march123

I want to get the most of my proposed trip to Europe next year. I am not a drinker but would like to start with wine so I can fit in better.

Are there plain wines I can start with? I live in a dry county in Alabama so I'll have to travel to buy it. I am of age (51) but do not know the first thing about wine.

Thanks.

taggie

I agree - don't start drinking just to "fit in".
If you want to learn about wine, though, that's different. But don't think you have to be a drinker to go to Europe.

palette

And for cost purposes, you might want to drink tap water and watch those sodas because one Coke can cost you as much as a bottle of wine. My travel companion is addicted to Diet Coke, and she paid a fortune to drink those in Paris. The coffee is great too.

buongiorno

The question is one of needing to fit in but do you want to see what wine is all about. The best way to get a wine education is through tasting. I would find someplace near to your home that holds wine tastings and try it out. It is by no means mandatory that you drink wine while in Europe.

mmyk72

People do look at you funny if you ask for tap water. But you don't know them and they don't know you, so who cares.

If you just say 'water', they usually serve you something from a bottle.

In a lot of cities, water is more expensive than alcoholic drinks.

nbbrown

Hi March123! I would like to make a few suggestions, if you do taste wine and find you'd like to get more of a taste. Good for you, for wanting to try something new!

A wine tasting tour would be a great way to start. Not only do you get to taste a variety of kinds, but you get a bit of an education as well.

Whites are generally easier to start with than reds. Sweeter whites are easier on the palatte than dry whites.
But explore!

Make sure you eat something before you do too much tasting or drinking.

Drink lots of water.

Don't drive at all if you are feeling the least bit tipsy. Especially in a foreign country where you are not used to things!

Most of all, enjoy and have an open mind. Don't feel like you have to drink wine to fit in, if you don't care for it. Some people never do like the taste, and others (like me!) love wine.

Enjoy and have a wonderful time!

Grasshopper

I disagree that people look at you funny if you order tap water. You often see locals with a carafe of plain tap water on their table.

You don't need to drink wine to fit in, but if you'd like to try a glass just ask for a glass of the house red (or white).

Michel_Paris

I think you will find that a lot of people have spring water with their meals. Wines are best enjoyed with a meal. If you want to start simply with wines, go with the idea of red with meat, white with fish, chicken. Yes, it's more complicated than that, but there you go. What I do, since I often travel on my own, is order spring water and check out a restaurants wine list to see what they sell in half bottles or by the glass, check the budget, and decide. You may find that restaurants are also willing to help you pick, based on what you ordered.

The thing about wine is...wine is food...what I like you may not....what you would pay $30 for, I may cook with. It's all about what you like, so no one can say to you "this is the best" because only you can decide that. Some wines are overpriced, so a $20 wine is not nessarily twice as good as a $10 bottle....some wine regions have not been "discovered" so they are not getting the big price$$. Of course, there are some $100 wines that are superb...

Here's an online course from a respected magazine:

http://www.winespectatorschool.com/wineschool/

Hope this helps...and cheers!

Mike

march123

I think I would really like to try it and get used to it before my trip. What do I look for in the grocery store? nbbrown has suggested white. Is there a name brand for a "regular" white wine?

I don't think there are any wine tastings around my area. Think dry county in Bible Belt.

elle

I'm still looking for the dinner companion who can turn water into wine.

Seriously, march123, while no one is <i>required</i> to drink wine anywhere, I can understand why you might like to learn a bit about it and then make the decision for yourself as to whether you want wine to be part of your life or not.

Start with something basic, not too expensive, something that you might be able to find not too far from home. No reason to pay more than $10 a bottle to start out.

Some easy drinking, easy to find wines include Yellowtail (an Australian brand), Jacobs Creek (also Australian)Georges du Boeuf (French), and Bonny Doon (California). The Australian and Californian wine labels will tell you the type of grape from which the wine was made (called the &quot;varietal&quot.

French wines are more likely to be labeled with the names of the regions where the grapes are grown, although duBoeuf markets so heavily in the U.S. that he may have started putting the names of varietals on his labels.

Some of the popular grape varieties you'll see and want to try are:

(white)
chardonnay
sauvignon blanc
viognier
pinot grigio

(red)
cabernet sauvignon/merlot blends
syrah (which is called &quot;Shiraz&quot; in Australia)
zinfandel (this is a deep red wine; not to be confused with the sweet pink wine marketed as &quot;white zinfandel&quot

This should get you started. There are some books, magazines, and web sites that you might want to check out to learn more. Check out Amazon.com or Barnes &amp; Noble to see what sort of wine books they might have. There's even a book called &quot;Wine for Dummies&quot;. I haven't read it, but I've used the &quot;Dummies&quot; series to learn about all sorts of subjects ranging from buying a house to using an iMac and have found it to be a very good series.

clevelandbrown

We were always offered the option of water, with or without gas, and my wife often selected that. It was bottled water, and the &quot;with gas&quot; was carbonated.

