It's nice to get together with friends or family and chat over a glass of wine. This is one of the most popular alcoholic drinks, which in moderation is good for the human body.
So, for example, wine improves performance of cardio-vascular system, reduces the level of cholesterol in the blood, prevents the development of cancer. And this is by no means an exhaustive list. useful properties noble drink. By the way, preference should be given to dry or semi-dry wine. It is considered the most useful.
wine happens different varieties. It is very easy to get lost in the variety of assortment that is presented in any wine shop, restaurant or cafe.
We have collected extremely useful information about 9 varieties of the most popular wines - it will help you learn how to choose wine, almost like a real sommelier.
1. Pinot noir
Peculiarities
Pinot noir is a piercing, complex, bright taste and aroma. At first glance, there is nothing remarkable about this wine. Outwardly, it is pale, and in some variations it is completely transparent. But the highlight of this wine is not its color. The aroma is something that firmly binds fans to Pinot Noir. The wine is revealed gradually and according to a complex scheme: from berry, for example, cherry or blueberry notes to a whole group of smells of the autumn forest. Such wines perfectly complement delicious food.
What food goes with
Pinot noir is exactly the kind of wine that goes well with food and helps lunch or dinner acquire notes of sophistication and completeness. The ideal company for this type of wine will be meat with a rich taste and aroma, dense poultry (this type includes game birds) and dense fish (for example, tuna). Pinot noir goes well with Italian cuisine, and especially with pasta.
2. Sauvignon blanc
Peculiarities
Sauvignon Blanc has clear and bright fruit flavors. There are 2 main bouquets of flavors and aromas. The first gives more peaches, apricots, exotic fruits, and the second - citrus fruits (lemon, lime, grapefruit) and their zest. Both bouquets also include grassy aromas: lemongrass, freshly cut grass, meadow smells.
Sauvignon blanc is great for summer and is easy to drink and drink a lot, especially chilled. The French Loire is rightfully considered the world center for the production of Sauvignon Blanc. By the way, as for wine from the Loire, its aroma is characterized by the tone of cat urine. In the conservative wine world, there are many jokes about this topic, which, however, does not in the least prevent Sauvignon Blanc from remaining one of the most popular wine varieties.
What food goes with
This wine has an amazing gastronomic compatibility. It is ideal for any seafood and fish. Try also sauvignon blanc with French cheeses- You will definitely be impressed. And this white wine perfectly complements vegetable and fruit salads, especially with the addition of exotic fruits.
3. Shiraz
Peculiarities
Thus, European variants may seem heavier than American ones, but their fruit and berry component is more balanced and less intrusive due to notes of smoke, flowers and more pronounced minerality. The main berries, the aroma of which can be easily caught in shiraz, are blackberries and blueberries. Rarely does a business do without fragrant black pepper.
What food goes with
If you decide to drink a couple of glasses of shiraz on the weekend, then you should take a responsible approach to the choice of dishes for it. This is a rather picky wine. It opens up well with meat. It will be even better if it is grilled. Wines dominated by berry aromas will perfectly complement berry pies.
In general, the main rule that should be followed when choosing food for shiraz is that food should have a rich and powerful taste. Add more spices and spices. Experiment with chocolate that contains more than 70% cocoa.
4. Riesling
Peculiarities
This wine has enough complex taste and aroma, but at the same time appears before the fans in the form of a paradoxical and multifaceted drink. This variety is by no means thermophilic, therefore it is not produced in hot countries. The palm in the manufacture of this wine is shared by Germany and Austria.
Rieslings vary markedly in the amount of sugar they contain. The key highlight is the acidity of this wine. Thus, the Riesling will definitely not be cloying. The composition of the wine is considered balanced and fluctuates on the verge of sweetness and freshness.
What food goes with
Dry versions of Riesling, in which the sugar content tends to zero, go well with vegetables, mushrooms, chicken, turkey, tender veal and seafood, and also complement all kinds of spices and spices.
Sweet versions are more self-sufficient and do not require any food supplement. If you really want to chew something, then preference should be given to the most light and unobtrusive snacks.
