Growing up in the Philippines where viticulture is only practiced in very few regions and is not that popular, I knew too little about wines. We do have excellent wines but they’re not from grapes and although viticulture in the Philippines is a growing industry, it is still far from being able to produce wines that could compete in the world market.
Honestly speaking, I was not used to the taste of wine (or any alcoholic drink for that matter). I remember the first few times I was offered wine. I would politely accept the drink and nurse it until it’s time to go. To tell you the truth, I didn’t understand what’s so special in this drink. For me, it always tasted sour and bitter no matter how expensive the bottle is.
I’ve been in a lot wine tasting and actually, our wedding’s reception was held in a vineyard where all the guests had wine tasting before the dinner. I don’t remember how many different bottles of vino I tasted. All I remember was—they all didn’t taste good to me but I was just too polite to use the receptacle (spit bucket) all the time. I have two theories why at some point I said “I like this one”. First theory is because I wanted to hide my ignorance—you have to have one you like best from all the different kinds they ask you to taste (I mean, you couldn’t be that hard to please!). Second theory, I wanted the wine tasting to be done and over with so we could move on to dinner and I could have a glass of grape juice.
I thought I would never learn how to like wine but living in a wine country, avoiding it is impossible.
My enjoyment of wine didn’t develop from the wine tasting events I’ve been earlier. It started at home when my husband brought an ice wine from Wein & Co. (a big wine store in Austria) and served it after dinner. I suppose, the fact that ice wines are sweet is the main reason I like them. Learning that I like sweet wine, my husband started from there. Ice wines, sweet wines, semi sweet white wines, sparkling white wines and dry white wines—those were the steps. Every time we go to a restaurant, he’ll choose the sweetest white wine he could find in the menu for me. Right now I only drink white wines no matter what the meal is (I don’t care if I get the “look” that says you’re doing it wrong!). I know that it is red meat plus red wine and white meat plus white wine but my wine appreciation doesn’t reach reds yet. I also know that correct pairing of wines and food is important but perhaps I am a bit odd because I didn’t learn to appreciate wine that way. I started from what I really like then I am moving slowly away from there. I am actually still learning to differentiate the different tastes and aromas of dry white wines and I still have a long way to go.
A personal favorite: a bottle of sweet wine from one of Burgenland's famous sweet wine makers, Kracher.
Wine appreciation doesn’t happen overnight and it will certainly not happen if you are so negative about it like I was. Before, I was like… what do people like in these drinks? All of them are bitter or sour, some of them could be really expensive, and some of them have names too difficult to pronounce!
When learning how to appreciate wine, remember that there are no rules. There are of course recommendations on how to do it but if they don’t work for you then don’t pretend that they do because if you do, your appreciation will just be superficial. Also, don’t pay attention to the brand and the price of the wine. For a beginner, it is best to just try to find the taste that suits you by opening up your senses—taste, smell, and sight.
In my opinion, wine appreciation is personal. Every person has his/her own taste therefore it is more important to satisfy your particular taste than to please somebody else’s snobbish eyes.
Five years ago, Myla left her comfort zone to work as an ESL teacher in China. Sure, she enjoyed staying at “Hotel Mama” while doing a secure and hassle-less job in the garment industry but she always felt the need to “go out” and explore the world so at 23, that’s exactly what she did. During her three years stint in China, most of her weekends and holidays were spent visiting places from the northeastern part of China down to Southeast Asia. As her horizon stretches further, her thirst for traveling intensifies. Right now, she’s living in Austria with her husband who, by the way, also shares her passion for traveling. Life may get in the way sometimes but she and her husband see to it that they get to visit new places and try out new things. When she’s not busy with her day job and she's not on a trip somewhere, Myla likes to cultivate her creative side with photography and writing. Her other interests include reading, scrapbooking, and cooking. 
