Too Young?

i wanted to note:

i've tried a few different wines and i was not particularly impressed with any of the "lighter" (?) ones. but i really liked the bottle of ravenswood vintners blend (?) shiraz i bought.

but i have no direction and don't really know what my taste preferences mean at this point.

Tell the cranky old fart to get lost. He's wrong.

I, and many others started at 21 or younger(!). Hang around here, and you'll know more than that stuck-up pr!ck in about 6 months. Welcome!!!

First of all, the idiot should be unemployed! If he blew off a consumer of legal age in my wine store (if I had one) he'd be on the street in a heartbeat.

Both my daughters began tasting and enjoying wine well before their 21st birthdays. I wish I'd started when I was as young as you!

Find a new store. If you'll post your location, I'm sure someone here can make a recommendation in your area.

PH

Younger people have sharper senses than old people, you will get more out of the wine at a sensory level than an old fart.

Developing expertise takes experience, so the younger you start the earlier you will 'get' the full wine experience.

It took me about 4 or 5 years of tasting many different wines to reach the stage where I started feeling confident in my ability to properly taste and appreciate wine. It doesn't matter when you start it will take several years to gain enough experience to fully appreciate wine.

When I one day have children, I will let them taste a sip of wine at dinner when they are 12. (Not drink mind you) By 18 my kids will have a greater understanding than that medievalist wine depot emplyee can ever hope to achieve.

Brandi, wine is first and foremost about enjoying. If that was his attitude, you probably already know more about wine than him.

Just keep an open mind, and if anyone else gives you lip, taste more.

Brandi, nothing more to add to the above responses except to welcome you to the boards and to suggest that you print this thread off, take it to the wine depot and shove it up his...
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... nose. The guy is an idiot.

thanks guys, i appreciate the warm welcome! and i loved the pr!ck sentiment.. i felt the same way.

as for location, i'm in portsmouth, va. any help would be appreciated greatly!

thanks again!

oh, and happy vday!

quote:

but i have no direction and don't really know what my taste preferences mean at this point.

Don't worry about what your taste preferences mean. They'll probably change as you go along. Just try as many things as you can. Take notes. I wish I'd started this sooner. Attend tastings (in stores or restaurants,) get together with friends and share a few bottles. Finding a good store with a supportive and knowledgeable staff is a big help.

Any forumites in the Norfolk/Portsmouth VA area have any suggestions on good retailers?

PH

The only thing age will bring you is experience.
Experience you can only accumulate by starting to taste young enough.

You'll find out soon enough what your preferred tastes in wine are. And hopefully you'll learn to appreciate a large spectrum of different wines.

Enjoy!

quote:

Originally posted by brandi:
I'm 22 and interested in learning about wine but I was told I was too young. An older, very impatient, man told me i needed to wait 10 to 20 years to fully appreciate wine. He worked at a wine depot and wouldn't help me!

Can you be too young?

And how/where do I start, since I wasn't able to receive any help by an "expert."

the old fart prolly thought you were some college dork who thought enjoying alcohol meant shotgunning a can of Budweiser. Tell the old far to get lost!!! You are never too young (ok... maybe not) to learn about good wine... but if you have the maturity and the good sense to learn good wines.. then you wont be the college dork who shotguns cans of budweiser. I would think that the old fart in the wine store would be HAPPY to educate young ppl on GOOD wines!!

For starters.. find a wine tours and do that. I love the Madera Wine trails... Mmmmm good wine good food!

Brandi,

I'd suggest two things. First, VA has a good reputation for wine, I'd visit some local wineries and see what tickles your fancy. Second, go to some tastings. They tend to cost in the $30 range, you get fed and try a bunch of different wines. Here is a link I use:

http://www.localwineevents.com/

quote:

VA has a good reputation for wine

Compared to MI, perhaps! A visit to the wrong VA winery could put Brandi off of wines for the rest of her life!!

PH

[/QUOTE]
Compared to MI, perhaps! A visit to the wrong VA winery could put Brandi off of wines for the rest of her life!!
PH[/QUOTE]

Hey now, be nice!! He he he

I remember at Richmond International Airport (tee hee hee) that they were trying to flog Virginia Claret at $30 per bottle. I can get proper Claret for that price. Decided that my policy of buying from wherever I've been could take a hike on this occasion.

As for the tidewater wine stores.

Of course there are several Total Wine outlets in the area. There's also PJ Baggan on Laskin in Virginia Beach. It's about a mile in from the beach proper on the North Side of Laskin next to a really wierd eclectic furniture store.

Yeah, I would say start as young as possible, as to really enjoy wine before you can't any longer...

You can drink and learn with me anytime.

quote:

Originally posted by Pauly:
Younger people have sharper senses than old people, you will get more out of the wine at a sensory level than an old fart.

How do you explain the fact that old people make better sharpshooters? Lovers? Athletes? Dog walkers? Pa-leease!

I myself am 26, and Don't think that you are too young. It all depends on your ability to learn, not your age.

Also, keep in mind that in the countries with the greatest appreciation for wine, the young people do indeed drink wine (France, Spain, Italy). Maybe it is precisely the attitude of the idiot at the store that keeps this country from becoming a wine savy nation. Start enjoying wine when you are of legal age, and by the time you are 30, you will know a lot about wine. This will make your wine drinking experience more pleasurable for the rest of your life. Cheers!

quote:

Originally posted by grunhauser:

quote:

Originally posted by Pauly:
Younger people have sharper senses than old people, you will get more out of the wine at a sensory level than an old fart.