5. Cabernet
Peculiarities
Cabernet is the most popular wine variety in the world. Not surprisingly, there are many variations of it, and everyone has their own point of view on the taste, aroma and main characteristics of Cabernet. The French region of Bordeaux is considered the leader in the manufacture of Cabernet. It was the local winemakers who managed to make a sensual, powerful and exciting drink. In general, Cabernet is an unpretentious variety of wine that is grown in many countries. The Californian Cabernet stands apart - the Americans position their wines as pure and varietal.
The age of the wine significantly affects the taste and aroma. In a young cabernet, it is difficult to distinguish notes. Most likely, it will simply give off a berry-fruity bouquet and hit the receptors with tannins, creating a tart and astringent sensation in the mouth. An older wine reveals itself much more effectively. It is already possible to separate the aromas of blackcurrant, blackberry, raspberry, plum and even catch the smells of leather, earth and spices.
What food goes with
Cabernet goes well with almost any red meat. You can not spare spices and herbs. The combination of Cabernet with lamb, venison, goose or duck meat. It also makes a great accompaniment to all dishes. Italian cuisine: pasta, lasagna, pizza and salads.
6. Chardonnay
Peculiarities
Chardonnay is the most versatile, multifaceted and versatile wine in the world. Sometimes it doesn't even look like itself. An uncomplicated fruity bouquet with vanilla flavor, a rich standard of tart white wine - it's all chardonnay. This wine is very whimsical. Here luck is especially important and mistakes are catastrophic. Burgundy vineyards and California are the most popular locations for making Chardonnay.
By the way, in the case of chardonnay, a lot depends on the exposure. If the wine was aged in a barrel, then it should have a rich, refined and rich taste and aroma. There is another way. It is more economical in terms of time and resources. Some winemakers pass the drink through vats with oak chips. This gives the drink a pronounced vanilla flavor. This method has already lost its popularity and relevance, but if you come across just such an instance, then just cool it better. Chardonnay is also used to make a delicious blanc de blancs champagne with a rich fruity taste.
What food goes with
Due to the fact that chardonnay flavors often vary significantly within the same variety, there is no universal list of dishes that it successfully complements. It all depends on the taste and aroma. So, the Burgundy version, which is famous for its minerality and creaminess, is perfect for cream sauce, tender veal and even smoked fish. And lighter, fruity versions can be drunk with fruit pies and dishes with Asian spices. Listen to what your taste buds are telling you.
7. Grüner Veltliner
Peculiarities
Gruner is found in all sorts of variations. It can either have a viscous, powerful, rich taste, or be a light dessert wine. Among the main and most memorable tones in Gruner are white stone fruits (peach, nectarine, apricot), citrus fruits and spices (white and pink pepper, ginger).
As for the place of its production, this variety is firmly associated with only one region on the planet - this is Austria. Grüner Veltliner does not have impressive ratings and a striking background, but it is the hallmark of Austrian winemaking, which means it deserves attention.
What food goes with
The spicy-fruity flavor and aroma make Grüner Veltliner an excellent accompaniment to meat. In general, this wine goes well with all national Austrian meat dishes. But its gastronomic compatibility is not limited to this. This wine can be served with turkey, chicken, omelettes, grilled fish and almost any vegetable. Spices are not a hindrance to him at all, so you should not feel sorry for them.
Do you know how to choose wines? Is that serious? Of course, not at the level of an amateur sommelier, but at least with an accurate understanding - what are you paying for and what will you get in the end?
After all, it is very sad to watch people who regularly drink wine, but each time they enter the wine department with a surprised face. Like, nothing to itself - what only is not present! Then they quickly choose something according to the “CC” (color-price) principle, and in the evening they complain that they drink “some kind of disgusting thing”.
Using my own experience of buying and drinking wine in Nizhny Novgorod, we have put together 7 basic tips to help you choose this drink in the store more or less successfully.
And “successful” in our understanding is the result with a good impression and without noticeable financial costs.
1. Look for wines in unsightly supermarkets near the house and in large hypermarkets like "Lenta" or "Ashana".
Alas, in wine boutiques, despite the assortment and service, the markup on wines is quite large.
But in grocery stores, the "churn" of goods is usually so active that management tends to quickly get rid of certain positions.
For example, from wines of the middle price category - hence discounts and various promotions.
2. Pay attention to the wines of unpopular states.
It is clear that the wines of France or Italy attract attention on the shelves, but to find good wine from these countries within 300-500 rubles is quite difficult.
Look on the labels for the names of states that are associated with winemaking to a lesser extent: Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Uruguay, Romania.
