Getting Over that “Wine Store Anxiety”
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Gerod Bond and I’m the director and editor for unPINNED. You’re probably curious as to why I’m writing a blog post, and that’s natural, so I’ll give you a quick little update. The staff at unPINNED thought it would be a good idea to introduce a, well… less experienced voice to chronicle their newfound journey into the world of wine. Now, I think it’s important to point out that while I don’t have any certifications or awards, I have dedicated the last two and a half years of my life to producing, recording, and editing some of the most information-dense wine education content … maybe … ever made? I say all that simply to say that I’m not quite a fish out of water — and, if you make it through unPINNED, you certainly won’t be either. I guess the point is, that I’m worlds closer to a complete novice than I am to Ashwin Muthiah. You’re welcome to find my inexperience as relatable as you’d like. Okay, alright, you’ve received the necessary context. Now where was I…?
There’s a particular feeling that rushes through you when you step into a wine shop; you puff your chest out, maybe you squint a little bit, and keep your head on a swivel. You want to look like you know what you’re doing. There’s nothing terribly wrong with that, but wouldn’t you be so much more comfortable embracing your ignorance — or even channeling that anxious energy into curiosity? What if I told you that you could shed the anxiety altogether? In my experience, there are two ways to do this. You can either achieve enlightenment and embrace an elevated consciousness to a point that you transcend all negative emotion, or you can strap yourself with a bit of wine knowledge and approach that sales associate with a few “in-the-know” questions that will give them a fun challenge and produce for you a stepping stone for new info!
So what is this questionnaire cheat-code?
Do you carry any orange wines? In my experience, this question has never failed to produce a little lightbulb over a salesperson’s head. Orange wine has become a bit of a trending topic. So you know, orange wine isn’t made from oranges. It’s the result of using white grapes as well as their skins, stems, etc. in the winemaking process. White wine, on the other hand, is made by just using the juice of white grapes in the winemaking process. Neat right? Ask about it next time!
Do you have a favorite Pet Nat? If you don’t know what Pet Nat is, it stands for “Pétillant Naturel” and it’s a type of sparkling wine that ferments naturally in its own bottle. They’re almost always sealed with bottle caps and they almost always taste different than you’d expect. They’re an underappreciated type of wine that will surely spark some interest from the salesperson tasked with pointing out their favorite. This trick works even better at those hipster, jazzy wine bars.
Can you point me to a good dry white wine? This one is for all my homies with the grown-up tastebuds. I’m… mostly kidding? Dry, as we learned in unPINNED, really just means low in sugar. That’s it. So be prepared to have your salesperson point you towards some oh-so-delicious, no-so-sweet wines. If you’re anything like me, you’ll enjoy that ice-cold with a late dinner and no head-ache in the morning, because, you know, low sugar!
Alright, we’ve been through a few fun questions to ask your local wine shop salesperson. Are these questions a cheat-code for boosting your confidence and lowering your wine shop anxiety? Yeah, kinda — but it’s just that: a cheat code. The best way to shake your wine store anxiety is to take your time acquiring practical knowledge about wine and using that knowledge to inform your curiosity. The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know, and that, my friends, is fertile ground for humbly, but confidently, learning more. So next time you’re poking around the aisles of your favorite wine store, pull one of these questions out of your pocket and see if you can charm whoever comes to assist you. Learn something from that conversation that you can bring to the next; then rinse and repeat!
