I’ve had several wines that I’ve liked, but left to my own devices, I’ll probably order something else.
I’ll eat cilantro in my pho, I like red and white wine. Went well with my BPAL habit since smell and taste are so closely intertwined. (No, this does not mean I swilled BPAL or dabbed wine behind my ears. )
However these days I seem to get an asthma attack if I drink more than a tiny bit of alcohol so I am rather put out as I enjoyed the occasional glass or couple-fingers of whiskey. I have black label Bushmill’s in the pantry, too – which is a tragedy. 
For those who categorically dislike wine: are sparkling wines any better (thinking mainly of sweet spumantes like Tosti Asti and Ballatore [sp?])?
I love wine, especially red wine. It’s a toss-up if I love wine or coffee more, but they’re both highlights of any given day.
When I was younger however, say around high school and early college, wine tasted to me much like the OP described – overpoweringly awful. I used to have much more sensitive taste buds, so I hated anything bitter or strong tasting. I suspect the tannins were completely dominating the flavor, to the point where I couldn’t taste anything else. Now I’m all about the bitter: strong, dark roast coffees, dark chocolate, etc. Bring it on.
Hear, hear. If I want plums, I’ll eat plums. And I seldom want plums.
Give be a big, robust, kick-in-the balls South Australian Shiraz to drink with a New York cut steak. I’ happy.
Neither my husband or I can drink wine or beer. He won’t touch alcohol at all; I can manage Bailey’s and a couple other really-low-alcohol-content types of drinks. Especially if I further dilute them with ice or something. (Bailey’s or Godiva’s chocolate liquor in hot cocoa is great!)
We do regularly cook with wine though, and enjoy it very much that way. And I just discovered rum cake last Christmas, and it instantly became a favorite! Yum!
We both loooooove cilantro too.
I’ve never liked wine either or been able to acquire any taste for it. It always just takes like sour, fermented grape juice to me and it has a burn that I don’t care for. I’ve never tried any super fine expensive wines, but I’ve tried some moderately upscale wines and still haven’t enjoyed it. It all tastes like Mad Dog to me.
It took a little determination for me to acquire a liking for wine, but I quite enjoy it now, reds and whites.
I put effort into it because I don’t like beer anymore, mixed drinks are too sweet, and hard liquor would put me under the table quick.
Can I take it your dislike of wine is more of a choice/medical thing rather than a dislike of the taste, just trying to keep track of the wine dislike/cilantro connection.
Oh, I don’t much care for wine in cooking either. The flavor of the wine overwhelms everything else. Gods, imagine a cilantro/wine sauce … Do we still have a puking smiley?
Mmmmmm…cilantro and a nice Spanish Rioja. Yummy!
Wine is wonderful in all it’s forms.
I can only surmise that Dorothy Parker was secretly a teetotaler.
I went through a pro-wine phase when I was looking mainly for low-effort drinks that contained a lot of alcohol. Eventually the taste got to me and now I stick with potent margaritas when I want to strap one on. Still though, I think a good wine is a good companion to good food.
A few years ago, Brainiac4 decided that as an anniversary gift to me he’d learn to like wine. I was complaining because I’d open a $10 bottle and dump half of it down the drain after three days. It took some determination (he started wanting sweeter whites, I convinced him to go for reds - neither of us wants a Chardonnay). It did take some determination - wine isn’t something that tastes GOOD to many people with the first sip - but he did learn to like it.
Most expensive gift he’s ever given me. It was cheaper to dump half the $10 bottle down the drain…
I suspect that, like golf, which he also took up to please me, there was a secondary motivation for him - he does a lot of business with vendors (or formerly, with clients) and to be able to talk intelligently about wine(and being able to hit a fairway wood without embarrassment are good skills to bring along when asked out to dinner or for a day of golf.
I’ve enjoyed a Riesling or two, and I like making my own chicken marsala, but otherwise, wine is very meh to me. I’ll drink it if my host proudly offers it, but I’ll never order it.
I don’t like wine. I don’t like red wine a lot. I will, for politeness sake, manage to work my way through about 1/2 a glass of white wine when required, but I am not enjoying it. Since I also won’t drink beer (ick), it does mean when going out I am either drinking coolers, ciders or mixed drinks.
I do, by the way, like cilantro.
I love almost all wines but yes, Merlot just sucks. Blech.
I like red wines and ports. When I’m not drinking beer or gin.
I’ve tried to like red wine, but I just can’t. I can drink chardonnay or white zin, but that’s about it. I do like most of the Duplin wines but they are all sweet scuppernong/muscadine wines that don’t get any serious consideration from wine lovers.