Imagine we're getting together to chat over a glass of wine tonight. Well, our conversation is likely going to start out with one of us asking, hey, what's your favorite wine? And that's fair enough. We're just getting to know each other, and we haven't decided yet whether we're going to share a bottle or order different wines by the glass. So it's totally logical for us to be curious and to simply ask. Now, I don't want you to be offended if I either answer back with the same question or what's your favorite wine? Without sharing mine, or if I don't have a real answer at all. And it's not that I'm trying to be rude and not answer you. It's simply, I really don't have a favorite wine. I actually have tons of wines and wine styles that I prefer over others, but since I'm the eternal student of wine, I really have trouble narrowing it down to a single bottle.

But how would you respond? Does this question make you feel like you're walking into a trap? You really have no clue how to answer it, or what riddle you can use to get out of it? Or do you simply want to just toss out the first bottle that comes into your mind and hope that I'm like, yeah, that's a great one, instead of shriveling up my nose and cringing, well, here's the good news. There's no right answer. You may be someone who actually really does have a single favorite bottle of wine. Or on the other hand, you might be a little bit more like me, and you like to explore all different kinds. Now, the challenge there can be tackling the sheer magnitude of wines that are available and figuring out how to keep track of that journey. So stay tuned, because after today's conversation, you're going to walk away confidently knowing what wine you prefer, why it matters, and how you can create a simple system for finding your next favorite bottle of wine and how not to lose track of it when you want to go back and find it again. Welcome to Everyday Sommelier, where we make learning about wine approachable, fun, and something you can actually enjoy. I'm your host, Kristi Mayfield.

Think of me as your sommelier next door, here to help you cut through the complexity so you can enjoy every glass with confidence and learn wine your way. If you're still listening, I think it's pretty safe to assume that you really enjoy wine, or you probably would have walked out of this conversation. As soon as I asked you what your favorite wine was, you've also likely had at least a few wine experience where you're able to taste multiple wines, some of which you might have loved, or some of which you probably would prefer never to have to drink again. But as a wine professional, I've spent a ton of time building this insane encyclopedic lists of wines that I've tried. Obviously I love doing this or I wouldn't be a wine educator. But from a professional perspective, doing so isn't just to drink a ton of wine, but it's actually to hone in on my skills around wine styles, varietals, regions, and also a wine's quality. Now, is this something that I would actually recommend you do? It's likely not going to be as relevant for you if you're a wine lover or wine enthusiastic. And here's why.

Kristi Mayfield00:03:16 - 00:04:02

I'm going to let you in on a little secret with a goal of liberating you from ever feeling like you have to buy into the formality of dissecting wine quality as the secret code to unlocking your wine experience. And here it is. Let's go back to that question that we talked about very early on in the conversation when I asked, what's your favorite wine? At happy hour with a group of girlfriends recently, this topic did come up. And when it was one person's turn, she was literally horrified to tell us what her favorite wine was. Now, fortunately, the DNA of this group is a no judgment and only supporting of our fellow sisters conversation. So we of course all encouraged her to just simply share. And finally she blurted out Moscato. And we're all like, hey, that's cool.

Kristi Mayfield00:04:02 - 00:04:36

That's a fair choice. And you could totally see her shoulders relax. And here's the thing, you can relax too, because there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to wine. It's all about your preference. Now secondly, everyone's preferences are going to be different. I mean, we don't judge each other when we have different favorite colors, different vacation spots, or favorite songs, right? So why do we think we can judge each other when it comes to our favorite wines? We shouldn't. It's that simple. And here's why.

Kristi Mayfield00:04:36 - 00:05:42

Is there anybody else whose hand is holding the stem of that wine glass other than you? Nope. Is there anyone else taking a sip of that fermented grape juice that's in that glass other than you? I don't think so. How do you actually know what makes a wine something that you prefer? So let me try to break this down in a way that's going to make sense, but keeping it really simple. There are elements of wine outside of flavors and outside of aromas that that can help you identify what styles you prefer. These elements include sugar and acid and tannin, alcohol and body. Now, if you take each of the first letters, S, A, T, A, B or Satab, it's a really easy way to remember this. If you like the sweeter style of wines or that semi sweet wine like the Moscato my friend has as her favorite, then that's pretty easy to identify. I like sweeter wines.

Kristi Mayfield00:05:42 - 00:06:22

I like wines with a little residual sugar. Maybe you love really spicy foods and these are delicious with it, or you simply like to have some great wine with your dessert, and that's totally cool. Wines can range from super dry, and that's that fresh, crisp style of white wine or even that crisp, fruity type of red wine. Either way, it's a dry wine. And if that's what you like, ask for a dry wine. Here's the good news. 90% of all wines are going to fall into this category. So you're in luck because it's going to be very easy to find them.

