She don't DO white, like some other women do

Messed up by a Semillon in the mid-80s, she has not touched white wine for 25 years.

Won't do it. She can't prove it was the wine, either. It could have been the guacamole dip, the shrimp, or just a garden variety nausea that bagged her later that evening.  

But now neither her girl friends nor wine guides or me nudging her to give the Inama Soave a sip will budge her to consider it. Since all whites are off limits, even pro seco and champagne, we wind up with a dozen bottles (mostly gifted) in our tiny cellar, aging nicely, but unlikely to find their way to the recycling center.

  Unless they are rare vintages or special occasion gifts, I find new homes for them. I have fed a few to Grandma, who will sip a red wine if it resembles the ones Grandpa used to brew (out of a bucket of blackberries or a pail of plums from his own orchard). She likes them sugar-laden, but on the white side will tolerate a Pinot Grigio if I don't have a sauterne or Gewurztraminer in the house. What some of us consider cooking wine is her cuppa tea.

At Thanksgiving I coaxed her to try a glass of Semillon and it lasted her all afternoon.  This dilemma leaves me with too many whites on the teeter-totter I call my wine cellar --a rustic rack over the armoire in the kitchen. Its contents range from a Pomerol to a couple of Red Mountain chards from Terra Blanca (Washington). I may stuff them in someone's stocking this Christmas...not hers. That morning she's only after chocolate.  

Has anyone considered making a Chocolate Chard?   Stuck on reds, I have plenty to drink, from the 2009 Dante Cabernet--left over after our daughter's wedding in 2009: its berry-riddled finish makes it great with steak in midsummer--to an Owen Roe Cab we've been saving for the right moment, a Dunham Cellars Syrah I consider one of the best wines I've tasted, and a long-savored Napa Valley Cabernet from Heitz cellars due to be opened on our 45th anniversary.   

 That reminds me: too many winesites from too many vineyards make the fatal mistake of featuring photos of wine fields, chateaus, connoiseurs ganged up around a cask like a family reunion shot. You can't drink a winefield, and we're not that interested in your cousins. To help us single bottle buyers who are curious, but not ready to haul home a case, smart guys will put pictures of their best bottles in plain sight. 

That's how most of us remember what we like.

We begin by thinking as we drink..then drinking as we think

Living on Island America,  sometimes I forget there are other islands.

For instance...when I started drinking wine 30 years ago, I thought about it...gradually got used to it, settled in my preferences the way people do when they pick a political party.

For 20 years I've been drinking red wines most, and I like cabs over most reds plus a few big Tuscans, some syrahs. I am content to keep doing that.   But I wonder what the British drink.  So I asked. 

First...their own wine is generally called Welsh Wine (British Wine refers to fermented grape juice) But the British are serious consumers of wine, most of it imported, and most of that from Australia now.   Wikipedia says Theale Vineyard Sparkling Chardonnay is a big winner over there. 

In 2010, these three wines were likely to be seen on British tabletops: 
Finca Remendio Verdejo Rueda 2009
A pale Spanish white with hints of apples, white flowers
Cabrials Grenache Cinsult Rose 2009

A pale salmon Bordeaux with a nose of red summer fruits and citrus  and a balance of acidity, fruit and body.

Finca La Linda Malbec 2008
An Argentine wine with deep ruby colour and scents of plums and red and black fruits.

How about France?  By comparison with the French, American wine drinkers are pikers (though we put away twice as much beer per capita).   They drink SIX times more wine ...most of it red table wine..most of it at dinner with the family....and beaujolais remains the most common table wine there.   But wine consumption is declining, with about half of young French moving to other alcohols (Calvados, Cognac) and away from expensive premier brands, according to WINE SPECTATOR.  
In those fields  and regions where the world's greatest wines earned their names, Merlot is still the leading grape among red wines grown there, with several white varietals combining to explain the popularity of wines like Sauvignon Blanc, Macon Villages and Riesling.
PS
I would not normally include Ireland in a list about wine drinking, but my Irish friends will probably ask.  So I will close by saying that it's wiser to ask for a pint, and if you insist on a fine wine, don't ask the pub master to recommend one.   He's likely to look over his own shoulder before answering, Smithwick's.

G'bye Annie Green Springs, We'll Never Forget You

When we talk wine, we speak too often about what we love, not enough about the dark secret of how we got started.    
Only one guy I know grew up around great wine.  So I asked a dozen others to tell me how their wine careers began, where they stand today, and why. 

A pattern emerged.  At least half had a bad night that left indelible stains.  This usually happened in high school, they said, usually with a couple of pals, usually at a party.  The offending beverage was Annie Green Springs, Ripple, Arriba, Boone's Farm, loganberry flips, wine coolers, or some similar Satanic concoction sold at 7-11 (stolen in most cases.)  

The plot sickened.  They found a secret place to slug down the wine,
drank half a bottle (hey it tasted kinda like Kool-Aid!), they got woozy, woke up at 2 a.m. in a ditch, on a beach, in the back seat of a bad car with their faces pressed into a pool of puke.  Yeah.

They gave up wine instantly, and did not return to it for a decade.
When they did, the pattern was more gradual and guarded, often involved friends, another couple, dinner, a wine-tasting...and they found the wine was OK, nothing special. It took another 5-10 years before they got serious.

Their first legitimate sip was commonly a Merlot (which by now most have abandoned). Or a chardonnay, and many still sip it.  Most guys and some of the women have moved on to Cabernet, Syrah or out of the wine world entirely, usually to beer... or a particular mixed drink like margaritas or Fireball (a trendy new whiskey mix).  

While I was not (originally) looking for recommended wines in my half-baked survey, I found that most people did wind up with a persistent preferende, and their migration was instructive. 

They began by accident in most cases, usually in a fit of mischief, not figuring they'd be more sophisticated after they drained the bottle.    They returned more sober, but not sure what to expect.   Maybe they were bored with Bud Light, or had moved up in their social standing.

Once they tasted a sensible bottle of wine, most hop-scotched from  merlot or chard to (a) bigger, more oaky, or tannic wines like Cabernet; some chose syrah or pinot noir or a red blend; or dabbled with more complex whites like sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio or a classic French white Chateau d'Y'Quem.  

Here is a short list of some accidental recommendations.   (As a group, most prefer red wines (cab or syrah).  

Caymus CONUNDRUM (a California blend of several whites), usually under $20 and described as follows:  "green apple, tangerine and sweet white flowers, melon, citrus, vanilla."  Spectator says "Intensely flavored. Drink now."

Robert Karl 2006 Claret:  out of Spokane.   Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec impart black cherries and smoky coffee, cedar and bittersweet chocolate.  About $20

Milbrandt Estates Cabernet  $25   black cherry, blackberry, cassis, vanilla, chocolate and spice.