How do you explain the fact that old people make better sharpshooters? Lovers? Athletes? Dog walkers? Pa-leease!

Experience. Taking the sharpshooter example, young people will have better eyesight and will be fitter and stringer. Old people know how to adjust.

my son is 24 and he too has started getting intrested in wine.I seem to get a call once every 4 days from him about what wines to buy.I can always count on a good ca. cab from him on holidays.

quote:

Originally posted by PurpleHaze:

quote:

VA has a good reputation for wine

Compared to MI, perhaps! A visit to the wrong VA winery could put Brandi off of wines for the rest of her life!!

PH

i actually did a wine tour of virginia, and the state does indeed have some quality offerings. there are a lot of wines made in a sweet style
( as that is what is selling in the local market) these wines are actually quite good in context....maybe a picnic or a with fried chicken. don't be put off by these styles, and try some of the varietal cabernet francs. farfelu vinyards makes a really decent syrah. or at least did when i visited in 2004. also , if you can afford it make a pilgramage to the inn at little washington in washington virginia!

Kim: Consider joining us for the dinner on the last Sunday of March. Check out the Maryland offline thread in the offline section!

Brandi
I only recently started to get serious about wine. I'm 30. The people on this forum have an amzing amount of knowledge and MOST of them wil take the time to help you out. What I did was pick a region, learn about it, try a bunch of wines from that region in all price ranges and decide for yourself what you like. My conquest now is Bordeaux..god luck to me! Way too much to chose from. Once you try a bunch of wines, you'll start to learn what you like and then you can narrow your selections. Don't be afraid of cheaper wines. I don't know how much money you have, but a lot of people on the forum seem to have an endless supply! Oh, as shakespeare says...Perchance to dream! HAVE FUN

Thats a great approach zblang
thats what i'm trying to do with Spanish/SA wines

Too young? There is no such thing. Or maybe that's just the naive opinion of someone younger than you Brandi. I've been drinking wine to dinner since I was around 15 and I've really started to develop an interest and a taste in the last years (I'm 21 at the moment).

Taste, taste, taste... that is all there is to it. If you enjoy cooking and drinking decent wine you'll be fine. And if you're like me, not too snobby (partly because I live on a parttime salary!) remember that there are definately fine wines to be had for around $10 (at least from my experience, although I'm not quite so sure on the pricing range in the US), and if you're new to that you'll problably be better off trying a few of those than buying something expensive that you might not fully appreciate.

hi brandi,

some of the best sommeliers/wine advisors i know are in their 20's and 30's. they study wine as if they were in grad school and they live to taste and discover and learn.

don't let anyone hold you back. taste (and spit) and enjoy learning; the more you learn, the more you realize that there is to learn.

last but not least, enjoy sharing wine with others, whether they know more or less about wine than you do.

cheers!
gloria

Not too young at all!

To follow up on Ms. Gloria's point, I myself was working as a Sommelier at the age of 25 at one of Sydney's top fine dining restos.

I started tasting wine when I was around 16 and never stopped...keep self educating and enjoying.


"Carpe Vinum!"

Brandi!

I'm 29 and I was kinda in the same boat as you. Ive been drinking wine now since I was 21 and honestly its addicting! I love it, every part about it. You CANT be too young. You're starting off in the right direction. Remember that everyone likes different kind of wines so stick to what you like at first and you will see that all of a sudden your taste will change. This will happen over and over again. God I love wine!

Too young? You're an adult, you have the world at your feet. Life is too short not to celebrate, and wine is one of those celebrations!!

I don't know if you will still be checking this thread...first off...who cares about someone who can't do his job and help someone ASKING for assistance...second off, we are the NEW generation of wine drinkers.
If you are looking to find a place to expand your palate, try Sonoma Wine Bar and Bistro in Virginia Beach (it is at the Towne Center)...they have tasting flights for reasonable prices good food (go for the lunch menu as the dinner menu is much more expensive for the same thing)
Take care and good luck...

There's no such thing as too young. I'm 23, and I've been tasting regularly for ~4 years.

quote:

Compared to MI, perhaps! Razz A visit to the wrong VA winery could put Brandi off of wines for the rest of her life!!

Brandi - nothing to add to the sentiments expressed - all these people are correct. You're much better off developing both your taste and your manners at a young age, rather than going through life with neither.

But I have to respond to the above quote. Until quite recently I felt exactly the same way, having tasted lots of cherry wine and cheap sweet stuff years ago. But it turns out that today some wineries in Michigan are making some top notch chardonnay and riesling. Who knew? There's a lot of crap of course, but some really good wine too.

Brandi, welcome. Anyone who tries to tell someone to limit their opportunities based on age is just a very narrow person and should be ignored. It speaks more to the the insecurities with which they live and the borders they place on themselves. I don't believe in too young or too old.

Brandi,

I'm 21 - my birthday was in September. I read a lot of books, got hooked on Wine Library TV, and eventually founded a wine club at my school. Dive in!

You've probably got twice as many olfactory cells as that old guy anyway!

btw - I kept a record of my intro to wine on my old blog, Students of Wine. The books I read are mostly there.

22 years old is a great time to get into wine. If you start a cellar in the next couple years you'll still be young when you when your wines are mature.