In such countries, wines are most often made from local grape varieties, knowing exactly how to deal with them. They put only the best samples on the international market, and competition forces them to significantly reduce prices.
3. Look for wine made from only one grape variety.
Pros often say that mixing 2-3-4 varieties in one bottle is an attempt to hide the abomination of low-quality grapes with some other taste.
And this means that, first of all, you should pay attention to "single-varietal" wines. Take Russian rkatsiteli, Italian nebbiolo, Spanish verdejo or Chilean carmener without any impurities.
And try to catch the varietal characteristics in taste and aroma, and not the features of an incomprehensible cocktail.
4. Accumulate knowledge and experience.
Remember the wines that you have already drunk - regions, varieties, blends, years, prices. Learn to correlate the concepts of price and quality (taste). Go to the wine departments (even if you don't need anything) - take the bottles in your hands, read the labels, get acquainted with expensive wines that you can't afford yet.
Try to improve your wine culture. So it will be much easier for you to make a choice in favor of a tasty and financially adequate wine. You will also get +10 to the "Interesting Conversation" skill.
5. Look for imported wines with a bright and prominent label.
Many small European (and also Australian and South African) wineries are trying to “break into” the market using a catchy label. So they attract the attention of potential buyers.
Boring castles and coats of arms on the label? This is the lot of precious "Chateau" or fake Russian liquor. Cartoons and comics in Spanish wine? Perfect option- take immediately.
Of course, there is no guarantee that such a wine will be noticeably cheaper than others, but the fact that it will be tasty is almost 100%!
6. Buy dry wine.
It is dry wine that allows you to catch all the necessary qualities and characteristics. Semi-dry wines are also normal, but not for all countries.
In addition, dry wines are often cheaper than semi-dry, semi-sweet and sweet (especially). The point is simplified production and marketing - semi-sweet wines in Russia, alas, are still very popular.
7. Read the label carefully.
Read the text. It often happens that for some reason "Spanish" wine is bottled in the Krasnodar Territory.
Leave nothing unattended. Be sure to find the date of bottling. While wines don't usually have a shelf life, it's worth drinking inexpensive drinks in the first two years of their existence.
In the end, see that the bottle has excise stamp. There were no traces of glue or other signs of forgery.
Adequately correlate the price and the label. On a bottle for 230 rubles there should not be the phrases: “divine wine”, “piercing taste of berries” and “ten-year exposure”.
Lastly, don't hesitate to ask for advice from those who "know a little more than you." Often the answer to a small question about wine turns into a whole conversation about gastronomy and travel. Followed by drinking.
Subscribe to our blog wfd_nn and find out Interesting Facts about delicious and inexpensive wines that are sold in Nizhny Novgorod.
WHITE WINES:
1. The leader of all hit parades, easily beating Moet & Chandon with one left, - Prosecco Veneto Maschio
(Italy).
Prosecco of all kinds is now apparently invisible, I have tried almost everything that is sold in Moscow stores, but this is the best. Fresh, lightest, slightly sparkling (this is his "slightly" special tsimes, as my grandmother, who successfully pretended to be Jewish for many years, would say). From the second sip it becomes as if sweeter - mmm! It costs from 300 to 500 rubles, depending on the stupid price policy of the "Seventh Continent" - the only place where it is sold, God bless its buyers.
Another decent prosecco:
The taste is less bright than the previous one, but very pleasant. It costs about 450 in the tasting room at VDNKh.
Still pibelno Prosecco Casa Defra. But both of them are still incomparable with Maschio.
The rest of the proseccos in the category up to a thousand rubles that I came across, such as Gancia, Zonin, and others, hopelessly lose to the three mentioned.
2. Sancerre
(France). Worth, dog, starting from a thousand and so on to infinity. But it was after I tried this wine that I started drinking white wines, and before that I didn’t understand them at all and drank only red ones. The finest mineral flavor without the fruity or floral notes usually found in white wines. Divine, divine, divine!
3. Bourgogne Kimmeridgien
. Absolutely awesome (I can’t pick another word) Burgundy (France, as you might guess, hehe) that we dug up in Auchan. Very fresh mineral taste reminiscent of sanserre. Only one hundred and fifty kilometers separate Burgundy from Sanserre, which is probably why the soils are similar. Take only in "Auchan", there it costs around seven hundred, in other places about a thousand.
