trust your own taste

Today I was at the car dealership waiting for my car and got into a conversation about wine with another customer. He asked about the copy of Wine Spectator I was reading. Once we got talking he said he really did not know that much about wine, but was starting to learn. He was almost apologetic. I told him the one piece of advice I have given hundreds of customers, that the only bit of wine knowledge anybody really needs is to know what they like and to be able to express that to someone else. The more one tastes the more likes and dislikes will be fine tuned. People are not born knowing what there preferences in food are, one learns this through experimentation. The same is true for wine, it is not mystical, but merely a beverage to be enjoyed alone or among good company. One should never be intimidated by wine. There are know mistakes only learning experiences.