Kristi Mayfield00:06:23 - 00:06:56

Acidity is the next structural element of wine to take into consideration. Now, if you're like me and you like wines that actually make you drool. Yep. Make you drool, make your mouth water, then that's reflective of a high acidity style of wine. So I personally love wines with some pucker power, especially white wines. But many people don't like that high of acidity of wines. They want something a little bit richer. And if that's you, great.

Kristi Mayfield00:06:56 - 00:07:50

Now you know to look for wines that are lower in acidity. And here's the cool thing. You don't have to know the level of acidity in a bottle. You just have to look for some of these little cues. One key clue to whether a wine has a high acidity level or a lower acidity level is where it's from. If it's from a cooler region, maybe like Germany or northern France, or even in the U.S. oregon or hey, say some areas of New Zealand, those wines from super cool regions have super high acidity. On the flip side of that, if you want that lower acidity wine that's a little more juicy and but ripe, juicy fruits and fuller body, guess what? Look for wines that come from some warmer regions.

Kristi Mayfield00:07:50 - 00:08:37

A lot of areas in Australia, California are going to fall right into that warm climate wine. And the warmer the climate, the harder it is for the grapes to keep acidity. So you're going to find that lower acid wine that's right in your wheelhouse. Tannins are definitely something we're only going to talk about with red wines. Now, tannins can be those gritty, grippy feelings that are left in your mouth after taking a big old sip. So if you love big, bold, packed with a punch red wines, then tannin is definitely not optional for you. It is a must have I and it's definitely going to give you that bigger, bolder wine. So if that's you, just ask for a high tannin wine and you're going to find one you love.

Kristi Mayfield00:08:37 - 00:09:48

But there are also plenty of people out there who want something a little bit softer, who don't want so much grippiness. If that's you, just ask for a red wine that's a little bit lower in tannin alcohol, really it's not something that we're going to go into a wine shop and say, hey, I want a super high alcohol wine. But alcohol levels and taking them into consideration can help you find the style you're looking for. If you are looking at a sweet wine and that's what you want, look for a wine that is really low in alcohol and I'm talking like 10% and below, because most likely the fermentation was stopped before all the sugar was turned into alcohol. So you're going to get that residual lightly sweet to sweeter style. So low alcohol could be an indicator of a sweet wine. On the flip side of that, when you see a wine that's like 14 and a half, 15% and above, these are likely from those warmer regions that we talked about. And the fruit was super ripe, had really high level of sugar when it was picked, and it's going to ferment to a really high level of alcohol.

Kristi Mayfield00:09:48 - 00:10:35

But on the flip side of that, it's going to have that lower acidity we also mentioned. So knowing those little clues can help you find the wine that's right in the style you're looking for. Now, if we put all four of those elements together, we're talking about the body of a wine. And it's. So it's really hard to describe this because wine's a liquid and it's really hard to talk about the body of a liquid. But what I will suggest to you is to think about it in terms of milk. Yes, I said that milk, skim milk, being really light, just maybe having a little bit more density than water is very similar to a lighter body wine. Maybe it has higher acidity.

Kristi Mayfield00:10:35 - 00:11:20

It's Definitely going to have lower alcohol, probably a little bit fresher, a little bit crisper. Skim milk equals a lighter body wine. Whole milk, heavy cream, half and half. Those are your bigger bodied wines. And you definitely feel it when you drink whole milk. It coats your entire mouth. So higher alcohol wines like a Viognier or a big bold Cabernet or a Chateauneuf du Pape, doesn't matter what style it is, if it has that higher alcohol, it's going to coat your mouth and it's going to have a much higher body. Now, super sweet wines like Sauternes and other dessert wines can also have really, really big full body.

Kristi Mayfield00:11:20 - 00:12:02

That's a combination of the sugar and sometimes a higher level of alcohol. But once you break down what you like and where you fall on each of these scales, you're golden. You can easily describe to anyone, whether it's at a wine shop or a restaurant, the wine styles that you love. If you simply just break down this Satab S, A T, A B. And guess what? It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. It doesn't matter how much the bottle cost. And it doesn't matter whether traditional food and wine pairings would go completely against what you've picked for dinner tonight with your chicken Caesar salad or carnitas and geladas. If you like it, it's the perfect pick.

Kristi Mayfield00:12:02 - 00:12:53

So be confident in your favorite wine because your favorite wine matters. Okay, great. We are now on the same page, and we are now totally confident in wines we love. Just doesn't make it any easier to keep track of all of those wines when we do fall in love with them. Right? There's tens of thousands of bottles out there to try and being able to keep track, especially as you continue to explore and your wine palette expands. You're going to find more varietals, more styles that you like. And getting your game on with a tracking system can be a game changer. Now, personally, I have hidden all around my house tons of notebooks that are full of wine tasting cards, menus from wine events that I've attended, and really, I've kept them without any regard whether I liked the wines, liked the dinner, would ever buy them again.