4. Villa Antinori
(white) (Italy) - Tuscan wine made from Trebbiano grapes, very pleasant, fresh, with a subtle fruity tinge. It is sold in many places, I buy in Auchan and Okee, where it costs about 500, in the Seventh Continent it will already be 700.
5. Chablie
(France) - a relative of Sanserre (hehe, there are no oenologists here, I hope? no one will beat me?), in fact. The grapes from which it is made grow in the neighborhood of the city of Sancerre, on the same chalk and limestone soils, so this wine also has a mineral flavor. It costs, on average, rubles from seven hundred and the same to infinity, like the sanserre. Oddly enough, there is a very decent chablis in their "Auchan" own production, costs, it seems, almost five hundred rubles. And Barton & Guestier, but you have to catch it in online stores, I have never seen it in retail.
6. Undurraga Brut
(sparkling) (Chile) - found in "Carousel", "Okey" and "Rizhsky", costs four hundred and fifty rubles. A very pleasant brut with a hint of peach, although it loses to the prosecco from the first paragraph, but without a woman, and on its own ... you know. But best of all the rest of the Italian sparkling in the price range up to a thousand.
7. Albizzia Chardonnay
(Italy) - a pleasant white wine, it costs about four hundred rubles in the "Seventh Continent", one of those that can be used both in cooking and in a glass.
8. Orvieto
(Italy) - white wine with a slight floral tint, very unobtrusive and summery. It goes well with risotto and pasta with seafood. What is in the photo costs 339 rubles, I saw this option only in "Okey". There are others, more expensive, but not better, and you have to look carefully so as not to take semi-sweet by mistake, orvieto can be like that, once I got into such a mess. Sugar will greatly forgive its taste.
RED WINES:
2. Villa Antinori
(red) (Italy) - in "Auchan" about eight hundred. A rich, velvety wine with berry notes, Tuscan, a relative of Chianti, by the way, is also made from Sangiovese.
3. Kleine Parys Pinotage
(SOUTH AFRICA). Pinotage is a South African grape variety, the wines from it are very interesting, more interesting than from other varieties. This I mean that if you take South Africa, it is best to take exactly the pinotage. Dense, full-bodied wine with a complex taste. It costs around 450 rubles, used to be in the "Seventh Continent", then disappeared and now it seems to be sold only in "Rizhsky".
This producer has other red wines in the same price category, quite worthy, but Pinotage seems to me the best.
4. Simonsig Pinotage
- again South Africa and again pinotage. Very good, I buy when I don't have Kleine Parys on hand.
5. Pater
(Italy) - Tuscan wine produced by Frescobaldi (a very decent producer, I think). Full-bodied, rich, moderately tart. It costs about 500 in Auchan, in other places it is more expensive.
6. Regaleau
(Italy) - a very worthy dense Sicilian wine made from nero d "avola grapes. There is in Auchan (about 500 rubles, it seems) and The Seventh Continent (of course, more expensive).
7. Barton & Guestier Merlo
(France) - an excellent "workhorse". If you expect a lot of guests, but there is no money to get everyone drunk with Zisola, then this merlot is the very thing, very worthy wine and very inexpensive - 330 rubles in Okee and Auchan. Quite dense, rich wine with fruit and berry shades. By the way, it does not lose anything to the Regaleau and Pater mentioned above.
8. Barton & Guestier Bordeaux
and Barton & Guestier Medoc
- seemed to me very similar, they cost about 700 rubles in Auchan. A level higher than their own merlot, also dense and saturated.
Huh.
Last but not least, smart tips:
1. Don't buy wines supplied by Luding. I don’t know what they do with them, whether they store them or transport them incorrectly, but I came across exceptionally rotten urine.
2. Gancia - everything that came across from this manufacturer was dull shit.
3. Supplier's fault Simple - 90% chance to buy something decent.
4. Barton & Guestier wines - all reds are good, whites are less interesting, chardonnay is not impressive at all, sanserre gives off citrus, which I personally do not like, I prefer more minerality.
5. It is contraindicated to buy wines in Magnolia. Not only is the markup there inhumane (for example, Merlot Barton and Guestier cost 545 re - bgg), they also put wine on the shelves under strong lamps, as a result, the wine overheats, you can imagine how wonderful taste qualities it acquires.
