on a drinking tour of France. She became a friend for whom I have a fond memory, especially when sipping a good Rhone.

Ah, Mrs Robinson.

Actually, I was wondering if it was U C Santa Barbara?

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 12:51:35 PM

Nickbb

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I used to work for a company who's owner dished out some very nice wines at xmas. Usually classic French numbers, and although looking back it was that that kick started my love of the grape, I did'nt have the knowledge or palate to fully appreciate it then, so I guess the answer to the question from my point of view is about ten years ago.
Following on from a previous post, my son is nineteen and hates the taste of any wine. Oh well one day.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 1:13:17 PM

rbazinet

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If I had to guess, I started appreciating wine around age 25 - A few years after I really started to appreciate food.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 1:35:34 PM

kelpcowboy

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Colonel,

I applaud your sense of debauchery. I must admit, however, I was only after her wine. St. Emilion for about $2 a bottle for decent juice - I was in heaven.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/14/2008 8:41:42 PM

vinopkm

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I started about 5 years ago (Paso Robles) and the last 3 years really expanding my palate and taste outside of the Central Coast region. 2 years ago I went to Italy and became a fan of Italian wines. Spain is next on my list and hopefully this up coming year I'll visit Spain. Our dollar is starting to become a little stronger.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/15/2008 1:16:05 AM

Colonel Lawrence

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quote:

ORIGINAL: kelpcowboy

Colonel,

I applaud your sense of debauchery. I must admit, however, I was only after her wine. St. Emilion for about $2 a bottle for decent juice - I was in heaven.

And there was me thinking it was a touching love story.
Perhaps it was.
L.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/27/2008 11:32:22 AM

nu2wine

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I started drinnkng wines in my early 20s, but only in the past 5 years have I begun to appreciate wine. I am still a neophite when it comes to wine and the wine community. I know nothing about judging wine, rating wines, collecting, etc. All I know is whether I liked the wine or not. I realized recently that I have tired more wines than I can remember and that has become a problem. I find that I am unable to recall which wines I have tried, which ones I liked and which ones I did not like. So, I decided to start making a list. Then I thought why should I hand write a list when I am sure there would be some sort of computer program or iphone program. I researched various applications and that's how I found cor.kz and CellarTracker. I hope you will all bare with this newbie as I try to learn about wine.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/27/2008 12:00:36 PM

cgrimes

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quote:

ORIGINAL: nu2wine

I started drinnkng wines in my early 20s, but only in the past 5 years have I begun to appreciate wine. I am still a neophite when it comes to wine and the wine community. I know nothing about judging wine, rating wines, collecting, etc. All I know is whether I liked the wine or not. I realized recently that I have tired more wines than I can remember and that has become a problem. I find that I am unable to recall which wines I have tried, which ones I liked and which ones I did not like. So, I decided to start making a list. Then I thought why should I hand write a list when I am sure there would be some sort of computer program or iphone program. I researched various applications and that's how I found cor.kz and CellarTracker. I hope you will all bare with this newbie as I try to learn about wine.

Welcome! And remember we are all in various stages of learning. Our goal will be to help you be able to change your handle to xprt9wine. The best thing you can do to train yourself is to write tasting notes on all the wines you try.
Craig

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/27/2008 12:06:46 PM

NiklasW

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Welcome nu2wine! Yep, you've found the best place to keep track of what you've had and what you thought of it! If you don't have a collection yet, it won't take long before you do...

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/27/2008 12:15:12 PM

flyingron

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I didn't really start learning about wine until I spent five days in Bordeaux (I was running the Marathon du Medoc).
After that it's been going full steam.

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RE: At what age did you start appreciating wine? - 10/27/2008 5:08:33 PM

grafstrb

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I'm going to define "appreciate" as "knowing a good wine when I taste one."

With that, I'd say 26.

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