Newbie Help

Hello everyone...I'm new to the forum and to serious wine drinking (meaning new to taking it seriously, not new to drinking serious amounts, I'm old hat at that!)....

Anyway, I've always loved wine, but aside from an amazing wine class I took while in college at Cornell, I haven't devoted any energy to studying it or developing my palette...that class was several years ago, and I've already forgotten most of it, so I'm sorta starting fresh...

I remember really enjoying wines with a very oaky taste, but I find myself lost at sea now when I try to buy wine, just grabbing bottles almost at random to try them

Can anyone recommend any good wines for a beginner like me(something $50 or under)? I now live in Wheaton, MD, near DC and would love to find a wine shop with a friendly staff who can help recommend wines based on my growing tastes...any one have a place they love in that area?

Sorry for so many questions, just interested and excited. Please let me know if this is not the appropriate place for this post.

Thanks all!

You're in the right place. Welcome.

I would suggest reading through the tasting notes here - the posts which have subject lines prefaced by WTN contain tasting notes. Perhaps by reading some, you will get a sense of which wines match your palate preferences.

Wines "with a really oak taste" covers a lot of wine - some good, some not so good.
Look for descriptions which mention "new oak" barrels - that might help you zero in on some oaky wines.

Good luck and have fun.

Welcome to the group. You'll find lots of friendly and knowledgeable people here.!

I was a newbie when I started hanging out here almost five years ago. Welcome to the best internet wine site there is! I highly recommend particpating in the WINE FOCUS FORUM where we pick one region or varietal to focus on for a month. It will introduce you to some wines you not familiar with and give you a lot of tasting notes which will help you calibrate your pallet. Hope to see you around

JB, welcome to the forum. The local winestore may have some weekly tastings, good idea to pop in from time to time!

Please let me know if this is not the appropriate place for this post.

Goodness, gracious, if it isn't then we're all in trouble!

Welcome! I think you'll enjoy joining the conversation here.

In addition to the great advice you received already, I'll add the following. I think that an important step in discovering, calibrating, and even broadening your wine palate is a good wine shop with good staff. Go in, ask for help, give them some idea of what you are looking for--then when they make recs, take notes. How did they describe the wine, what qualities did they say it would have, what was their overall assessment? Then when you drink the wine, and take your tasting notes you can compare your assessment with theirs. Then go back and seek out that staffer and tell them your impressions--this helps them to learn your palate and steer you in directions you prefer. I always found this path efficient because it took the hassle of finding where do they sell such-and-such wine out of the equation.

Similarly comparing your tasting notes with those posted on this forum will help you discover whose tastes match your own . . . and hence who can serve as a good guidepost for you.

Alas, I can't be of much help in recommending a wine shop. Most of the DC stores I know of won't be very convenient for you. I loved the selection and staff at MacArthur Beverages, but that's not near Wheaton. And sometimes it's a good idea to get to know a couple of good shops, as some specialize in different wine areas, and, as you broaden your palate, you'll want to sample among them.

Best of luck, I think you'll def enjoy the journey. How was the wine appreciation class at Cornell, by the way? I heard mysterious tales about it when I was an undergrad elsewhere and always wondered what the course consisted of and what it was like.

Welcome to WLDG.

The single best way to learn about wine is to establish a relationship with a great wine retailer, and visit with them regularly. You live about ten miles from one of the very best wine retailers in the US:

MacArthur Beverages
Toll Free: (866) 674-3716
Local Phone: (202) 338-1433
Fax: (202) 333-0806
E-mail: wine@bassins.com
4877 MacArthur Blvd., N.W.
Washington, DC 20007

http://www.bassins.com/

Stop by, introduce yourself, and enjoy a great learning experience.

And, please, stop back and tell us how it goes.

Regards, Bob

Hey, J, that was a provocative post.

First ditto re the welcome, and ditto re this is the place to ask virtually anything.

So, I’ll ask: What type of wine did you drink in copious quantities, and for how long? Then, what suddenly piqued your interest in learning about fine wine?

As others have mentioned, there are so many different wines with different qualities and distinctions, and so many different palates (BTW, “palette” is something painters use; “pallet” is a wooden crate), that it is futile to recommend a wine to anybody until that person’s taste is defined. Once you know and can describe what you like best, then all the postings here about different wine experiences will become helpful. And you can learn the terms, here; or better yet, you should read a couple of basic books about wine. Jancis Robinson is one of the best wine educators; she has a lot of books on the market.

There should be all kinds of wine shops around DC. You just have to look them up on line or in a phone book and visit the stores until you find one with a good variety and a helpful staff that you feel comfortable with. Good luck!

Hi! I just also wanted to welcome you to this forum...it is fantastic and full of very knowledgeable and friendly people.

Unfortunately, Wheaton is smack dab in the middle of the Montgomery County liquor monopoly, meaning that if you want "to find a wine shop with a friendly staff who can help recommend wines based on my growing tastes," you have to go to D.C.

I agree with Bob's recommendation of MacArthur, a place with a great selection of wines, decent prices during their fall and spring wine sales, and an excellent staff. It's a bit of a schlep from Wheaton, but that should be your best bet.

The closest DC store to you is probably Morris Miller on Georgia Ave. just beyond the D.C./Silver Spring border; not in the same league as MacArthur but not bad either. If you go there, ask for the wine buyer -- unfortunately, I'm spacing out on his name right now -- and he can be very helpful. In my experience, though, no one else is.

A nice small store is Cleveland Park liquors just across the street from the Uptown on Connecticut Ave. Ask for Tony Quinn and he'll talk your ear off but you'll also come away with some nice, obscure gems.

Calvert-Woodley, a mile or so north of there, has a very good selection of wines but the place is hectic and the staff is brusque; I'd avoid it if I were you.

There are three stores on Connecticut right at Chevy Chase circle -- Chevy Chase, Circle and Magruder's. All seem fairly decent, but I don't have enough experience with them to make a recommendation.

[James Roscoe]

Welcome to the forum! We are always glad to have more Marylanders on the forum.

You are lucky to be in Wheaton sespite the lack of high quality stores in the immediate vicinity. You have great pubs and restaurants. You could live in PG Co where we have neither.

Despite what Bruce says, I would recommend Calvert. I find the staff helpful, plus the cheeses are outstanding and they have a great single malt selection. MacArthurs is nationally recognized, but is blamed hard to get to from my corner of Maryland.

You may want to head up to Corridor in Laurel. It is a Maryland outpost of the Total Wine Empire and has a huge selection.The staff is helpful and knowledgeable although they are going through some corporate changes which are not going to be good for winelovers. They have a great selection of IPAs and imported beers too.

I have a friend who is opening a wine store in north Rockville soon. He used to work at Corridor. I will pass the word on to all the Montgomery Co. MD forumites. He thinks he can make a go of it and challenge the system. Evidently there are loophole in the monopoly for wine and beer.

WOW! Thanks so much for all the help! I went out of town for a week, and came back to find a much better response than I had expected!

This is a great start, thank you guys so, so much...

[James Roscoe]

Never go out of town for a week without checking in on the forum! Most of these places have tastings every weekend. I know MacArthurs and Corridor are having tastings this afternoon.