For a novice, understanding wine may be a little scary. Wine fanatics use fancy terms like ‘crisp, sweet, tart, bouquet’ and you may not understand what they mean or how they can be applied to a liquid. But rest assured that understanding wines is not difficult. One simple rule of thumb you have to remember is that any wine you like is a good wine. Based on this premise, here are a few tips that will help you understand wines and how to buy wines.
Experiment — Old world wines are very famous and rightly so but there is so much going on in the wine-making world. Look for wines from not-so-well-known areas. As land costs in these areas are lower, growers can afford to price wonderful wines at lower rates. Try the latest Paso Robles from California and the 2013 Austrian whites that offer great value for money. Don’t forget to try warmer climate wines as well. Areas like Spain, Chile, and Australia have wonderful vineyards and unique grape harvests that result in stunning vintages. You can also use free apps like Delectable. With this app, you can scan a wine label and read reviews and ratings about people who have tried a particular wine.
Learn — It does help to study before an exam, right? If you want to know about wines, you will have to read up a little on grape varieties, types of wines and varietals, wine producing regions, and a little of the lingo as well. Try to match your reading with visits to local vineyards for wine tasting events or visit wine festivals. Not only will this reinforce what you are reading but it’s also a fun way to experience wines. At these events, you are also more likely to bump into wine experts and other learners. Remember, every sip you take with a person who knows wines, is a chance to learn what they know.
Price — Don’t automatically think that an expensive wine is a good wine. Try to experiment with as many varieties as possible. For example, Loire wines are out of fashion at present but they are incredibly affordable and quite delicious. Similarly, Chenin Blancs and muscadets are cheap but they are incredibly good value for money and quite stunning in taste. Don’t be turned off by screw cap or gallon wines. More and more winemakers are now choosing these storage options to save money on cork. White and sweet wines do quite well in these storage versions but we do recommend that you buy red wines stored in corked bottles. This is because red wine needs to breathe and only corked bottles will allow this to happen. On an average, we do recommend that you choose wines that are above $9/£7. Anything below this level indicates a wine that that has cut costs in grape variety, cultivation, production and storage.
Although we have a lot more information, we cannot cover it in this article. However, we would be glad to hear from you and all comments or suggestions are welcome. In case you have wine-related queries, feel free to write in to us through the comment section and our wine experts will be glad to help you out. Of course, do share your personal wine buying tips here as well to help out other readers.