Wine is a vast subject, which makes it even more appetizing. Each wine-growing area has its own personality, each of the more than 1,400 varieties of wine grapes have different characteristics, and winemakers and put their own imprint on the bottles they produce. wine labels is science, wine is art, wine is food and soul relief, wine is a hobby and last but not least, wine is a continuous journey, an odyssey. Travel with us reader and we assure you that you will not get bored.
The wine may seem incredibly complex, sometimes overwhelming and inaccessible, especially for beginners, but everything becomes clear if we approach the subject relaxed and look at the big picture. Let's start with some good practices for choosing and buying wine, whether it's from a hypermarket, specialty store or restaurant.
Wine is perhaps one of the most difficult to buy products, due to the extremely rich offer, both in stores and restaurants. But taking into account a few simple rules, you can remove the doubt and you can gradually increase your confidence in your own knowledge. The wine labels certainly do not tell us what the wine will taste like, but there are many things we can discover between the lines. Read on to find out the 3 numbers that can help you choose wine.
Even when you know what type of wine you want - a red from or a white from making the final decision can be complicated by the large number of offers. When confronted with similar, unfamiliar wines, professionals compare 3 key numbers, each revealing clues as to what the contents of the bottle might taste like.
It is much more useful last year itself on the wine labels, or on the counter-label (on the back of the bottle), than to know if that year was a "good year" or a "bad year". What do you need to remember about the production year?
The younger a wine, the more likely it is to be dominated by a fruity smell and taste. Young wines are characterized by fresh fruit aromas and the younger they are, the more likely they are to be barred (not aged in oak barrels - barique). These wines are also likely to be less full-bodied, more invigorating and more accessible. Wines older than two years (except those forgotten through the stocks of a hypermarket), are usually premium wines, refined by aging, sometimes even barricaded. Mature wines are characterized by less fresh aromas, but more complex and revealed in stages / layers, often with distinctive barrel accents. These wines are usually more full-bodied, more opulent and more ... expensive.
For most of us, the most important number that contributes to the purchase decision is the price . You probably have friends or acquaintances who feel the need to spend more than they would like for a bottle of wine, just to be reconciled to the thought of having a "decent" wine. However, professionals know that the biggest surprises and the biggest leaps in quality are among the affordable wines.
For wine, as for other consumer products, higher prices are associated, involuntarily, with high quality and vice versa. This is not always true. If we can economically justify the price structure for a premium wine, more expensive and we know that it consists of: quality grapes, selected - with all associated costs, vinification, aging (oak-oak barrels, change every 3 years), bottling , logistics, distribution, brand, marketing, etc., it is not as simple to find the logic for a very cheap wine, which raises a series of questions about the quality of that product, perhaps unjustifiably cheap. You can find more details on how to calculate the real cost of a liter of wine, in 1943, in this article . Obviously cThings have evolved in the wine industry, but the basic principles are the same.
Regarding the price, we recommend you to buy wine labels (750 ml) of at least 25-30 lei / bottle. We have not yet found the logic to justify economically, a wine (from grapes) cheaper than 25 lei. Between 30 and 60 lei / bottle, you can have very pleasant surprises,
Long story short - wine purchase checklist:
- buy from specialized stores, including online , where there are specialized staff who can guide you
- do not be shy to reveal the maximum budget you are willing to allocate
- if you do not know exactly what you are looking for, tell the specialist what occasion you are buying or what you want to cook; you can also remind him of some wines you liked in the past
- carefully evaluate the wine you want to buy, especially if it is unknown to you (see recommendations above)
- the information on the labels can be confusing for the general public, but fortunately, most producers communicate about their wine and through packaging - see above.
- when you buy wine, 3 important numbers can guide you to the right wine: year, alcohol, price.
- not even professionals drink very expensive wine every day. Cultivate your habit of looking for the best value (quality / price) in the wines you buy and you don't feel "forced" to spend more, just to get a "good wine"; price is not the only criterion.
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