It seems that with the start of the New Year, everyone makes resolutions for the coming days and months and as is the normal outcome most resolutions are broken within the month. I am just as guilty as everyone else. I pledge to lose weight, get in shape or speak kinder of others and I fail miserably at all of my resolutions. Well this year I’m going in a different direction. I’m going to make a resolution that I can easily achieve. I resolve to drink more wine. I am making a promise to myself that when I buy wine I will buy an unknown wine for every bottle I buy that I regularly drink. I also promise that I will write my experiences down and share more.

Granted drinking more wine is easy, buying unknown wine is also easy, the hard part will be writing my drinking down and posting more regularly. I admit that I’m not the most dedicated when it comes to writing it down. I have all of the usual excuses, not enough time, not in the mood, etc. etc. etc. I also admit I don’t know enough about wine and wine tasting to sound educated when I describe my experience. This is something I will work on, to be a better taster, to be a smarter drinker and to enjoy wine every day.

I promise to not let biases stop me from trying something new. New favorites will only be discovered if I try new wines. New varietals, new regions, and new countries will be on my list to try, not just old favorites. I promise to read more and go to more wine tastings of wines that I wouldn’t usually buy. I will work on learning and experiencing all of the nuances of each glass I taste. For me that is the hardest part of tasting wine. I listen to others at wine tastings talk about different layers of the wine, about the finish, the tannins, the smell and most of the time I don’t get what they are talking about. I don’t smell what they smell; I don’t taste the same taste and always feel as if I’m either ignorant or just wine stupid.

Well this year I will at least give it my best shot at becoming a better wine taster. If nothing else, at least I can say I enjoyed wine every day, something I truly love to do. Can everyone else say that about their New Year’s resolution?