Kristi Mayfield00:12:53 - 00:13:38

Right now, it's simply memorabilia, which I can't even understand or really remember why I'm keeping. So the lesson is also for myself to do a better job of keeping track of my own favorite wines. So let's get started. How do you actually keep track of your favorite wines once you find them? Well, here's a couple of simple tricks that I'm trying to implement myself. First and foremost is I have my handy dandy little phone with me all the time. Now I use an iPhone. So if you are using a Samsung something else, I guarantee you your phone has very similar tricks. But if you are an iPhone junkie, you know that there are so many hidden tips and tricks it's nearly impossible to learn them all.

Kristi Mayfield00:13:38 - 00:14:11

But this one is definitely one that that you can use to keep track of your new favorite wines. So first and foremost, take a picture of that label. That's simple enough, right? But here's the game changer. Once you do that, click on that photo and up in the top right click edit. Next to that, you're going to see this little circle around a lowercase I. If you click that, you're going to get all these little techy details about that picture. Completely irrelevant in my opinion. But it's what's below that that's the real trick.

Kristi Mayfield00:14:11 - 00:14:40

You have an option to put in a few keynotes in the captions section. So right in there, would you buy it again? What did you love about it? Whatever is going to help you remember that wine. And then you have a keyword bar. Now this is something I would use to put something like a five star rating. Make up your own rating system. If you call it swill, give it a 1. If you love it, give it a 5. Doesn't matter, but that's a great for you to be able to track it.

Kristi Mayfield00:14:40 - 00:15:32

And after you start doing this, make sure that you create an iPhone album under the my album option, call it My favorite wines, whatever and bam, game on. You now have a system in place to track your new favorite wines. Another great option is to simply use the iPhone Notes application. Now again, Google, Samsung, other phones, I guarantee you you're going to have something similar. Just might not be called Notes. But the Notes app is another way you can take really great notes about that bottle of wine, why you liked it, flavors, experiences, what it reminds you of. And you can also upload that photo you just took in one spot. Once again, you can create a folder called favorite wines or my favorite wines or anything else that's going to help you remember where they are.

Kristi Mayfield00:15:32 - 00:16:37

Shove those over into that Notes folder and definitely take advantage of that title field. So not only putting the name and the variet middle of their name and style of the wine, but also you might want to put your rating in there so it helps you remember how well you like that wine. And again, would you buy it again? There are so many other apps. There's apps like Delectable that you can use as well, but these simple tricks with photos and notes. You have your phone with you at all times, and it's so easy to simply use ones you already have rather than downloading yet another app. But why does it matter? Why should you track your wines? Why should you continue to document what you've had and why you like them? Well, it's very unlikely that every time we go out to dinner or every time we walk into a wine shop, we're going to find that same bottle over and over and over. There's so many wines and not everybody has the same ones. So you're guaranteed that you're going to have to keep sorting through all of the options order to find the best fit if you can't find that favorite bottle.

Kristi Mayfield00:16:37 - 00:17:46

But if you've successfully tracked all the wines that you've tried, all the wines that you particularly enjoyed, you're going to end up with a portfolio of notes that you can leverage and share with your server at the restaurant or with your wine shop and shop staff. And voila. You have now moved down that funnel of every wine on the menu or every wine on the shelf to a smaller group of bottles that you're bound to find one you love. So when it comes to wines, don't be afraid to stick with your preferences. And definitely, once you found those wines that you truly would love to have in your glass time and time again, make sure you're adopting one of these tracking systems so that you can remember them and return back to them whenever you want. But the bottom line is, my friend, your favorite wine matters. So if you have enjoyed today's show, it would mean the world to me if you'd share this episode with a friend that you love drinking wine with. They're going to thank you for bringing them into our community.

Kristi Mayfield00:17:46 - 00:18:52

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And if you are ready to take the next step and you want to explore how you can continue to grow with your wine knowledge, our Insider newsletter is a great start. Each week we share weekly insights, wine resources, and I promise we're not going to clog your inbox. So pop on over to www.wine-wise.com and don't forget it's W I Z E. And share your contact details with us today and get on the Insider list. And now that you're 110% confident in your favorite wine or wines and you're going to want to tune in to the next episode, where we're going to tackle wine ratings and reviews. They're here, they're there, they're every freaking where. Okay, I stole that from Ted Lasso. But what do they actually mean to you? And how can you sift through them all to determine whether or not they're going to add value to your wine journey? Until then, pop the cork on your next favorite bottle of wine and continue to learn wine your way.