I have been a wine collector for many years and enjoy shopping for wine. When a large wine store opened here in Indianapolis, I remember seeing some younger customers walking through the wine section and looking fairly overwhelmed. Mind you, the wine section in that particular store takes up half the store as there are more than 8,000 different wines and the staff is not always there to help. Wine buying doesn’t have to be a daunting task. When you are armed with some basics, you with have the confidence you need to select a decent bottle of wine.
Know The Regions – All great wines have what is called ‘terroir’, or in simple terms, a sense of place. For example, when you drink a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, it has a distinctive taste, different from anywhere else.
Here is a starting point for understanding wine regions. For every country that produces wine, study and learn the main wine regions. Start with the United States, Australia, South America, and Spain. Then, move on to the advanced course which is France and Italy.
Know The Vintages – Not all vintages are created equal. Most winemakers will tell you that it’s weather that determines how good the grapes and resulting wine will be. There are vintage charts on the internet, so it’s easy to review.
Spend time reviewing the last four to five vintages on several websites to find out which vintages are great and which ones are just good or mediocre.
Case in point: 2016 was a truly great vintage all across Europe, and even in the United States and Australia. The only exception being South America, where 2016 was just average. The vintage year on the label is key information for a wine buyer.
Know The Producers – There is an old saying in the wine business: “Producer, Producer, Producer.” Knowing the producers, or families, who make the best quality wines is the most difficult to learn because that comes more from experience and talking with merchants.
Recently, I was able to use knowledge of producers when browsing at a store in Indianapolis. Looking at the French Rosé wines, the cheapest one was called La Ferme Julien with a goat on the label. But, on the back label in fine print, it said it was made by Famille Perrin (the Perrin family), which is one of the best producers in the Rhone and the wine was very good!
Do some homework, it’s important to know a little bit about the regions, vintages, and the producers, when shopping for that next bottle of wine.
