In addition developing your knowledge by reading about it, you'll need to educate your palate. It’s the fun part but it also requires some focus. The most effective way is by taking good notes. This pocket notebook acts as training wheels for learning the fundamentals of wine tasting. As the author, I'm obviously biased but you'll be hard pressed to find a better tasting notebook anywhere.

Entertaining, educational and very well written. I guess you'd expect that from one of the world's most famous authors.

People who say that they're funny usually aren't but in this case Jennifer Rosen AKA The Cork Jester is actually very funny. She also knows her stuff.

Where different wines come from - the geography of wine - is essential to understanding wine so a good atlas comes in handy. Buy this when you've outgrown the much more basic maps in the Hugh Johnson Pocket Guide.

Wine is a food! I refer to this reference at least weekly. It's by far the most comprehensive and useful book on the subject of wine and food pairing.

For widely available wines (and some not so widely available) this guide is the most useful of all. The first shopper's guide you should buy.

France is the motherland of fine wine, with an amazing variety of wine styles. If you want to get beyond the basics and trying wines from smaller producers this guide is essential.