Re: Wine and dinner
goofy,
Ignore most everything in this thread.
When you go someplace where you think a glass of wine would be nice to have, ask the waiter to recommend a few glasses of wine. Pick one that sounds good and is reasonably priced. Just stick with ordering glasses until you've been drinking wine for a while.
Initially, you'll probably want to avoid wines that are described as very dry/oaky/tannic/big. These are all indicators of various types of strong/powerful flavors that take a little getting used to.
When you drink wines at restaurants or dinner parties or wherever, initially start remembering the types (Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot, Cabernet, etc.) of wines and the descriptions (dry, fruity, tannic, etc.). As you try more wines, you'll figure out which tastes you like and look for those. And then start paying more attention to the specific wineries, but that's not really something that's very important until you start buying/drinking wine a lot.
If you get into wine, buy a few $10-15 bottles from the grocery or wine store and just bust them open from time to time at home to try out more stuff and see what you like.
The main point is, if you want to read/study/know guidelines/etc, all that stuff is fine. But it's really all about tasting a lot of wines and figuring out what you like.
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