By Barry Sears
?Have you ever gone into a store to purchase a bottle of wine, and as you walk in and see all the different choices, start to feel a little overwhelmed? When they all look the same, how do you tell which ones are good and which ones aren’t? Over the years, I have learned several tricks to help in narrowing the choices. Here are three secrets to “picking wine like a pro”.
Rule number one: Look at the quality of the bottle; it usually will indicate the quality of the wine inside of it. Vineyards are a business, and if they spend extra money on the grapes, they will not put it in a cheap bottle. Look for bottles that are tall with thicker glass. Then look at the bottom of the bottle. Most wines will have an indentation in the bottom – this is called the punt. The punt is put in bottles to trap the sediment in wine. As a general rule, the deeper the punt the higher the quality.
Rule number two: Become a label reader. Look first at the region that it was produced in. A winemaker can only use grapes from that area, so the more specific regions tend to have the best grapes. For example, the wine with the California label can have grapes from all over the state, while the Napa Valley wine can only have grapes from the Napa Valley. Even more specifically, look for vineyard designations. There are certain vineyards in every winery that, year after year, produce the best fruit. These sites are usually a little different from the rest of the vineyard. Some are on hills, in valleys or next to a cliff. Wines that come from a single vineyard are generally the winery’s best. You may pay a little extra for these wines, but not always.
Next, look at the year on the bottle. The year printed is the year the grapes were harvested. Most wines are meant to be drunk within one to six years of being harvested. It is true that some wines get better with age, but only under controlled conditions. Most wine shops don’t have a “wine cellar” to store their inventory in. As a result, the wines tend to age much faster on a wine shop shelf than in a wine cellar. Look for reds that are within four years of age. White wine doesn’t hold up to bottle aging as well as red wine. This is due to the lower tannin levels. Look for white wines less than three years old.
Rule number three: Shoot for the middle. As a general rule, the best wine for your money is in the middle range. This mid-range ($15-$28) is where you can really get a lot of bang for your buck. Twenty dollars may seem like a lot of money for a bottle of wine, but you don’t have to spend that much to get a higher quality of wine.
Use these tips to help you choose your next wine, but save the price tag as your last decision point—most of the time you will be within a couple of dollars of what you normally spend.
The last thing to remember is that there are exceptions to every rule. Some of your most memorable wine experiences may be from going out on a limb and trying something that you wouldn’t normally. So, the next time you walk into a wine shop, do so with the confidence of someone with a few tricks up their sleeve. Enjoy.
Barry Sears is with Taste Bistro and is Bar Supervisor at the Mirror Lake Inn Resort and Spa, Lake Placid. For more information call 523.7834 ext. 687 or visit www.mirrorlakeinn.com.