Questions that Matter

At the end of wine shows, I always have people who attended the show telling me that they didn't understand anything about what they were drinking. So why didn't they ask questions? Their response would be that they didn't know what questions to ask. Here are some questions that you can ask winemakers to give you a better understanding of the wines you are drinking.

1) Are you organic or bio-dynamic? This questions allows you to understand more about the producer's farming practices. I am in the camp that it doesn't matter as long as the wines are good but some people are not a fan of pesticides and herbicide sprays leeching onto the grapes.
2) How old are your vines in this drink? The older a vine, the better the quality, say 50 years and above. Usually around 5 to 15 years is still considered young.
3) What is the climate of your vineyard like? Cool climate can mean that you can expect light, delicate characters in your glass and high acid while warm means you get jammy fruits and high alcohol wines.
4) Is your vineyard on a hill? What is the exposition of your vineyard? Vineyards on a hill facing south are the best vineyards in the northen hemisphere as they recieve the most sun and get lots of drainage. It depends if grape varietal needs a lot of sun to ripen. For the southern hemisphere, it is north facing.
5) Has your wine seen any oak? What type of oak and what % of new oak? How long has your wine been in the barrel? Oak gives a different flavour dimension to the wine. The magnitude of the cedary taste comes from the % of new oak. The longer it is in barrel, the more oak it soaks up if it is new. For red wines, oak is needed to mellow out the texture of the wine to smoothen it. USA oak gives a more vanilla and dessicated coconut taste and french gives are more spicy, clove-like, new furniture aroma/flavour.
6) How long do you recommend I age this wine for? What is the oldest vintage you have tasted that is still looking good? It is good to get a winemaker's opinion on the longevity of his wine. High acid, lots of tannins or high alcohol are signs of a wine's aging potential but getting better as it ages is a different story.
7) What food do you usually eat with the wines you produce? This allows you to understand how wine from a specific geography marries with eating habits of a region.
There are many other questions those are more technical and unless you are at a wine school, it would be more useful to you.