If you want to learn to appreciate wine, however, I think the best option would be to go to a classy restaurant and order a glass with your meal. When they ask you which wine, ask for their recommendation. Until you are acclimated to having wine with your meals, have someone else drive.

I think wine tastings would be too intense for a neophyte, as there is no concern there for the interplay of food and wine; they only have a little food to cleanse your palate of the taste of the last wine before you progress to the next.

Around here the supermarkets carry a decent selection of table wines. Some of the very cheapest are not very good, so I always like to pay at least $9 a gallon.

Intrepid1

This has to be one of the more clever troll posts we've seen here since it apparently has fooled the usual cynics...if I am incorrect then I suspect we'll soon hear from the original poster.

StCirq

No, there's no such thing as a &quot;regular&quot; white or red wine or a &quot;plain&quot; one. There are loads of varieties of grapes out there, and many combinations of them that can produce a gazillion types of wine.
If you don't have any wine tasting possibilities nearby, you can at least drive to a restaurant with a decent wine list, right? Go out to dinner a few times before you leave and order something different by the glass each time to get some sense of what you like and don't like.

Stay away from Blue Nun and Lancer's.

Grasshopper

I don't know StCirq, aren't Lancers and Blue Nun the typical first time wine drinkers' favorites? Or how about a little Boone's Farm Apple Wine? Then you graduate to White Zinfindel, then chardonays, and eventually move on to the reds. It's been a long (fun) road!

nukesafe

Clevelandbrown: I am shocked at you going as high as @$9.00/gallon for your wine!

When I learned to drink wine, I was going to school in San Frncisco and staying in the Haight-Ashbury for the cheap rent - $32.50/month, split two ways. We could get a drinkable red for $0.50/gallon. A nickel more if you didn't bring your own jug.

I guess things have changed a bit. Obviously this was more than a few years ago.

Seriously, march123, my mother had never touched wine, and wanted to learn. I made a mistake and gave her a sip of Zinfindel. She puckered up said she would never touch the stuff again! I then plied her with a touch of a desert wine, which she liked. Everytime we ate together, I helped her try something different --- and usually a bit drier. Soon she was the wine expert in the family and used to drag my father from vinyard to vinyard all across the Northwest. She had an impressive cellar by the time she died.

No, the wine did NOT kill her -- or if it did, she had a smile on her face.

It is not too late to start!

StCirq

Grasshopper: Your path down the wine road certainly paralleled mine, but this person is beginning to drink at age 51! I think he/she deserves to jump into at least the middle of the learning curve

tpatricco

March123, since you want to learn, I'd recommend trying different wines &amp; asking yourself &quot;does this taste good to me?&quot; If it doesn't, try others. If you're not enjoying it, why drink it...

Since your interest is partially because you plan to travel in Europe, I'd endeavor to try wines from the countries you plan to visit.

Finding a bunch of California wines you like won't help you that much in knowing what to choose while in Italy, Spain or Portugal, for example where different grapes are used.

Choose some to try from where you'll be going. There are inexpensive wines available from most.

Enjoy!

SeaUrchin

I started out drinking a light white wine accompanied by cheese, crackers and fruit. It is a good way to savor all the different taste sensations.

But don't try to drink wine to fit it, at your age fitting in should be the least of your worries. I am around there myself and now is the time in our lives to please ourselves. If pleasing yourself is learning about wine go for it, but don't worry about not fitting in by not ordering wine.

KT

I wouldn't worry about the OP finding a tasting. To quote from his/her own posting on another thread about Santa Barbara wineries:

&quot;We visited Cottonwood Canyon and Sanford this past weekend and they were $5/person for tasting.&quot;

Nice try, though.

cmt

Just noticed this didn't post. Will click post again.

I think it's silly to start drinking wine just to fit in. No one in Italy will care whether you drink wine with your meals or not. However, if you want to start drinking a little wine to see whether you like it, that's nice. You might start the way children start in families where wine is a routine part of nice meals, but where drinking to excess is unheard of. First: ALWAYS drink your wine when you're having food, preferably a full meal or a fairly fatty, savory snack, like good French or Italian cheese, spicy oily olives, and plenty of bread. Do not just sit down to drink wine, by itself. First start eating. When you have eaten a while and are not feeling any hunger pangs at all, and your mouth is full of the flavor of the food and your lips are a little oily, then begin sipping the 1/2 glass of wine that you poured for yourself at the beginning of the meal. Drink no more than 1/2 glass at first, until you get used to wine, like it, and know how it makes you feel. If it makes you feel a little dizzy or high, drink it more slowly, with more food, and eat more before you begin sipping it. If you are not too used to it, and it makes you feel a little spacey, but you really like it, you may be someone who should never have more than one glass. Think of wine as something that enhances your meal, and maybe gives you a vague sense of well being, but not as something that will alter your personality or give you courage or make you embarrass yourself. It is just an enjoyable part of a meal, for people who like it. People's tolerance and enjoyment of alcohol varies a lot, and much of it is purely physiological and has to do with heredity, not character flaws.