My wine experiences

[Pokes28]

As many of you know, I've always been a beer guy. Until earlier this year, I never once found a wine that I could stand to drink yet alone enjoyed drinking. But that all changed in a crappy little East Texas town in the middle of several dry counties. What I discovered was that I probably always would have like certain wines, it was the tastings that I had major troubles with. Everybody (at least around here) always assumes that people's wine pallet starts sweet and develops to dry over time if it develops at all. So every time somebody would try to help me find wine, they'd start me out with sweet and by the time they offered up something that I would like, my taste buds were shot to a point that I wouldn't like anything.

Anyway, I found that I truly enjoyed a dry white from muscat grapes.

This was my starting point. The place that I could work from to find other wines that I liked.

About a month after finding the white that I liked, my wife and I joined a wine club in Springfield (about an hour from Joplin). It really has been instrumental in helping me determine what I really like, what I really don't, and everything in between.

So far the majority of what I like are white wines. I think my personal favorite right now is Elios which is a Greek wine (can be purchased at Whole Foods for under $10 a bottle). I prefer old world to new world.

I've found just a couple reds that I enjoy. Probably my favorite red thus far is Beaujolais Nouveau which is a very short duration wine (released on the 3rd Thursday of November every year and should be consumed before New Years) and it isn't the most complex, but damn I just like it.

I'm starting to branch a little bit into the sweeter whites, but I'm still not into it. I also don't like sweet reds or the big bold reds with heavy tannins.

Sarah and I go to Italy in March and I'm doing my best to work on my wine pallet so that we can fully enmesh the wine culture while we are there.