So many types of wine

[Kenna]

I am really new at knowing my wines. I know nothing. I know I want a sweet wine with no bitterness or much after taste. Does one exist? And what is a Merlot and a Chardonay. I have tried to find it here and at other web sites but to no avail. Thanks for the help.
Kenna

[Innkeeper]

Although there is no correct place to get into the wine game, you may want to try something else if you have a sweet tooth. To get to reds you might go the White Zinfandel route. One of the first major purveyors of that stuff, Sutter Home, developed a line of reds (not including their Red Zinfandel which preceded the white one) that were sort of designed to ween people off White Zinfandel. These include a Merlot For white wine you might start out with Riesling. If it is an American one, look for 2% or more residual sugar on the label, to start with. If it is German Riesling look for Spatleses and Ausleses.

[mrdutton]

Merlot is a red wine. If you have a yearning for sweet wines, you might want to shy away from this one at first. However, if you check the MERLOT section of this Wine Board, you can find comments about a wide variety of Merlots.

Some comments even include statements like - "lots of up-front fruit", which means that when tasted by the tip of the tongue there is an indication of some sweetness and on the nose there is the smell of fruit. However the wine is still considered to be dry because it doesn't taste (overall) sweet.

Chardonnay is a white wine. In California it could also be considered a "style" of wine. In my opinion, the best chardonnay wines come from France - Cote d'Or, Chablis and Macon and, of course, Champagne. Tasting chardonnay you can find strong fruit flavors that range from citrus to bananna/pineapple flavors. Chardonnay is a medium to full-bodied, dry wine. There is a section on this Wine Board that also has posting concerning Chardonnay.

[This message has been edited by mrdutton (edited 05-21-2000).]

[Catch 22]

If you are interested in learning more about wine, I would suggest doing some reading as well as tasting. I found Kevin Zraly's book (I think it's called "Windows On The World Wine Course", but I'm not at home as I write this, so I can't check)to be very helpful and informative. I'm sure others can recommend other books as well. I think that reading beforehand provides a good background that can help you make informed decisions about what wine to choose.

[pergamum]

I'm sure that Catch 22's book is a good one. However, speaking from the point of view of someone who originally knew nothing about wine and now has the wine bug "hard core," the best book to look at is "Wine For Dummies" (i.e., if you're not easily offended). This is a book published by a company known as IDG (I believe), they published guides for individuals who know very little about a subject that they wish to become more acquainted with (e.g., "The Internet for Dummies" and "Throwing Parties for Dummies"). You can find these books at any one of the major booksellers (barnes and noble, amazon, borders, etc). They are usually yellow and look a lot like very thick cliff notes. Enjoy! And, be careful with that wine bug, it can be a very expensive habit!!!!

[winecollector]

I'm partial to "The Idiot's Guide to Wine" by Phillip Seldon. I was away from wine for about 10-15 years, and this one served me well with basic wine knowledge. By the way Phil, you still owe me $4.00!