Six ways to become an instant wine expert (or at least sound like one).

It can take years to amass a comprehensive knowledge of wine. There are hundreds of grape varieties from myriad regions, thousands of vintages spanning centuries and a kaleidoscopic array of flavours to get to grips with. This means that choosing a wine can feel tantamount to cracking a particularly cryptic code. Sometimes, it’s easier to give up and fall back on old favourites than branch out. Wine writer Ms Stéphane Rosa is here to help. Her book, Choose Your Wine In 7 Seconds: Instantly Understand Any Wine With Confidence, provides a helping hand at that oft-bewildering moment when you’re scanning shop shelves or pondering a wine list. It includes concise chapters that distil the enormous array of wines out there into 300 easily available varieties, alongside clever infographics to make decoding them easy. Read on for six fundamental learnings from the book, guaranteed to make you an expert – or at least seem like one.

The book divides wines into 10 easily identifiable categories. Given the many thousands out there, editor Ms Rosa admits that “this may seem like over-simplification”. But for those aiming to garner a basic understanding of wine, it’s a robust starting point. Reds are split into five groups: light and fruity, fleshy and fruity, powerful and balanced, ripe and spicy, and sweet. Whites are divided between crisp and fruity, full and round, and sweet. Finally, there’s rosé and sparkling. Think about wine in the context of this broad labelling system and it’s infinitely less confusing.

The shape and size of a bottle often provides clues about its contents. Burgundy, for example, comes in a bottle with sloped shoulders, while a bottle of Provençale rosé is always tapered in the middle. Next, decode the labels. They always include the country of origin, the name and address of the bottler and the alcohol content. For an indicator of taste and character, check for the grape variety. Look out for labels showing awards that the wine may have won, too – useful markers of quality. And don’t forget to check the label on the back of the bottle, which often contains tasting notes.

The shade of a wine – known as the robe in French – signifies its age and grape variety, both of which are indicators of the wine’s flavour profile. Violet-hued young reds will taste light and fruity, while aged reds are more brick-coloured. Crisp, fruity or young white wines look yellow-green while fuller whites are a straw-yellow shade, and sweet white wines more orangey. It’s also worth looking for tears, sometimes called legs, left by the wine on the sides of a glass. “These reveal the presence of glycerol, a viscous, sweet-tasting composite that gives wine its unctuousness,” says Ms Rosa. Generally, the more prominent the tears, the sweeter and fuller-tasting the wine.

Recognising the “nose” of a wine – or the perfumes that we detect when we sniff it – will help you establish the varieties you like. Try to notice the most common aromas. Is the wine floral or fruity, vegetal (smelling of ferns or mint) or spicy, with notes of pepper or cinnamon? Wines can also smell balsamic (think sandalwood); animal, with a musky aroma; roasted, as in smelling of anything fire-related; mineral; pastry (like honey or brioche); or milky, with an aroma of milk or cream.

“To enjoy your wine at its best, it should be uncorked carefully and served and maintained at the right temperature,” writes Ms Rosa. Since white wines that are too warm taste heavy while overly chilled reds can become acrid, it’s crucial to get this right. When opening the wine, ensure you cut the foil sleeve below the ring of the bottleneck and avoid piercing the cork by screwing the corkscrew down too far. Generally, reds should be served at a temperature of between 14 and 18°C, with ripe, spicy examples served warmer than younger reds. Crisp and fruity whites, as well as sparkling wine and rosé, taste best served between 8 and 10°C, while fuller, rounder whites are ideal between 10 and 14°C.

Ms Rosa insists that “the art of pairing wine and food is not all that complicated”. However, unless you’re an experienced sommelier, she suggests avoiding pairings that will make the job unnecessarily difficult. White wine with red meat, red wine with shellfish or raw fish, and brut sparkling wines with desserts are no-gos for non-pros. Beyond this, keep the general principles and flavour profiles of each of the 10 categories in mind, and try to match with foods that share their traits. Fish and seafood, for example, generally work well with crisp, fruity whites and dry sparkling wines, while sweet whites and semi-sweet sparkling wines are your best bet alongside desserts.

Choose Your Wine In 7 Seconds: Instantly Understand Any Wine With Confidence (Universe Publishing) by Ms Stéphane Rosa is out now