Diamond Ridge Market photo gallery

Lesson 1: Glassware

As Tyler explained, "One of the most common mistakes is improper glassware." Wine is a living and breathing liquid. If you shove all of the flavors into a tiny glass (far right), the aroma of the wine doesn't have proper room to dissipate. That is why when you smell wine in an improper glass, all you smell are the vinegar or "rubbing alcohol" smells. In a wrong glass, white wine can taste watery and can virtually destroy the most tasty red.

Warning: semi-nerdy but important science ahead! Properly made wine glasses even have a specific angle of lip to place the liquid in the proper region of your tongue for optimal tasting. Did your mind just explode? My brain did when Tyler explained that those tiny $2 supermart wine glasses have a straight lip, which "dumps" the wine on the tip and sides of your tongue -- your sour and salty/sweet region.

"This explains why a lot of people say they don't like wine," Tyler explained. "They've never truly had a proper glass of wine."