Introduction

I’ll admit it. Wine is complicated. Walk into even a modest-sized supermarket and you’ll likely be faced with a wall of hundreds of different wines. In a situation like this, how is a non-expert supposed to make an informed choice? Easy, you just go for what’s reduced by a couple of quid on the gondola end, or else you choose by label design, or mere guesswork.

But this complexity that can prove so frustrating to consumers is actually part of the appeal of wine – it means there’s always something new to discover. The fact that wines come in an enormous range of different styles, many of which reflect a real sense of place, is what lures so many into the hugely rewarding pursuit of wine geekdom.

So it’s inevitable that there’s a degree of learning associated with exploring the world of wine. The goal of this wine course is to help people who are interested in wine find out more, not so they can become wine bores, but so that they have more understanding, which usually leads to more fun. And I’m going to try to make this an enjoyable journey of discovery: you’ll find the writing style here an accessible one, without the content being dumbed down.