Things every wine lover should do

In last month's (August 2009) issue of Decanter, Margaret Rand, author, writer and former editor of Wine & Spirit and Wine magazines, shared a list of 40 things she believes that every wine lover should do.

According to Rand, being a wine lover isn't about vintages, prices and rarity, it should be more fun than that. "It's to be measured in bad bottles as well as good ones; in dropped glasses, in grape skins under the fingernails, in journeys and memories," she says. Here is an excerpt of that list:

1. Learn to Decant: This couldn't be easier, just point the bottle at the decanter neck and pour. Keep a steady hand and pour slowly; creating turbulence in the bottle will defeat the object. You do not only have to decant for practical reasons: White wine and rosé look amazingly pretty in decanters.

2. Drink wine from your birth year: Try to be born in a great vintage. Anybody over 40 should consider Bordeaux, Port, Sauternes, sweet Vouvray or German Riesling. (Gari Ferguson and I tried a 1900 Port - a tad older than us - last year at the Epicurean Event, amazing stuff.)

3. Drink first growth from a plastic cup with a takeaway: Drinking wine out of a plastic cup was immortalised in the 2004 hit movie Sideways, when protagonist Miles cracks open his cherished 1961 Cheval Blanc in a fast-food joint. (I once had a 2003 Mouton Rothschild with a hot dog - fantastic!)

4. Start a wine club: Very useful if you want to improve your tasting skills. Everyone brings a bottle, you take turns deciding the theme and price range. You can get a good wine merchant involved and ask him to guide you through a region or country. (Our wine club has been meeting regularly for almost three years).

5. Tread port grapes in a lagar: The warm juice comes above your knees and there are a lot of squishy skins and hard pips about. It happens in the best Port quintas every autumn.

6. Sabre a bottle of Champagne: Not difficult, but you need a decent backhand. Remove the foil capsule. Hold the bottle at arms, grasping the neck and letting the bottle rest along your arm. Make sure the seam of the bottle is facing upwards. Run the blunt edge of the sabre along the seam: too gentle and nothing will happen, too forceful and you will smash the bottle. Ideally, the collar of the bottle comes off neatly together with cork and wire. Best to try it at somebody else's house; where you get the sabre is your own business.

7. Do a wine course: Great edu-tainment - fun and educational at the same time. If you are travelling to London, try one of the Decanter Masterclass (or else send me an email - see address below - and I will let you know when the next wine class will be. We have attended and conducted many wine courses both locally and internationally).

8. Take a helicopter tour in a wine area: A bird's eye view makes the Médoc look like a collection of toytown châteaux. A helicopter tour of Chilean vineyards shows just how all those valleys work. Take maps.

9. Try Ice Wine: Auslese or Beerenauslese has more complexity than ice wine (Eiswein), but ice wine wins on improbability. (A number of Canadian ice wines are available locally.)

10. Run the Médoc marathon: There are lots of wine and Oyster stops en route, which takes in dozens of châteaux and vineyards. The vineyards generously provide wine to the thirsty runners along the way. Fittingly, as you cross the finish line you're handed a bottle of Bordeaux. Don't go for a fast time, but do go for the overall fun factor and quirkiness.

11. Plan a dinner party solely around the wines: They'd better be good - the guests, that is. No point in opening your finest bottles if they are not going to be appreciated. Keep the food simple and don't let anyone get too snobby; wine is meant to be fun. (Our group and other friends have held a number of these over the past four years - always fun)

12. And . drink your best bottles: Drink a wine when it's over the hill and you'll say, 'If only I'd opened it five years ago'. (This happens to me very regularly). Open it a fraction too early and you will have the pleasure of watching it open and blossom in the glass. A wine that's still too young will be full of delight; one that's too old is a waste.

Cheers! Now go forth and make sure you try at least one of the things every wine lover should do.