The 20 New Rules of Drinking (and Buying) Wine (Part 1)

THE 20 NEW RULES OF DRINKING (AND BUYING) WINE (PART 1)

Thanks to a generation of adventurous lushes, the wine world is younger and funner and delicious-er than ever. Here's all you need to know to navigate that world, find the best bottles (and cans!), drink above your pay grade, and say screw you to the old rules.

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RULE NO. 1

Sparkling Wine is Exploding (see above)

Drinkers of the world, we are living in a full-blown bubbles bubble, with unprecedented quality, variety, and accessibility fizzing in our coupes. From England to New Mexico, everybody's making sparklers—and everybody's drinking them, to the point where Ariel Arce here can focus an entire bar, the rambunctious “underground champagne parlor” Riddling Widow in Manhattan, just on popping bottles.

RULE NO. 2

There's a Simple Way to Get a Killer Bottle in a Restaurant

“A lot of people find talking about money uncomfortable, but there's no way around it. So just come in and say how much you feel comfortable spending. Never, ever, ever have any of us scoffed at a number. It actually makes the situation way less intimidating, because knowing your number means we're not up-selling you. When I hear a number, I'm like: Awesome. I'm gonna find you the best bang for the buck, and you're gonna freak out and want this wine all the time.” — Marie-Lousie Friedland, a wine director at two of San Francisco's most ambitious restaurants, The Progress and State Bird Provisions

RULE NO. 3

The Best Wine Class We've Been to is on Netflix

If you need a 94-minute crash course on how to taste and appreciate wine, queue up Somm, the surprisingly intense 2012 documentary about a group of wine obsessives cramming for their Master Sommelier exam. You'll cringe at their fails along the way, but you'll also learn as they learn. When it's over, start buying wine on Verve, the new e-commerce site from Somm star Dustin Wilson. From then on, you're no longer a heavy drinker—you're a “serious taster.”

RULE NO. 4

Even a Hot-Dog Shack Can Have a Top-Notch List

If anything embodies the wine-ification of America, it's the surprising places tasty wine is popping up.

Drink at That Hot-Dog Joint

Master Sommelier Christopher Bates worked at world-class restaurants before opening F.L.X. Wienery in the Finger Lakes, where he serves his favorite wines with burgers and dogs.

Drink in a Stable
Out on the North Fork of Long Island, McCall Winery and Ranch has turned a horse barn into a tasting room. Its glorious lawn is strewn with picnic tables ideal for nursing that Cab Franc.

Drink at a Ball Game
Perhaps to dull the pain of the Padres' woeful pitching, San Diego's Petco Park lets you bring entire bottles straight to your seat via re-usable carafes and cups.

Drink at Disney World
The quality of South African wines has skyrocketed—and Jiko restaurant at Animal Kingdom Lodge in Orlando has the biggest list in the United States.

Drink in Midair
Your in-flight order is no longer (inexplicably) a Bloody Mary. Emirates airlines pours more than 70 labels on any given day and has 3 million bottles aging in France.

RULE NO. 5

Not All Wine-Speak is Gibberish

Andrea Morris, the sommelier at New York Vegetarian restaurant Nix, decodes three terms that'll help you articulate what you want—or don't want—to drink.

ACIDIC
A sensation of freshness and crispness (as opposed to richness). “A few years ago, if you said ‘acid’ at the table, everyone thought the wine was gonna be sour. Now people think it'll be a minerally high-acid white, like a Riesling, as opposed to an oaky Chardonnay.”

OXIDIZED
Once considered a flaw, exposure to oxygen can sometimes change wine for the better, creating an invitingly toasty, hazelnutty aroma. “Old Chenin Blanc always tastes to me like Pepperidge Farm Pirouette cookies, the French Vanilla ones. In old Burgundies, it's more almondy.”

BARNYARD
It's when your red wine tastes funky. A lot of wines from France's trendy Jura region have this characteristic. “I hate to compare the smell to manure, but it can be a little bit like a stable. Or rust. It's iron-y, like blood. That combination of sharpness and damp-soil smell.” But tasty!

Source: GQ

Learn about The 20 new rules of drinking and buying wine (Part 2)

Learn about California Wine exports reach record $1.62 billion in 2016

- B.R.COHN 2013 Sonoma & Napa County Cabernet Sauvignon

-How to improve your wine knowledge as abeginner

- What your favorite wine says about you

-8 Things a real wine-lover would never do

-5 Tips for storing opened wine these are the best ways to preserve the last few glasses of your opened bottle

-Where to buy