by merylah

Created on: February 25, 2007   Last Updated: May 07, 2011

Wino Forever
Riesling: The Red-Headed Stepchild of Wine Enthusiasts

Nature vs. Nurture. My aptitude for wine appreciation was nurtured, not congenital. I was not born with a desire to imbibe wine, beer, or coffee in my nursing bottle. In fact, on any of the few occasions I was allowed a taste of one of the afore mentioned liquids by a parent or some other respected adult, any of these liquids passed beyond the threshold of my lips were quickly and vehemently ushered out and proffered with a childlike look that could kill and a phrase equivalent to "What the hell is wrong with you and why do you enjoy drinking pissy water?" I, like most people, was not born with a developmentally precocious palate and so over the course of my life I've continually re-exposed myself to coffees, teas and alcohols of various types. I've been saturating my palate for years, but not particularly enjoying it. However, due to independent funding and private research over the past few years, I believe I'm beginning to reap some actual enjoyment and notice the nuances I've missed in years past from my rapidly maturing palate cultivation experiment.

Wine appreciation comes with age and exposure, like the coming of age comes with the constant re-exposure of viral strains, chicken poxes, mumps & measely childhood sicknesses that we've spent a lifetime building up our immune systems to have a happy healthy adulthood. And part of having a happy, healthy adulthood is having a rewarding social life in which you bullshit with other adults about wine, cooking, antiques, sports and the stock market, or what ever the devil adults are talking about these days....

Back to the matter at hand, the origins of my wine appreciation or the documentary of my half-assed curious ass kiss of all things deemed culturally and classically civilized and desirable. And now I can proudly say I "get it" but am still "out of it" enough to talk about it with out all the wino jargon BS and snobbery so that others that are younger and/or less "with it" than myself can avoid some of the mistakes and pitfalls I've made in my adventures in wine appreciation. Behold, the humble Riesling.

Riesling

One of the very first wines I knew I liked was a Riesling; simple, succulent and sweet. Riesling is a great introductory variety for the beginning wine appreciator because it pulls you in with the faintly siren sweetness that is often lacking in so many other revered (and feared) wines which is why it gets a bad rap with wine

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