I don't know very much about Wine but would love to learn more....

[CrushWithEyeliner]

can anyone recommend a book or a short course where I can learn the basics and maybe a little bit more? xxx

have a look on line. sorry i can't link, but www.2basnob.com seems pretty good for basics.

after that, just start trying various countries and varieties to discover your palate.

thank you !

See if a local college does a short tasting course - they can be fun and a good way of
meeting people too.

WSET courses are expensive though.

www.wine-pages.com/
www.wset.co.uk/
www.wineanorak.com/
www.decanter.com/

But the main thing you have to do is practise! Taste blind regularly and write down whatever you think. If you really want to learn loads, a few hours a week working in the industry would be invaluable. You can study the WSET stuff on your own too. It is pretty dry though.

I used to be part of a monthly group, like a book club but with wine. We set a theme, all brought a bottle, tasted and spat, then revealled and enjoyed the leftovers with food.

Just do what I did do and buy a different bottle every night week to try!

LOL that is what I am doing saltire but I am not remembering what wine is from where and what they are called

Try your local library to read books on wine and if you find one you like buy it on ebay or amazon marketplace.

Boring advice but useful - make and keep notes and refer back.

A good tip if you want to try lots of types of wine is to copy the WSET tasting chart (google it) so you can just tick or circle the adjective appropriate. Saves lots of writing if you are tasting a few....

Try to avoid statements like yeuch or yum as they are a bit meaningless later on .

Or just take the labels off the bottles you like and stick them in a scrapbook.

A usful little book and not too expensive is Hugh Johnson's pocket wine guide (updated and brought out every year) or Oz Clarke's version is slightly more user friendly but Hugh Johnson is the grand daddy of wine tasting! The best thing is practice, practice and then more practice. And a good memory to remember what you've tasted and what it tasted like. Try and buy wine that you're not familiar with. Just enjoy!