When starting your journey into the wine world, it can be quite overwhelming. There is a lot of information out there and it can be difficult to navigate which are the best sites. You want to learn as much as you can about wine but also need to be sure you are really understanding what you read and, in turn, what you taste when you take a sip of that delicious beverage! These resources will help you take an in-depth look at wine and learn more in a comprehensive, intelligent way.
General Wine Resources
From everything to wine history to types of wine varietals, these guides will give you a great baseline for your wine education. Read a few of these articles and you will find yourself wanting to dive even deeper into the world of wine! Pour yourself a glass of wine and take a look!
Pretty and Precise – This is one of the most interesting resources where you will learn about the history of wine. Illustrations and descriptions will take you on a journey into how wine came to be.
From The Beginning – Read all about how wine came about with this brief but very thorough history of the beverage. A quick 5 minute read and you will be a wine history expert!
Most Common Wines – This guide will teach you the basics about the most popular types of wine. From how to say each wine name to a description of their taste and color, you will quickly be able to tell a syrah from a cabernet.
All the Wine – With a description of every wine varietal in the world, this is the perfect resource if you want to learn about all the wines that are out there. Keep this site saves to reference anytime you have a wine classification question.
Smart Purchases – When you are looking to purchase a specific type of wine and ensure that it is in your price range and also will taste great, use this site to be sure you get what you want.
Wine Resources For Beginners
There is a lot to learn about wine. From purchasing to tasting, serving to just making general conversation about wines, even beginners need to know everything just to get by. These resources will help you get organized and get learning as quickly as possible! Start at the beginning, master the basics and then move on to bigger bottles!
Pick a Winner – Choosing a good bottle of wine can be a challenge especially when you are a new wine drinker. Take a look here at how to pick the best bottle of wine for you and for your occasion.
Pop the Bottle – That foil wrapper and that super tight cork can be intimidating, How are you supposed to get into the wine?! This video and instructional article will help you.
The Correct Pour – When you serve a glass of wine, you want to be sure you have the right glass and pour the wine the right way. Read up on how to serve wine like a professional.
Sip and Evaluate – Have you ever seen a professional wine taster assess a glass of wine? It seems like a science! This guide will teach you all the nuances of how to taste wine in order to fully appreciate it.
Bad Bottle – Sometimes a bottle of wine can be spoiled and this guide will help you learn how to decipher if you have a bad bottle on your hands.
Wine Tasting and Evaluating Resources
Once you have learned the basics on how to taste wine, you may want to increase your tasting skills. These resources will guide you into becoming a true sommelier, enabling you to decipher a wine as if you have been doing it for years! It may take a little fine tuning to really train your palate but with these great educational materials, you will have fun learning!
The Master Taster – This guide is quite thorough and you will learn all the steps to properly tasting a wine. With enough information to be a full sommelier class, you will know every aspect of wine tasting after reading this!
Quick Taste – If you are looking to sip wine like a pro but don’t have time to take a real class, read this quick wine tasting guide to understand the basics.
Enjoy It – Wine tasting isn’t all work, it should be enjoyable too! This guide will tell you how to really enjoy a wine as you sip.
The Swirl – How to swirl your wine and, more importantly, why to swirl your wine is what will be covered in this guide. Get your glass ready and take it for a spin as you read!
Evaluate – While the taste of a wine is important, there is, even more, to fully evaluating a glass of wine. This guide and handy chart will help you assess the entire wine as a whole.
Wine Regions of the World
Grapes for wine grow all over the globe with each region giving the wine a distinct taste. Learning about each wine growing region is important to fully understand a wine. You may want to give a wine from every region a try as well while you read to get some good hands-on experience.
Top Ten – These wine regions have been in the top for centuries and here you can learn why and what makes them so great.
Plan a Trip – These are the best wine regions to visit across the world. What better way to plan a trip than based around great wine!
The Best Around – Wine regions from around the world are ranked by users with the best vineyards being put on top.
Smaller is Better – Don’t discount the smaller regions! These minor wine players are ones to watch.
Wine and Food Pairings
Wine and food have gone together since the beginning of wine history. It can be tricky to match the right food with the right wine but these resources will help guide you in the right direction.
Start Here – These are the basics that you need to know in order to properly pair food with wine.
The Rules – These seven rule of pairing wine and food will give you a solid foundation in how to match the best wine with the best foods.
Pretty Visuals – If you love charts and visual aids when you learn a new skill, this wine, and food pairing chart is for you!
Bad Pairs – There are many ways to falter when pairing foods and wines and this resource will tell you what to avoid.
Sommelier Resources
Sommeliers are the experts on wine and when you need an expert, these are the places to find them! Read what some of the best in the wine business have to say and become more of a pro yourself.
Classes – If you are interested in becoming a sommelier yourself, this is a great place to start. With online classes and expert guidance, you will thoroughly enjoy the journey to being a sommelier.
Tips for Sommeliers – Planning on taking a sommelier test? Here are a few insider tips that will help you pass.
Best of the Best – These are the top sommeliers in the USA and are people whom you should follow if you are serious about wine.
Sommelier Tips – Top sommeliers give their secret tips to ordering a great wine. These are the tips to follow when ordering out for sure!
Wine Blogs and Websites
Think of these sites as your own personal education resources related to wine. Even if you just check them out once and never come back, you’re likely to learn something worthwhile.
Wine Adventure Journal – Based in Northern California, this blog was created by John – A Wine Adventurer. The blog shares tales of their tastings, travels, and experiences in the world of wine and adjacent amusements. You can start by searching their directory of recommended Wine Adventure Destinations and browse the Wine Blog.
Wine News – Stay up to date with everything going on in the world of wine simply by going to this site. You will be able to read all the headlines, tasting notes and upcoming wine events.
Vintage Wine Picks – This website is dedicated to helping you find high-quality wines at relatively affordable prices. Also providing a unique selection of high-quality red wines and white wines for your enjoyment.
Grape-Nutz – is a huge repository of wine tasting notes, wine travelogs, and useful tidbits of information – like removing wine labels from bottles. Yet, it’s also a blog – of sorts. Grape-Notes is a blog-style update of things like book reviews, tasting, and other news from the world of wine.
The PinotFile – is a unique online magazine dedicated to keeping readers apprised of news in the pinotphile world including latest releases, winery news, winemaker, wine reviews, what to buy, and how to get your hands on it.
Wineanorak – This website is one of the most interesting wine resources on the web. It is designed to appeal to novices as well as long-term wine nuts. The site is created by Jamie Goode – a London-based winewriter. He is currently wine columnist with UK national newspaper The Sunday Express. You can read more about him here.
Miquel Hudin – This website was founded in pursuit of wine. You can read the full history of its development here. In addition to news, reviews, and profiles, the site also covers wine book reviews, film/series reviews.
Wine Podcasts
Want to learn about wine while you are out and about, commuting, running or just working around the house? Plug in your headphones and download these great podcasts all about wine. Just listening will make you want a glass!
I’ll Drink to That – a very professional and very through wine podcast that everyone from a certified sommelier to a wine novice will learn from.
A Glass With… – This podcast is more like sitting down with your favorite celebrities and talking about your favorite wines. Relaxed and fun but still centered around wine.
Wine Enthusiast – Form the top wines of the year to the prospective trends in the industry, this broad podcast covers it all!
Weekly Wine Show – With one quick 20-minute show per week, you will learn a lot about grapes and regions with this podcast.
