How to Get Your Friend Who Doesn't Know Wine Interested in Fine Wine

How to Get Your Friend Who Doesn't Know Wine Interested in Fine Wine

Bryce Sanders, President

Perceptive Business Solutions Inc.

Wine fans have friends with no interest in wine.? Antique collectors know people who consider antiques as “stuff owned by dead people.”? Contemporary art enthusiasts know someone who says “My six-year-old can paint better.”? How can the wine fan turn their skeptical friend on to “sunshine in a glass?”

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First, let us establish people with no interest in drinking should not be pressured into drinking.? People who have a drinking problem should be able to count on the support of their friends to help them avoid temptation.? People who prefer beer should be encouraged to follow their passion, not change to another beverage.

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We are talking about the person who is open minded, but just “Doesn’t get what all the fuss is about” when it comes to enjoying fine wine.

1.????? Learn about their taste preferences.? Many people want to give advice without learning the background story.? Ask questions.? What have they tried?? Now is the time for some fieldwork.? This might involve going to a wine bar and ordering a flight of reds and whites, each representing different varietals.? Listen to their comments.? This exercise might point you in a general direction.

2.????? Sweet might work.? Your friend might be willing to learn, but we might still be at the “wine just doesn’t do it for me.”? When you ask people about their preferences in wine, they often say “I prefer dry wines.”? They might say that because they assume that is the “right” answer.? After all, isn’t White Zinfandel sweet?? Who gives White Zinfandel any respect?? Generally speaking, people prefer sweet tastes in many foods.? Several of the wines from Yellow Tail, a famous Australian producer, lean toward the sweet side.? They might like the Yellow Tail Cabernet Sauvignon, a red wine. ?Here is another idea: Try opening a German Riseling and asking their opinion.

3.????? Taste the best.? One of the greatest wine pleasures is trying a truly great wine in a popular category, taking note of its taste and spending time (maybe years) trying to find something that tastes similar at a reasonable price.? There is a lot of tasteless wine out there.? Some come from Bordeaux at a very low price point of $10 - $15/bottle.? If you can make this happen, share a bottle of great Bordeaux like Chateau Latour with them.? Plenty of other people can share too.? They should find a certain greatness, which helps justify the $925/bottle average price. (Wine-searcher.com, 8/27/24) This is an extreme example, but the experience should be eye opening.

4.????? Sauternes might work.? This dessert wine from the Bordeaux region of France is famous for it’s longevity.? It is very sweet, which is why it is associated with dessert, but can go with other wine and food pairings too.? It is available in half bottles.? I tend to find the taste of other fruits, like pineapple when I sip a glass of Sauternes.? I can never figure out how a product made from grapes can have the taste of a completely different fruit.? The pleasant tastes should impress them too.

5.????? The classic wine and food matches.? You know 1+1 =2.? In some cases, 1+1 can equal 3, when you are talking about wine and food matches.? This means two things that taste good on their own taste even better when enjoyed together.? A simple example is cheese pizza with a Sangiovese blend like Chianti.? They are both Italian, so the match seems obvious, yet your friend should feel this is an ideal beverage to enjoy alongside pizza.

6.????? Port is a good gateway.? This is a dessert wine associated with Portugal that is famous for it’s long life.? One of the secrets is the wine is fortified, meaning it has brandy added to the blend.? It is a heavier wine.? It is on the sweet side.? It is a good dessert or after dinner wine.? Try this one with your friend but use small glasses.? The higher alcohol level can surprise you.

7.????? Visit a wine producer.? Wine seems to often taste better in a vineyard on a sunny day at a picnic table.? If you live in or near this kind of area, visit the tasting room at a good winery.? Stay for lunch.? The “complete picture” of meeting the winemaker, tasting the recent vintage, sitting in the sun and eating good food creates an atmosphere.

8.????? Learn about the lore. My sense of smell is not that great.? I do not het the “aroma of blackcurrants and cedar” others might rave about.? I simply like wine.? I also enjoy learning the “backstory.”? One of my favorites concerns Chateau Montus in the Madiran region of France.? According to legend, the winemaker’s dead father appeared to him in a dream, telling him where to plant vines on the hillside to create “The Mouton Rothschild of the Madiran.”? Since Mouton Rothschild is one of the most famous wines in Bordeaux, that is an incredible claim.? Chardonnay is exclusively planted in Burgundy’s Corton Charlemagne because King Charlemagne did not like red wine staining his beard, so he ordered only white wine to be grown there.? In modern times, Chateau Miraval was a joint venture between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, along with a famous French producer.? You can fall in love with wine through the stories.

Your friend who doesn’t like wine might have reached that conclusion because they have only tried tasteless wines.? You can make the effort to gently broaden their horizons.

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?Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc.? He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry.? His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor” is available on Amazon.