How long do you think it takes to truly become an expert on wine? Is it something that can be fast-tracked by spending a lot of money, or does true expertise come only with years of tasting and experience?
Yes?
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Is becoming an expert your goal?
What is an expert?
Wine knowledge can definitely be obtained by drinking lots of wine. The more wine you taste, the faster you will learn. But one thing that only comes with time is understanding different vintages and how they might develop by tasting them young and again over time in order to know when to load up for your palate.
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It somewhat depends on what you want to know. There are so many aspects from the history, to the geography, the geology, the chemistry, the farming, the production, and the tasting that it can take a lifetime and still not be enough. But if your intent is one aspect, then there are ways to focus on just those and absorb more in a short time. It might come at the expense of what you don’t seek out but that is a personal decision.
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WSET classes are relatively inexpensive. I would argue that “tasting and experience” alone is a rather inefficient way to learn about wine and a structured class setting is likely going to be more fruitful for most.
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For me, the longer I spend in the business, the more I learn how much I don’t know. That’s why I like it. There’s always more books, more tastings, more regions to try. If you want to be a wine expert, I have no advice other than always continue learning and be passionate about whatever topics you consider to be essential to being a wine expert. I dont know what those would be. A good start might be the WSET courses and two books I’d recommend off the bat would be The World Atlas of Wine and The Oxford Companion to Wine.
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No interest in becoming an expert. Just curious as I’ve been thinking about this topic.
A friend of mine who is very wealthy just got into wine a year ago. He claims he is now an expert since he has drank majority of the fine wines and vintages from Bordeaux and Burgundy. My rebuttal to him was it takes a long time to truly understand wine because it develops over time, and is constantly evolving, I don’t think you can understand wine in a years time and it may take a lifetime of drinking 
.
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There is sadly still a lot of snobbery in wine, with self-proclaimed experts who talk tosh.
Definitely a hobby where the more you learn, the more you realise how much you still don’t know. I will never be expert, even though a novice might observe me and think that I was. It’s all relative.
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Define his definition of Wine.
Maybe there are no wine experts, just some that are fortunate to have a wealth of experiences.
Wine is a moving target and often one that is not repeatable.
We have experts in wine making, wine terroir, wine history ect ect.
Wine Tasting? Maybe an expert in learning your own particular palate, but as far as proclaiming it gospel to others. Of course not.
I hear Elon is looking for more Neuralink subjects.
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I think you have to toggle between the approaches. Not sure what the classes that you have in mind look like, but most of the structured class settings that I’ve seen give small pours, which really has serious limitations for deepening your understanding. You only get a glimpse and would “understand” each wine better if you had it throughout a bottle.
But yes, it’s also useful to have broader tastings where you can compare different wines and decide where you want to go into more depth. And I do agree that in the beginning, those broad comparisons can be useful for figuring out your palate.
At the end of the day, everyone takes his/her own path!
MMMmmmm. Where to begin. No there is no fast track. Yes it takes years. But …that is part of the joy, like with any pursuit. No WSET is not inexpensive (I am in Dip4), not cheap. Reading and finding a great group to taste with is an accelerator (this will “fast track” the most). Finally, yes…it takes years and even then you find much to learn. Therein lies the beauty of the journey. My views!
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It depends on what “expertise” means. Tasting is only a part of it. I’m getting decent in blind tastings, but I have no clue of half of the theoretical things required for even the basic WSET level ratings. And then when I do tastings with MW level people, it’s humbling to see how far out their knowledge base is.
I can only speak from personal experience. I have drunk wine seriously for 65+ years, read zillions of books, and spent hundreds of thousand dollars on wine, but I am not an expert. So what? Unless you want to make a living from wine, why worry about being an expert?
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otto should have a pretty good answer! he does not commercialize his knowledge but probably is one of the most curious, informed, and prolific contributors here.
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Two kinds of knowledge. You can drink a lot of wine but not know sh*t about it. You might drink swill like Burgundy for 30 years and know a lot about how swill develops over 30 years, but not know anything about wine.
The question as asked needs to be defined better. Do we talk about tasting wine, or understanding the theory of wine. You need to taste a lot to learn about tasting it, but you also need to read a lot to know about how it’s made. Two paths to take.
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I’ve been reading about and collecting wine for over 20 years. I’ve drunk some of the most famous labels in many appellations. I’ve met and drunk with winemakers and MWs. I own more wine than I’m ever likely to drink. And I couldn’t claim to be anything other than a lifelong student cause I’ve learned I don’t know crap about most things.
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Yeah, you can read a mountain of books but it won’t make you a Literature PhD. You need to do more than just consume, you need to understand how it was created and how to critically analyze it.
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Or you can just drink it and enjoy it. Many wine “experts” are full of hot air.
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