For a modern consumer, there are no restrictions on the choice of alcoholic beverages, it all depends only on his wallet thickness and taste preferences.
But many inexperienced buyers are concerned about how to choose a quality dry red wine, because on the shelves you can find drinks with different characteristics. In this article, we will look at simple ways to determine the quality of alcohol and tell you what you need to pay attention to in the first place.
Red wine: characteristics
Typically, red wine is classified according to several criteria: the ratio of the amount of sugar and alcohol, as well as the method of making the drink. In the first case, wine can be divided into:
- Canteens. They are dry, semi-dry and semi-sweet.
- Fortified. They are strong, sweet, semi-dessert, dessert, liquor.
- Flavored.
- Sparkling. This includes wines such as brut and champagne.
According to the method of making wine, the classification is somewhat different:
- Varietal. Such wines are made only from selected grapes of a certain variety.
- Separate. Drinks in this category are blended from several grape varieties.
- Blended. Mixing takes place already finished wine, and not grapes, as in the previous case.
Also, wines differ in the aging of finished products:
- Single wines are very common in the trade and are budget option. Such bottles are not aged for a long time and usually go on sale the next year from the grape harvest.
- Vintage wines are distinguished by a longer exposure (at least eighteen months). In addition, each drink of this category has its own manufacturing technology, which, in fact, distinguishes each vintage wine.
- Collection wines are derivatives of vintage wines that have been aged in the bottle for at least three years. For connoisseurs, the age of a collection drink is considered to be about ten to fifteen years.
It should be noted that many gourmets and wine connoisseurs prefer to drink dry red, as only it can have a large bouquet of both taste and smell, which is revealed gradually. In addition, aged wine is most often dry or sweet. But different semi-wine is more popular in the territory of the former Soviet Union.
In addition, such drinks may contain various preservatives in much large quantities than sweet and dry. This is due to the fact that dry wine is practically sugar-free, while sweet wine has its own natural preservative - sugar. It is quite normal for semi-wine (especially semi-sweet) to contain chemicals.
How to choose red wine in a store: general important criteria
If you want to know how to choose a dry red wine in a store (or any other), you should definitely pay attention to additional nuances that can be found by carefully considering the desired bottle.
Information on the label
Look carefully at what is written on the label. Usually, if the product is foreign, then it must additionally contain basic information in the language of the country in which it is sold. If this is not the case, then it is recommended to ask the seller or consultant. What is the most important thing you can find on the label?
- Who produced this bottle of wine. There are many well-known and proven wine companies for which reputation is important.
- What region was the wine made in? If the drink is of high quality, then the grapes and wine are produced in the same place.
- You should also pay attention to the year of harvest. If you did not find this information, then the product is most likely not made from grapes, but from a concentrate. For any red wines, it is important whether the year of manufacture was successful or not, since the taste depends on it. finished product and its ability to be stored.
On the label you can find the inscription “Reserva” (meaning a supply of especially successful wines) or “Roble” (the drink was stored in special barrels and the harvest was also particularly successful). These two words speak about the quality of the drink.
- The label should contain the percentage of alcohol of the drink, because this is how you can choose red sweet wine or dry (it will be different for each type).
- Quality wine is characterized by the presence of national quality control on the label. For different countries own abbreviation.
- You should pay attention not only to the manufacturer, but also to the importer or distributor. Verified firms do not supply to the market of another country low quality drinks, so if, along with expensive bottles, you found the same importer on cheap ones, then there is a high probability of a low-quality product.
Quality wine will definitely be sold only in glass containers, since it is this material that allows you to save all the properties of the drink even after ten to twenty years. Therefore, a wine company that wants to maintain its reputation will not use other materials and save on packaging. A drink in cardboard and plastic material can only be suitable for culinary experiments (and even then not always).
The volume of a bottle of high-quality wine is 0.75 liters. The bottom of the container is always with a large recess. cheap wine poured into bottles of 0.7 liters, the bottom of which is with a slight depression or even flat. Also, you should not buy drinks in fancy containers, as this indicates that the manufacturer pays more attention to the external than to the internal content.
