How to recognise a good wine

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There are so many different types of wines available these days, so it can be quite difficult to pick one you will like. How do you recognise a good wine? How do you tell if a wine is one you’ll enjoy? Is it the price? The label? Or maybe, the merchant’s advice? Whatever, there is no simple answer.

Price

The price you are willing to pay for a bottle of wine can be a key factor in selecting a wine that is right for you. A lot of people feel that good quality wines are more expensive, however, this isn’t always the case. In today’s market there are plenty of great wines available at low prices. So rest assured that you won't have to spend a lot of money to experiment with various wines. A decent wine merchant will be able to give you plenty of suggestions in your stated price range.

Labels

Wine labels can be very informative and tell you a lot about a wine. Information such as a wine’s vintage, alcohol content, the wine’s region and even the winery it was made in. All these factors can determine whether you will like a wine and an indication of it’s taste or quality.

Here are a few pointers on each

• Vintage: Majority of wines in the store are meant to be drunk right away, so make sure the wine isn’t too old, particularly if you are buying it expecting a lively, fruity wine.
• Alcohol content: Many wines today contain too much alcohol, which leaves them unbalanced. Try to pick a wine that has an alcohol content no more than 12%.
• Geography: The more specific the better. A wine stating it's from Napa is probably a better bet than a wine simply saying it's from California. Unfortunately, this will probably be reflected in the price, so this might not tell you much about value. There are legendary vineyards all over the world, land famous for producing high quality grapes. If you learn about some of these, they may help you make a decision about quality.
• Estate-bottled: This means the people who made the wine also had a hand in growing the grapes on their own land. We generally find this a good sign.
• Tiny details: Many small production wineries include a phone number and invitation to call their winery on the label. Some include the dates when the grapes were harvested and when the wine was bottled. Details like these make the point that these things matter to the winemaker and that they understand it has meaning for the consumer. However, expect to pay more for these “individually” rather than mass produced wines.
• Critter labels: These are labels with cute animals on them. In the past, these have been associated with inexpensive wines, however, there are some good wines that happen to have animals on the labels, such as Stag’s Leap and Iron Horse. We’d avoid wines where the cute animal is the main feature on the label.

Taste

Firstly, decide on what wine type you are looking for. Do you want a red, white, sparkling, dessert or fortified wine? This will narrow down your choices and give you some direction in recognising what you like.

Think about the kind of tastes you like in a wine. Compare the different wine characteristics with your own tastes. Do you prefer dry or sweet wine? Below is a list of wine characteristics to help you in your comparative wine tasting.

• Low Tannins or High Tannins: Tannins are important in wines, especially red wines. The tannins come from the skins, stalks and pips of grapes. Tannins in a young wine produce a bitter, puckering taste on the palate.
• Short Palate or Long Palate: This relates to the amount of time the sensations of taste and aroma from the wine persist after swallowing. Usually, the longer the palate the better.
• Low Acid or High Acid: Various types of acid are present in wine, and are essential to the wine’s long life and enjoyment in drinking. A low acidity can affect the wine’s quality, resulting in a flatter tasting wine. A higher acidity makes the wine more tart and sour tasting. Acidity is what makes your mouth water and your lips pucker, and without it, wines taste flat. The presence of the right amount of acidity can make all other flavours in wine stand out, including traces of fruit, spices and herbs. The flavour in wine that you would describe as tangy, sharp, refreshing, bracing, bright, crisp or zingy is the acidity.
• Light-bodied or Full-bodied: Light-bodied wine is delicate in body and taste. Full-bodied wine is relatively weighty on the palate. Another factor is that a wine’s body is relative to its alcohol level. On every wine label you’ll notice a percentage of alcohol by volume. Note how this applies to body: 7.5% - 10.5%; indicates light body. 10.5% - 12.5%; indicates medium body. 12.5% and over; indicates full body.
• No Oak or Heavy Oak: Wines are sometimes stored in oak barrels, usually to gain extra and more complex flavours. French, American and German oak barrels are widely used in Europe and Australia. Oaky describes the aroma or taste quality of a wine, gained by the oak barrels in which it was aged. The terms toasty, vanilla, dill and smoky indicate the desirable qualities of oak; charred, burnt, green cedar, lumber and plywood describe its unpleasant side.

Merchant’s advice

It’s easy to get advice on wine before buying, you just need to ask. You can pop into your local wine shop and ask the assistant for help. At any good wine shop, they will usually ask you for a few of you’re favourite tastes and smells, or a few other similar questions, and then begin to recommend wines. Don’t be embarrassed to give a price range either. They will appreciate knowing where to start. Also, a lot of grocery stores with good wine sections are also getting into the game and hiring good help for the wine isle. Look for these people and ask them for advice.

Wine tastings

There are far fewer and cheaper ways of finding wines you like then going to wine tastings. In a lot of areas you can find low cost or even free wine tastings at local wine shops, cultural and art centres or restaurants. You can use these tastings as opportunities to eliminate wines from the buy list and add others. These events can also be very educational and a great way to meet new people.