New to wine...

[wondersofwine]

The Andrea Immer book WW cited is "Great Wines Made Simple." It suggests wines to purchase for a tasting (such as contrasting a "cold region" wine with a "warm region" wine from the same grape, etc.) This would be fun to do with your friend, or better yet with several friends to share the cost of the bottles for the tastings. I have been drinking wine for over 30 years (but became more serious about it in the last 10-15 years). Like wineguru, I still learn from books like Andrea Immer's or "Wine for Dummies."