by Joe Roberts

Wine is supposed to be enjoyable.
So why does it make so many people feel uncertain, self-conscious, or convinced they’re doing it wrong?

In Unlearning Wine, award-winning wine writer and critic Joe Roberts takes aim at the most stubborn, misleading, and anxiety-producing myths that surround wine today—from the idea that expensive bottles are always better, to the belief that only experts know what “good” wine tastes like, to the notion that there’s a single, universal standard for balance, quality, or correctness.

This is not a textbook. It’s not a tasting manual. And it’s definitely not a rulebook.

Instead, Unlearning Wine is a myth-by-myth field guide written in the voice of someone who has spent decades tasting professionally, judging international competitions, traveling the world’s wine regions, and—most importantly—drinking wine alongside real people who just want to enjoy what’s in their glass.

Each chapter tackles one persistent wine myth, exploring:

• Why the idea took hold in the first place
• Why it sounds true
• What’s actually going on beneath the surface
• How Roberts approaches wine instead
• And what all of this means for how you drink, buy, and enjoy wine

Along the way, Roberts draws on personal experience, cultural history, and hard-earned perspective to dismantle the false certainty that has made wine feel more like a test than a pleasure.

You’ll learn why:

• Scores don’t tell you everything you need to know
• Sommeliers are guides, not oracles
• “Natural wine” isn’t a return to some lost golden age
• Old vines don’t automatically guarantee greatness
• Sweet wines can be among the greatest—and longest-lived—in the world
• And why the “right” way to drink wine is usually just the way you enjoy it most

If you’ve ever felt talked down to by wine culture, confused by conflicting advice, or pressured to perform expertise instead of pleasure, Unlearning Wine offers something refreshingly rare: permission to trust your own experience, backed by insight rather than dogma.

Whether you’re new to wine or deeply immersed in it, this book will change how you think about what’s in your glass—and make drinking wine feel human again.