Marriage is like wine. It is not be properly judged until the second glass.

Jerrold’s epigram treats marriage as an experience whose true character only emerges after an initial “taste.” Like wine, it may seem one thing at first encounter—pleasant, harsh, intoxicating, or disappointing—but a fair judgment requires time and a second, more informed trial. The “second glass” also hints at the social ritual of drinking: first impressions are shaped by novelty and expectation, while subsequent experience reveals subtler qualities and consequences. The line balances humor with caution, implying that early judgments about married life (or a spouse) are unreliable, and that commitment involves discovering complexity beyond the first flush of romance.