I'm always amazed at what wines consumers are willing to buy without ever knowing or understanding what's in the bottle. I'm referring mostly to purchases made based solely on the eye-catchiness of a label or, more commonly, on the numerical scores given to a wine by industry writers.

It makes complete sense though, because with such a vast amount of wines on the shelf staring at you, one has to develop some sort of initial screening process. In fact, I did these exact things all the time when I first started drinking wine. There's definitely nothing wrong with it.

Sometimes, though, I feel we get carried away and use these methods as the sole factor in making our decisions, rather than just as one component of the wine-buying process. As consumers, we all just want to get to the finish line and experience instant gratification, and using these tactics helps us accomplish that.

In my early tasting years, I experienced a lot of wines that disgusted me, and a lot of them were wines I bought based solely on scores. What I eventually figured out was that if had done the research first, I would have at least expected and understood the dreaded barnyard smell of a wine from Bandol, or the beetle bug, insect-tasting finish of a South African pinotage. Only now do I finally appreciate and actually love these aroma and flavor components not normally associated with things we put in our mouths.

I recently tried to recall the steps I took in my early wine-drinking days to help me better understand wine. The following basics are what I remember. Feel free to use them as a guide in your journey to develop and trust your own palate: