So often, wine can feel intimidating and confusing, so I think it could be really helpful for us to all be starting out on the same foot. I don’t want any of my readers out there to feel like they don’t know what I’m talking about, or feel nervous about going to any of the classes or tastings I might recommend because they feel like they don’t know as much as other people, or feel unsure about wine in general.

Obviously I can’t go over everything here, but I think it will be really helpful to start out with one of the most important steps to drinking and exploring wine: smelling it.

It may seem peculiar to watch people in a tasting room spending a long time stuffing their noses deep into a glass of wine, swirling the glass around and then stuffing their nose back in again before ever even taking a sip!! You may wonder why on earth they are doing that.

The reason is this: taste is predominantly about smell, which is why when you have a terrible cold or allergies with a stuffed-up nose, you find that you can’t taste anything.

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That, of course, is if we have a loved one.  If we don’t then Valentine’s Day can be a day of feeling lonely and depressed, which causes us to eat those chocolates and drink all that bubbly by ourselves.

I have never been much for those expensive dinners, but bubbly, chocolates and a movie are right up my alley.

Herewith, a small sampling of movies for a multitude of Valentine’s Days, and the best drink to accompany them.

FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD:
Julie & Julia - Little is more satisfying than watching this movie (based on an Open Salon blog) in which two women, in two different points in time, spend a large portion of their lives cooking and then stuffing their faces with the results. Give me this movie on a night alone with a good red wine and a massive dish of mac 'n' cheese, and I am a happy girl.

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