Instant Sommelier: Choosing Your Best Wine

When sommeliers talk about wine, they focus on a few key elements that define wine style and character. Now that you know how to use your senses to taste wine, let's use those tools to identify these elements and help you understand them. And in the meantime, this will also let you speak to those crazy sommeliers in their own language!

What kind of white wines do you like? In this episode, explore the best-known white wines and get a basic idea of what each one tastes like. Once you are familiar with these, you'll be able to talk to a sommelier in a restaurant without fear, and you'll be able to use these examples to understand thousands of other wines in the world.

Now that you have a firm grip on white wines, tackle red wines using the same basic techniques. And since there are even more styles of red wine than white, this one will be even more fun (and more helpful in your visits to a restaurant or wine shop).

While 90 percent of the world's wines fall into the categories of red and white, here is where we discover the rest, from sparkling wines to legendary dessert wines and aperitifs. Sure, sparkling wine may be perfect for celebrations, but by the time we are done with this episode, you'll use it for far more than that. And you'll have a lot of other wines that will serve just as well.

Since the beginning of recorded history, wine has enjoyed a special place in social celebrations around the world. In this episode, follow the course of wine's role in society and how it affects the way we enjoy wine today.