The Purple Guide to Learning Wine Tasting in 10 Days

I bought this because I kept feeling stupid at wine tastings. It's genuinely reassuring and the day-by-day structure is helpful. That said, day one was simpler than I expected - just pouring a glass and smelling it - and I wished it got more technical sooner. But for someone with zero experience, it builds confidence, and I did learn to actually describe what I'm tasting by day ten. Decent starting point, just don't expect to be impressing anyone after a week.

The honesty won me over. This isn't one of those "become an expert overnight" guides. It told me straight up what ten days would - and wouldn't - do. I liked that it forced me to taste with water and bread to reset my mouth, which I never would've thought of. The progress table on day seven was incredibly grounding. I'm not a sommelier now, but I finally know why I hate oaky chardonnay, and that's worth the price alone.

Solid structure, but let's be real: you need to buy at least two decent bottles of wine before you even start, and the guide doesn't really emphasize that until day two. If you're balling on a budget, that's a shock. The first day was calming and approachable, though, and the author's tone is like a patient friend. I'll probably finish the ten days, just stretched out over three weeks instead.

As someone who genuinely thought I was tone-deaf to wine, this helped me realize I just needed a system. The day one session - comparing a wine to plain water - felt almost silly at first, but it absolutely trained my brain to notice the difference in weight and flavor. By day four I was swirling like I meant it (even if I looked ridiculous). The mistakes section on day six alone was worth it. I'm still a beginner, but a very slightly confident one.

This is the exact guide I wish I'd had years ago. It doesn't talk down to you, doesn't oversell, and doesn't require a second mortgage to try wine tasting. The first day felt like having a coach right there walking me through the pour and the first sniff. By day ten I could genuinely describe whether a wine was high acid or full-bodied, which is more than I ever learned from my wine club membership. Get it, especially if you're shy to ask questions in public.

I've tried learning from YouTube videos and they always lose me within five minutes. This was different: it's just read one chapter a day, do the task, come back tomorrow. Day one was literally just me, a glass, and water - so simple I nearly skipped it, but I'm glad I didn't, because the whole book builds on that basic awareness. The start is slow, but it pays off by day eight when you're doing a full tasting. A good, trustworthy companion guide.

Very practical. I appreciated that the author didn't tell me to buy a $200 wine aerator or a special glass rack. Day one was just pour and sniff - that's it. It made me realize how much I usually inhale my wine, and actually stopping to taste it was weirdly lovely. The self-assessment on day two was a smart gut-check to make sure this wasn't just a fleeting hobby idea. It's not flashy, but it's honest and it works.

I read the first day and immediately grabbed a bottle from my fridge - that's how approachable this is. None of that pretentious swirling-and-frowning nonsense right off the bat. Instead, it told me to just look at the color of the wine, take a sniff without swirling, and then swirl and smell again. The difference was shocking. I felt like a detective by day eight. This is the only guide I've seen that respects how much beginners don't know without treating them like they're dumb.