BudgetTravel

After compiling research done by others and conducting my own interviews and surveys, I discovered the majority of women are less focused on wine ratings, vintage charts, and acquiring bottles.

Forget the notion that women sip white while men slurp red (women actually drink more red than white these days). It is not about what's in the bottle but how we approach what's in the bottle. Women tend to be interested in personal recommendations, food ideas, and helpful tips on finding wines that simply taste good.

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As a result, you'll find chapters organized into sections I've called THE BIG THREE: BUYING, PAIRING, and SHARING. This is what we do with wine--head to the store and buy something to drink that night, take it home to serve with dinner, and uncork it with our family and friends.

• Buying sections are focused on how to buy wine by taste and style, and highlight wine regions as they correlate to what you might actually see on store shelves, hence the focus on wine labels.
• Pairing sections offer practical, everyday advice on enjoying wine and food together. They come complete with shopping lists and Design-a-Dinner suggestions for people with busy lives, or for those who want easy meal ideas.
• Sharing sections address common questions about storing and serving wine, giving wine as gifts, and entertaining with wine from casual picnics and brunch gatherings to once-in-a-living celebrations.

Wine is an intimidating subject, but it doesn't have to be. When I first started learning about wine I as afraid to open my mouth if I couldn't correctly pronounce the name of a wine or region. But my desire to explore overtook any embarrassment and I simply asked lots of questions and pointed to the bottle I wanted. The wine doesn't care, right? Now, even when I can't say something perfectly, it doesn't matter. I buy it, try it, and remember it for the next time.

That's the beauty of wine information, which I think of as building blocks. Each time you learn something new, it's like placing one block on top of another. Over time, you build up layers of knowledge and confidence. If you walk away remembering just one thing each time you open this book or taste a new bottle, you've succeeded and so have I.

From the book WINE FOR WOMEN: A Guide to Buying, Pairing and Sharing Wine by Leslie Sbrocco (lesliesbrocco.com). Copyright 2003 by Leslie Sbrocco. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow Cookbooks, an Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.