The wine snob?

I've never been accused of being a wine snob. But I do enjoy food. And I consider wine a part of food.

That's why I wish I was just a little bit better at tasting wine. I'm not a world-class wine taster, but I definitely know what I like to drink and what I don't like. I can tell if something is sweet or dry, acidic, tannic, and can detect floral and fruity aromas.

But the flavors, textures, aromas of wine, and how to pin them down, are still somewhat elusive to me. I need a better vocabulary. I need to drink more wine.

The other problem is my pocketbook. I don't have a lot of money to spend on wine, or on courses where somebody can tell what's a good wine. It's not that I need somebody to tell me what's good, it's just that I'm the kind of person that likes to pick apart everything food. I get additional enjoyment of waxing descriptive about my food when I'm eating it. (My husband calls me a "commercial" and laughs.)

So, as a birthday present to myself, I bought one of my most expensive bottles of wine. (My most expensive bottle is a champagne I sipped often on my honeymoon, which has great sentimental value to me, so it's priceless.)

The bottle cost $40. It's a chardonnay--I can't remember the name--and it was rated 92 by Wine Spectator. Or perhaps it was Wine Enthusiast. Wine Today? Vine?

So far as I know, this is the first "rated" wine that I will ever drink.

It will be interesting to taste the wine to see what the "professionals" consider a high-rated wine, and to compare that against what I usually drink. Maybe I'll be able to taste a difference, or maybe not, but the experience should be fun. I'll learn something no matter what.