Wine Guide for Men

Since the dawn of time men have always picked beer as their drink of choice. It was uncontested and undisputed...men drink beer!

All jokes aside, becoming a man usually meant drinking anything but wine on your 21st birthday(it would be illegal to start earlier, folks!). The usual drink of choice is beer and/or hard alcohol. Look at guys Instagram pics or their Twitter account tweets, the odds are they have something to to with beer and/or women.

As men mature(Do men ever really mature?) through their adult lives they usually will stick the beer or the hard stuff. The wine was usually left for the women. Men are MEN! They drink booze or beer.

Well, times have changed and wine has become the drink of choice for both men and women everywhere. Across the United States wine is flying off the shelves at record breaking pace. Over the past few years, beer sales have dropped off slightly while wine sale has increased regularly.

Just walk into your local liquor store(Differently named depending on what part of the country you are in) and see what the floor displays consist of. You will probably notice it is beer up closest to the front door as you walk in, next is wine, then liquor. Not every store is going to be the same, but there is a growing number of stores that are slowly moving wine closer and closer to the front. Also, shelf and floor space for wine have increased just as craft brew beer has. This is also due to the fact that wine and craft brew makers have increased quite a bit over the past few years.

There is some basic rules and etiquette when it comes to wine buying and drinking, ignore them all. For the newcomer, do not be afraid, because you can play by your own set of rules and no one will judge you. except for perhaps the wine snob. Go to your local store that sells wine and

Here's what a newcomer needs to do:

Go to your local store that sells alcohol and grab a bottle of red and a bottle of white from a display. The price for your first two bottles should be in between $12-$18. Of note, the price of the wine does not always reflect the taste of the wine, there are a plethora of great wine under $20 or even under $10 per bottle.Do not worry about what type of wine you buy, just make sure one is red and one white. Pay for the bottles and drive home safely. Open both bottles with a corkscrew or a twist of the cap(yes, caps are ok these days).

Pour one glass of red, and one of white. Taste each one. Which do you like better? There you have it, once the choice is made, you know you are either a red or white drinker. That's the very first step to enjoying wine. Proceed to drink the rest of the wine at your leisure.

Now, next visit to where you buy wine, you either head to the area they sell the whites or reds. Get 2 different types and head home and repeat the prior step. Basically, keep doing this until you find something you love. Once you have found it, go back to the store and find more wines similar to the one you loved based on the grape varietal. The list below goes into a little detail about the varietals or types of wines.

The very basics of red wines:

• Cabernet Sauvignon- The big boy of reds, full of body and bold flavors
• Merlot- A dry red, dry means less sweet
• Syrah/Shiraz- it's got a little spice to it
• Red Zinfandel- Do not confuse this with white zinfandel, this red is deep and dark and usually has high alcohol content
• Lambrusco- A fun and usually sweeter red. Impress your friends, if you are invited over for Italian food, this is a great wine to bring

The very basics of white wines:

• Chardonnay- Strong flavored white, the big boy of the whites and easily the popular wine in the world
• Riesling- A sweeter white
• Sauvignon Blanc- Tastes a little herbal, but in a good way
• Pinot Gris/Grigio- A light and refreshing wine

There is much to be learned about wines, in fact, someone who knows wines should admit there is a lifetime worth of wine information to learned. That is part of the fun and intrigue about wine, because no matter how much wine you drink there is always more out there to taste.

You may pick one type of wine and stick with it forever, or perhaps you will be a person who wants to continue learning. The choice is yours. But, do yourself a favor and move on from drinking just beer or just whiskey and try some wine, you will not regret it. If you do regret it, then lesson learned...never follow my advice again!