19/02/2020
Choosing a High-Quality Wine by E. Wetmore, Vintage LLC
If you’re not familiar with the various winemakers, it is unlikely you really have an idea how to choose a high-quality wine. Making a good choice means you have to know the winemaking process of the manufacturer you choose. If you are unable to research a winemaker, you can certainly take the time to ask different friends, relatives and associates for their preferences in wine. Whether you’re serving wine for a family dinner or a dinner party, you want to make sure you serve a high-quality variety.
Seriously, over 50% of the price of a bottle of wine is usually shipping, packaging, and marketing-things that do NOTHING to affect the actual quality of your wine!
One thing to keep in mind when buying wine is that “cheap” wine can often make a person drinking it ill. That doesn’t mean cheap in price but rather a cheap quality product. One cannot judge a wine by price alone—you can have a highly-priced wine that is cheaply made, so it’s important to become familiar with different brands and varieties so you will know where to find the high-quality wine. Remember each manufacturer may have a different processing method, so the same type of wine will taste different when it is made by different winemakers. That is why you will find some people tell you to buy one brand while others will specify a different one yet they are the same type of wine.
Although you may want to obtain advice from other people, you want to make the final decision based on information you have obtained and your own taste test. You want to take the time to make sure you can form your own opinion so that the next time you buy a wine you will know what the signs of quality are. You don’t want to choose just any wine nor do you want to make a decision based solely on information from others. The best you can do for yourself as a newbie
to wine buying is to seek guidance from others, obtain some recommendations but do your own quality testing and make a decision based on that.
You are looking for high quality at the lowest price but you are not looking for “cheap” wine that is both low in price and quality. Become familiar with the names of winemakers so that you know those that speak of quality without looking. When you learn the famous winemakers, it will be easier to choose a quality wine.
One tip that may catch your attention: by finding a vineyard where wine that is made from grapes “grown across the street” (from a similar big-name winery), you will be astounded how ofter the quality is every bit as good as a name brand wine!