The most suitable option for a good red wine is Bordeaux, Burgundy or Alsatian flute-shaped bottles. The color of the glass should be green or dark brown to ensure that as little light as possible enters.
cork material
This also needs to be paid attention, since large and decades-old manufacturers do not use modern plastic stoppers. On their bottles, you can only find high-quality wooden corks. If the cork is leaking or dried out, then the drink has definitely lost some of its properties, if not all.
Also, when opening the bottle, the cork should be smelled. If she emits musty bad smell, then such a drink is not suitable for drinking, it is better to pour it out.
Price characteristic
The price for one bottle of wine is also important. If it is too low, then you should not expect quality from such a wine. Most likely there is quite a lot of concentrate and flavor enhancer in it, or the drink is made from low-quality raw materials.
If you want to buy an aged wine, then it will be an order of magnitude higher than a single one. If suddenly you found such a bottle at a reasonable price, then most likely the wine is on the verge of souring or has already turned sour. Inexpensive wines are good young.
Thus, the higher the cost of a bottle of drink, the better it is. This is especially important to know if you need to choose the right red semi-sweet wine. In more expensive copies, there is a possibility that various additives will be much less.
Place of purchase of alcoholic beverages
Of course, now any supermarket abounds various drinks in different price categories, but it is still better to buy really high-quality wine in specialized stores.
It is there that there is a very small level of fake, because this is the reputation of the institution. In such shops, all employees are qualified specialists who will prompt you if necessary.
How to choose the right red wine: pay attention to the country of origin
Among the features in the choice of red wine, it should be noted that each country producing a high-quality alcoholic drink has its own nuances that it is desirable to know and take into account when choosing. Let's consider in more detail.
France - the first place in world winemaking
Indeed, this country has long and firmly taken a leading position in the production of wine. Every year, about a quarter of the world volume of this alcoholic beverage is produced here, which is exported in large quantities. But such volumes do not at all indicate the quality of each bottle, especially for those countries whose inhabitants are little versed in quality wine. So, let's figure out how to choose the right dry red wine from France, so as not to be mistaken.
French wine label
- On wines best quality the label is rather modest.
- High-end drinks are labeled with the words appellation (wine community) or chateau (castle) with the name.
- The best French-made wines have the word "control" or Grand Cru classification.
Types of French alcoholic drinks
The most famous are Bordeaux (they are much more expensive and considered more prestigious) and Burgundy.
The best Bordeaux wines
- Chateau Latour;
- Chateau Lafite Rotschild;
- Chateau Haut Brion;
- Chateau Mouton Rotschild;
- Chateau Margaux.
The best wines of Burgundy
- Ramonet;
- Leroy.
Wines of Italy
This country produces slightly less wine than France. The most common type of this drink is Chianti. If you choose the right manufacturer, then such a dry red wine may well become a regular on your table, conquering with its unusual taste.
The best brand is Chianti Classico. On the label of this wine you can find the high quality mark D.O.C.G., which is a guarantee of authenticity. Also on a real Chianti you can find the emblem - a black rooster.
They drink Chianti young, but if you keep it for about 27 months, then the taste will become much better. Such a drink has the additional name Riserva and its price is three to four times higher than the classics.
It should be noted that the serving of these two types of wines is different. If young wine is served chilled to a temperature of 16-18 degrees in medium glasses, then Riserva is drunk at room temperature in big bellied glasses.
Other wine producing countries
Speaking of new wineries, Californian wines are gaining popularity. According to their production and unification methods, they are similar to Italian wines, but the taste of some differs from others, since the climate of the countries is still different.
How to choose good Crimean wine
Although Ukrainian and Russian wines are not considered high quality products, nevertheless, the drinks of the Crimean peninsula are significantly different from all the others. What is the reason for this?
Feature of the Crimean conditions for growing grapes
The geographical zone of the Crimea contributes to the cultivation of different varieties of grapes, which become the basis for very tasty alcoholic beverages.
Some of the grape varieties are quite rare and can only be found in this area. In the steppe zones, berries ripen much faster, so the harvest is more plentiful.
The most famous Crimean brands
Don't buy unverified alcoholic drinks from under the floor (home), since they are most often made for traveling and vacationing people, therefore, of rather poor quality.
There are proven Crimean wine producers who produce good alcohol:
- Inkerman;.
- Koktebel;
- Golden beam;
- Magarach;
- Massandra;
- Sunny Valley;
- New World.
