Free Sample
The Purple Guide to Learning Wine Tasting in 10 Days
A no-nonsense 10-day starter plan to taste wine with curiosity, confidence, and a clear sense of what you actually like
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: First Day
Let's get one thing straight before you pour anything: wine tasting is not about being fancy. It's not about impressing your friends, memorizing fancy words, or pretending to smell "cigar box notes" when you really just smell wine. At its core, wine tasting is about paying attention. It's about slowing down your next glass, using your senses the way you already know how, and turning a casual sip into a small detective mission. You're not trying to become an expert tonight. You're just trying to notice things you've probably missed before.
Your first session should take about twenty minutes. That's it. Twenty minutes, one glass of wine, and a glass of room-temperature water. If you've already got a bottle somewhere in your kitchen that you were planning to drink anyway - great. Open that one. Don't stress about buying something special for day one. The point is to start practicing with what you have, not to spend fifteen dollars proving to yourself you're serious. If you don't have anything open, a single modestly priced bottle is fine. Also grab a plain cracker or a piece of bread. You'll see why in a minute.
Before you pour, take a beat. Set the bottle on the table in front of you. Look at it. Not the label decoration, but the actual wine in the bottle if it's clear glass, or just the bottle itself if it's opaque. Notice the color. Is it deep purple or more of a