"Wine for Dummies" is a good start.

Kevin Zraly's Windows on the World "Complete Wine Course" is also very good. I found one in a thrift shop for a buck.

Just have fun. You may have to be willing to dump some bottles down the sink (or save them for cooking) but just start drinking.

One thing I wish I had done sooner is learning labels. Even in the wine shop you can get a bottle of European wine and google the terms on the label, it's pretty interesting.

Think I've seen one of those "for idiots" books on it. Complete Guide to Wine for Idiots?

Not trying to troll, it looked like a pretty good platform.

Is it Dummies and not Idiots? My bad.

There's both series. Dummies is yellow. Idiots is orange.

I've got the dummies one.

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Whats the best way for a beginner to start to understand the differences in wines, vineyards, etc. Are there easy to read books on this stuff?

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Drink. A lot.

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this. and visit wineries as often as you can.

BSD. Email sent.

you da man! thank you, sir.

I gotta stop buying **** online when I drink...

Heads up, HEB is having their 10% off cabs sale until the 24th.

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I gotta stop buying **** online when I drink...

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At least you have an excuse. I'm just plain dumb. (Bought '14 Schrader 6+1 today)

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Heads up, HEB is having their 10% off cabs sale until the 24th.

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Bunker Hill HEB had 2012 Chappellet when I was these last night. I wanted to pull the trigger but $189 is about 50% higher than where I thought it would be priced. $171 still is on the high side but I do love Pritchard Hill.

Plus 10% off that for six or more mixed bottles.

Enablers. All of you!

Not sure what happened and I tried stopping the cashier, but I got three bottles of Caymus. Two at $56.69 with the two sales, but the third rang up at $35.99. I'll take it!

AG07, are you just now receiving your '12 Hundred Acre? The '13 is supposed to ship March of next year I think; I don't want to wait til next fall for my wine.

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AG07, are you just now receiving your '12 Hundred Acre? The '13 is supposed to ship March of next year I think; I don't want to wait til next fall for my wine.

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I was a late comer to the mailing list, and was part of a newbie release two weeks ago. Just got the allocation for 2013 Ark email and it said spring delivery, so I assume it will be?

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Whats the best way for a beginner to start to understand the differences in wines, vineyards, etc. Are there easy to read books on this stuff?

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as has been mentioned, read a lot (I don't read enough) and do some tasting/drinking

I'm pretty new to wine and I really learned a lot about 5 years ago when I was planning first trip to Cali wine country. wife and I love Pinot so we were going to RRV area. anyway, I just started looking up wineries in the area using the AVA websites and then reading winery websites. something else I did was start googling the top restaurants in the area and their wine lists, which made me aware of producers I didn't know.

anyway, gained quite a bit of knowledge of the area by chasing that google rabbit hole over the course of several weeks.

Here is a link to a nice article about PNW making inroads in Texas. Nice quotes at the end from an Aggie winemaker,Marty Clubb. http://www.greatnorthwestwine.com/2015/12/15/40129/

Watching episodes of Uncorked from the DVR, and I have to wonder how anyone could afford to taste all the wines you'd have to know to pass the tasting portion of the sommelier exams.

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Watching episodes of Uncorked from the DVR, and I have to wonder how anyone could afford to taste all the wines you'd have to know to pass the tasting portion of the sommelier exams.

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They don't pay for a lot of it - a perk of being in the industry. Jack has some 50+ bottles at his apt.; a healthy portion he hasn't paid for. He buys Marta's inventory and vendors are always bringing him bottles. It's also his job to know what they serve, so he tastes plenty through the restaurant. They encourage it - a MS on-staff, especially one of Forbes 30 under 30 and on network TV, is good promotional fodder.

His ridiculous stuff comes through customers, events and other somms. Every-time we visit and eat somewhere, wine is tossed his way to try. It's awesome for us! There's also plenty of customers that want experience their collection with a MS.

By the time someone is attempting the Master level, they're already an established wine rock star. One reason so few go for it, is they're already earning serious coin from wine prior to getting to that level.

I never thought I'd see this at HEB:

That's cheap too, I'd buy it if I saw some in SA.

How many bottles were on the shelf?

2-3. I'll grab em if yall want em. I need to go back anyways. I asked for an '06 Dom P at $145/btl and he gave me the $179 limited edition packaging Dom. Like I care about the damn box!

They also had this, but at $280 I had to pass.

If you'll leave one there for me I'll go buy it tomorrow. I live near the Bunker Hill HEB

That's all you! Knock yourself out.

Talking about the M Etain to be clear. I ain't baller enough for that Chappelet!

right, there was 2-3 Etains that I won't be buying. I'm waiting on the Scarecrow.

pretty impressive they have a pritchard hill chappellet. that's only a couple thousand case production, isn't it?

I think I've seen it there before. Specs use to have it, too...at $120. The new price hurts.

The Signature cab used to be in the $45 range. Now it's $50-$55. Thankfully, the mountain cuvee is still around $25.

I got the signature as gifts for my coworkers at $50/btl with the 10% discount.

wow I paid $158/bottle for the 2013 Etain direct from Scarecrow, not including the shipping. That is a steal!