The listed manufacturers make a lot of strong, sweet and dessert wines. But there are several excellent brands from which you can choose a good dry red wine. For example, at Massandra the most famous is Alushta. Ruby Magarach is also popular and very good in taste.
How to choose delicious red wine in Crimea
To protect yourself from fakes, when buying Crimean wine, you need to know the following:
- Alcoholic drinks should be purchased in specialized stores, where it is almost impossible to find a fake.
- You also need to pay attention to the shape and volume of the bottle. For example, expensive Massandra wines (blended and vintage) are bottled in containers with a volume of 0.5 liters, and cheaper single ones - 0.7 liters. Collection wines are bottled in 0.7-liter containers and can be found in specialized stores.
- It should be remembered that in August there is simply no young wine yet.
- When choosing a wine, it is advisable to know the logo or symbols of the brand that you are going to buy. For example, Massandra has a bunch of grapes. The name and date of the spill must also be required.
- Long-aged alcohol cannot have a perfect label. If so, then you most likely have a fake.
Of course, one should also take into account General characteristics when choosing alcohol, which are presented at the beginning of the article. This information is very important when choosing a red semi-sweet wine, since it is in such semi-wine that many chemical additives are most often added.
Now you know how to choose the best quality dry red wine of different brands. Remember that if you really want to enjoy exquisite taste, then you should not save on a drink, so that in the end you don’t have to regret it.
This is something from the realm of fantasy, isn't it? But every buyer wants to find it. To be good and on the wallet.
Well, let's try to figure it out: is it a myth or reality, good inexpensive wine
To start with, one piece of advice: if you need wine for a party, then it is better to choose light, neutral wines, do not chase unusualness or a rich bouquet. The simpler the better. If you are in any doubt, you can focus on the wine that is served in restaurants by the glass. There are usually just such wines. Well, you know that in the store similar wines will cost an order of magnitude cheaper.
There are wines that rarely fail.
Dry whites
Soave
Soave (Soave) is not a grape variety, not the name of a wine, but the name of the region in which this wine is produced.
Pinot Grigio
Pinot Grigio is perhaps the most popular grape variety that produces excellent white wines. Wines are usually light, fresh, drinkable, which is probably why many people love them so much.
Chardonnay
Chardonnay is an international grape variety that has taken root virtually everywhere, and the wines from it are, if I may say so, understandable. Not complex, slightly heavier than Pinot Grigio, but just as drinkable. The best wines from Chardonnay are in the countries of the New World - South Africa, Chile, USA, New Zealand and so on.
Be careful with Russian wines. If we talk about white wines, then often they are too acidic in our country: either the fault of the winemakers, or the locality “fails” like that. No, we produce a lot of worthy drinks, but it’s difficult to focus on the variety or place of production here: you need to try. But the price, just, will be more than affordable.
Good semi-sweet/semi-dry whites
Here, in fact, it is very difficult. Recently, for example, Riesling has shown itself very well in semi-dry Riesling wines, but it is not so easy to find it at an affordable price. But Tokay is a wonderful Hungarian wine, not so rare on our shelves. And the price is quite pleasant, and the taste. So we advise, first of all, to look for Tokay.
Often there are good and semi-dry Spanish, but it's easy to miss here. So everything is learned by trial and error.
Good and inexpensive dry red wines
Merlot
Merlot is good in all countries. Yes, even in Russia. This, again, is an international variety, so finding it and picking up wine at an affordable price will not be difficult.
Shiraz
Shiraz or Syrah - this variety is also grown in many countries. In many, it shows good results, quite decently manifests itself in dry wines, but if you have such an opportunity, then take the Australian shiraz. This, after all, is more precisely their variety, their special pride.
Malbec
It's not that common anymore. Malbec is an Argentine variety. And advice on such wines: it is better to take young ones, no more than two years old: then the Argentine Malbec tends to quickly weather after uncorking the bottle and loses all its power and aroma over time, acquiring not the most pleasant tones.
Semi-sweet reds
If we could, then here we would dissuade you. In our opinion, all semi-sweet wines, especially red ones, seem to be identical. Equally disgusting. Too sweet kills all aromatic and taste qualities.
But if you are already adamant and drink only semi-sweet reds, then pay attention to the wines of South Africa - they will be a little, but more original. And yet no one has complained about semi-sweet Georgian wines.
Buy good inexpensive wine you can always in the WineStreet store.
