5 Wine Resolutions To Keep, For Real, In 2023

It’s the end of January, and the dust has settled on New Year’s resolutions made and, possibly, also broken. For readers of this column, those resolutions likely also included wine.

Today, as we settle in and turn the calendar page away from the push-and-pull chaos of the first month of the year, we’re looking at five sustainable wine resolutions for 2023. There’s enough diversity of ideas so that you won’t get bored. The resolutions are easy enough so that they won’t feel like work. And there’s enough room to personalize them to your own likes and dislikes, so that you ultimately reach the goal of a more enjoyable year in wine.

Cheers to that, in 2023 and beyond.

1. Create Your Own Wine Notes

Start taking notes on the wines you taste and, more importantly, decide for yourself what a “wine note” means. It’s entirely subjective, and there’s no need to be steered by what you think a wine note “should” be. The goal is for the wine to be relevant and sticky for you personally. Maybe that means noting the music you were listening to when you opened a bottle you’ve never tried before. Maybe you note who you were with, where you were, when you opened the bottle, and why you chose that particular one. Maybe you note whether you liked the wine better at the first glass pour from the bottle or the last glass of the night. Maybe you use a social media channel to record your notes publicly, or maybe you just use the Notes or Photo feature on your phone and keep it to yourself. Regardless of the platform or method, the point is to personalize it and make it relevant to your own story.

2. Seek Out Unusual, Off-the-Beaten-Path Wines

Do you know whether your closest wine shop stocks bottles of wine from, say, Vermont? How about Tasmania, or the Bekaa Valley? Maybe the Itata Valley in Chile? If you aren’t sure, it’s time to lace up your boots and start exploring. The geographical boundaries of wine are more disparate than ever before, which means there’s more opportunity to expand your horizons of taste and interest.

3. Earn a Reputation as THAT Wine Consumer

Hand-in-hand with exploring lesser-known regions of wine production is asking questions like this of the wine shop staff: What’s the most fun wine you’ve tasted this week? What’s the most unusual? Did you try something new? What’s the best story about wine that you’ve heard lately? Get in the practice of asking these and other questions like them. They might sound silly but they are memorable, and they’ll earn you a reputation as THAT curious consumer. Which means that the shop’s buyer will think of you when a distributor rep walks in their door to taste them on some bottles, and eventually you’ll wind up with a far more adventurous wine narrative to tell.

4. Invite Wine Friends Over Regularly

You know who they are. Those people in your friend or work or social groups whose heads turn when the subjects of Pinot Noir and sparkling wine come up in conversation. Start setting regular get-togethers with them, maybe every month or two. Alternate hosting, and get the next few gatherings in the calendar. The host gets to choose the theme, as silly or as serious as they like, and everyone brings a bottle or two accordingly. The idea is, of course, to taste more broadly and the idea is also to sit and talk together about the bottles you open. There are few better ways to boost your comfort and familiarity with wine than to talk about it on a consistent basis, among friends and peers you enjoy.

5. Get Hooked on an “Adjacency” to Wine

Your interest and curiosity levels may be sustained by wine itself. It’s also helpful at times to get curious about a topic that’s “adjacent” to wine, meaning a sub-category or through-line that links your wine choices together, such as wine made by women or at wineries owned by women, or wine made from grapes that are outside the six or eight most common varieties globally (i.e., Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling). The “adjacency” or through-line is another point of interest to discuss both at the wine shop when selecting the wine, and around the table when you open the bottles with friends.