Tips For Wine

How To Choose A Wine That Tastes Good; Some Tips For Wine
Selection
By Jodie Smith

We'll start this article by asking the questions: "Why is wine
so confusing?" and "Does selecting a wine intimidate you?" If
your answer is yes, then you are not alone!

Most people have been to a liquor store or a restaurant and
been absolutely overwhelmed and intimidated by the sheer variety
and number of selections offered. Herein lies the problem: too
many choices.

So what is the solution?

If you've just begun to learn about boutique wine, even
choosing a bottle may seem intimidating. The variety of choices
among wine varieties, brands, labels, and prices seem almost
infinite. Here are a few tips to point you in the right
direction.

Discover Your Palate

Many people know when they like a wine. The difficult part is
understanding why. What do you like about it, and how do you
communicate your feelings? Is it light or full bodied? Is it
tannic or not? What are tannins anyway? Is it fruity or sweet?
Do fruity and sweet mean the same thing? And, if you try and
like a Shiraz, does that mean you will like all Shiraz?

All these questions can be answered by tasting, and then
tasting more. Yet tasting is not enough as you must pay
attention to what you are tasting. Even better, in my opinion,
is to learn with comparative tastings.

Consider the Chardonnay grape. It is grown in Mornington
Peninsula, Victoria as well as in a region in Margaret River,
Western Australia. Tasted side-by-side, you may think they have
little in common, yet they are both made with the Chardonnay
grape.

When you taste them side-by-side, you easily begin to get the
idea of full body versus light body, and fruity versus mineral.

From such tastings, you may form a preference, or you may like
them both, simply wanting one or the other depending on the
occasion or your mood.

So given the above, here are some tips on how to choose a wine
that is right for you:

Step 1:
Decide whether you want a white wine, red wine, sparkling wine,
dessert wine or fortified wine. This will narrow down your
choices and give you some direction.

Step 2:
Have a think about your wine tasting preferences

As a minimum, decide whether you prefer a dry vs sweet wine.
(Dry is the term used to describe the absence of sweetness in a
wine.)

If you are a little more knowledgeable on your wine preferences
you may like to decide on which of these wine characteristics
you prefer:

1. Low Tannins vs High Tannins: Tannins are a vital ingredient
in wines, especially red wines. It comes from the stalks, skins
and pips of grapes. Tannins in a young wine produce a bitter,
puckering taste on the palate.

2. Short Palate vs Long Palate: The "length" of a wine is the
amount of time the sensations of taste and aroma persist after
swallowing. Usually, the longer the better.

3. Low Acid vs High Acid: Acids of various types are present in
wine, and are essential to the wine's longevity and also to your
enjoyment. Too little can affect the wine's quality and too much
can spoil the wine. A higher acidity makes the wine more tart
and sour tasting; whereas a low acidity results in flat tasting
wine that is more susceptible and spoilage. It is that quality
that makes your mouth water and your lips pucker, and without
it, wines (and anything for that matter!) taste pretty flat and
one dimensional. However, when acidity is present in the right
quantities, it is the element that makes all of the other
flavors in the wine stand out, including the undertones of
fruit, spice and herbs. Note that when people discuss cool years
and warm years in regards to the vintage, one of the most
important elements they are alluding to is the acidity level in
the wine. A cooler year will produce wines with more acidity
whereas a warm year will produce wines with less acidity The
flavor in wine that you would describe as tangy, sharp,
refreshing, bracing, bright, crisp or zingy is the acidity.

4. Light Bodied vs Full Bodied Understanding the differences
between a light-bodied wine and a full-bodied wine is about as
simple as understanding your preferences for milk. Think of
light-bodied as skim milk and full-bodied as cream. In between
you have 2%, and right there you have your body range.

What makes it even easier, is that a wine’s body is directly
proportional to its alcohol content. On every wine label you’ll
notice a percentage of alcohol by volume, just as with any
alcoholic beverage. Note how it 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 vs heavy oak

Wines might be stored in oak containers, usually to impart
extra and more complex flavours. French, American and German oak
barrels are widely used in Australia, but are getting quite
expensive as oak trees become scarcer. Oaky Describes the aroma
or taste quality imparted to a wine by the oak barrels in which
it was aged. Can be either positive or negative. The terms
toasty, vanilla, dill, cedary and smoky indicate the desirable
qualities of oak; charred, burnt, green cedar, lumber and
plywood describe its unpleasant side.

Step 3:
It's important to purchase wine from stores that take proper
care of their inventory. Extreme heat or cold, direct sunlight,
and dramatic temperature fluctuations are enemies of wine. Also,
before you buy, make sure the wine is filled up to the neck of
the bottle, the cork is not pushing out of the bottle, and there
are no signs of leakage.

Step 4:
There's no reason not to explore all of the wines that
Australia has to offer in all its diversity. Don't stick only to
the well-known varieties like Chardonnay or Shiraz -- experiment
with other whites like Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and
Gewurztraminer or reds like Zinfandel, and Pinot Noir. Also, try
examples of a variety from different wine regions to understand
how regional conditions affect wine character. Expose yourself
to every type of wine.

Step 5:
When you find a wine you really like, consider buying wine by
the case (12 bottles). Most wineries will offer you a 10% or 15%
wine discount when you purchase a case of wine or more.

Step 6:
The ultimate goal of wine buying is to buy wines that taste
good to you. Just because a merchant, friend or writer says a
wine is good doesn't mean you'll like it. Conversely, don't shy
away from a wine because someone else trashes it. The only
arbiter of good taste in wine is you.

And most importantly, be open to possibilities and then, make
note of them.

About the Author: Article by Jodie Smith of
http://www.boutiquewineries.com.au a leading online cellar door
offering uniquely different wines from over 120 boutique
wineries. It makes finding the hard to get wines of Australia’s
small wineries easy.

Source: http://www.isnare.com

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