I must put a disclaimer that I am also just learning about wine. Just putting down what my limited experience in th path of learning wine taught me.
If you are also trying to learn, I personally recommend France. Most of the world's most well known and most common varietals are based on French grapes and French wine classifications. A couple wine books I've been through also likes to start with French wine. It is tho, the most expensive, so instead of focusing on 'what's the best wine', focus on nailing down the different types of grapes in France, which region in France grape types corresponds to, what's the taste of each type of wine, etc etc.
Besides buying wine, which you must inevitably do, pick up a book. Internet has lots of information but I think it's more suitable for referencing. A wine introduction book seems to give a more logical flow in educating people with the topic of wine.
For $40 - $80, I personally like to pick up bad vintage Bordeaux during the annual Bordeaux release at BC Liquor store. Even tho it's a "bad" vintage, but there are some that will make it out of the pack fairly well. As I am also just a beginning, I just go by rating. Keep in mind that Robert Parker rating and say, Wine Advocate rating might not be too compatible with each other. When comparing wine compare Robert Parker rating to RP rating, Wine Advocate rating to WA rating. Even though they are all out of a 100 but they might give points very differently. |