The best way to pick the wine for you is to try before you buy

For those out there who have ever stood in the wine section of a Beijing retail establishment trying to gauge a Cabernet's virtues by judging the aesthetic beauty of the label in relation to the price of the wine, you are not alone. With wine prices in China currently double what they are in the US and Europe, it's not easy or affordable to liberally experiment with wine and there is very little that can be gleaned about a particular tipple from reading about it or staring at the bottle.

While wine experts and magazines can rank and recommend till the cows come home, the only way to really know whether or not a wine does it for you is to taste it. An easy and entertaining way to learn about the best available wines in Beijing is to head out on the town and attend some of the many wine tastings and dinners held every week.

Wine tastings offer the opportunity to sample half a dozen different wines for the same price you would have spent buying just one. It is the perfect way to get to know more about what kind of wine suits your palette and a great way to find the best bargains in Beijing.

While a few wine tastings still take the traditional route of high-browed sniffing, swirling and spitting, a vast majority of events in Beijing are simply good times with wine involved. Wine companies hold tastings primarily to introduce their products to customers or show off to visiting wine makers and it is almost always in their interest to give guests a great deal for their money. There are also a few independent groups around Beijing that put on tastings purely for the love of the fermented grape juice and these events are always very educational and entertaining.

Most wine tastings will feature between four to six wines and will focus on a geographic region, particular label or a grape variety. The more you taste, the more you can understand and the easier it is to enjoy wine. For a mere beverage, wine has developed an exclusive vocabulary that tends to unnecessary intimidate those who haven't read extensively on the subject. In short, learning all there is to know about what 'malolactic fermentation' or 'ageing on the lees' does to a wine is pointless if all you need to know is that you love New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Wine tastings can also offer rare opportunities to sample wines the average consumer would usually have little access to. Vertical tastings (where you taste different years of the same wine) or elaborate dinners featuring fine wines from the likes of Chateaux Lafitte, Chateaux Latour or Chateaux Margaux give you the chance to try some of the world's best wines for a relatively modest fee. Events can cost as much as 4,000RMB, but provide the opportunity to try wines that are scarce on the open market.

So, before you head out to the store or go online to make your next wine purchase, consider hitting up a few wine tastings around town first to get a better feel for what is out there. Your palette and wallet will be all the better off for it.