The Noble Writ: Wine Should Be Fun

This time it happened at a large group tasting. There were so many wonderful wines opened and so many interesting people I'd longed to meet that I was forced to choose between proceeding methodically through the wines and ignoring the people -- or missing most of the wines and socializing. After about ten minutes of mental wrestling, I simply put the notebook away and spent the better part of two days drinking (not tasting) wine and getting to know new friends. Only then did I look back and realize how little fun I'd been having recently following my usual routine.

Since that event, I've been much more cognizant of whether I'm having fun with wine. If something's not fun, I'm not doing it. Wine is a passion for me, and I refuse to have the joy stripped out of it in service to some routine into which I've let myself fall or some perceived insecurity I might have about my wine knowledge.

I challenge you to do the same. Find wine intimidating? Take a class, attend a tasting or read a book. Reluctant to pull a bottle from the cellar because you don't feel like writing a tasting note? Drink it and don't write the note! Can't help picking out everything you think is less than perfect about a wine? Try not to -- and, if you succeed, let me know how you did it as I'm still working on this one myself.

Dave Nelson is the author of the blog Beer, Wine and Whisky. He writes about wine every Tuesday.