You know a little about wine, you've done wine shopping, but still get confused and overwhelmed when trying to choose something. If you find a wine sales person to assist, you'll still want to help them nail down what you want. It's better if there's something to go on besides, "I want a red under $25 to take to mom's."
Following are some ways to help you choose quicker and choose wisely. This is aimed at picking out a dry red dinner wine, but will kind of work for whites. The methods go from less knowledge required to having a bit more experience with buying wine.
Pick the method that works best.
Grape Variety
If you're even a little familiar with the major red wine types, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir, syrah and maybe cabernet franc, malbec, zinfandel, sangiovese, etc. then you can choose a wine for your intended use. You can google "steak wine" and come up with cab sauv for sure, and a few others. Or "hot weather red wines" and you'll probably find pinot noir, grenache, etc. This helps you get the basics of what you want to buy.
Vintage
This is the year the grapes were grown. With a quick
search, you can get a broad idea of good and bad vintages. This can help
if you are looking at a couple different ones and one is from a
mediocre vintage and the other from a great year.
This works best if
you are looking at the vintage for a specific region, not something like
2020 California cabernet. You want to narrow that down to 2020 Napa
Valley cabernet, for instance.
This isn't a perfect method, but it's pretty easy to use.
Body
A wine's body is determined by tannins, acids, alcohol level, and any possible residual sugar.
Light-bodied wines, in general, have a lighter color, lower tannins, higher acid, lower alcohol, and no residual sugar. Pair lighter wines with lighter food, or maybe for a casual sipping wine on the patio.
Medium-bodied wines will have more tannins. These are wines such as cabernet franc and sangiovese.
Heavier wines with plenty of tannins (and aging potential)and possibly 15% or higher alcohol are cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel, syrah, and others. These wines can be described as rich, chewy, and thick. Serve with not too complex, fatty meals, like a steak.
Growing Area / Geography / Terroir
Where the grapes come from has a significant impact on the quality and style of wine you're going to get. Use this along with the grape variety to determine what you want. Some places grow great cabernet, some don't get warm enough. Other regions are known from pinot noir while other places are too warm. So some general understanding of what grows well where is required. This might be cabernet from Napa Valley or Alexander Valley, pinot from Russian River or Anderson Valley. Yes, some of us are even nerdy enough to seek out certain vineyards for certain varietals. I know that Campbell Ranch pinot noir is going to be good, for instance.
Winery/Winemaker
Wineries and winemakers will have styles. People often have favorite wineries because they like what they make, and it's at a price they can afford. Sometimes it's because they have a great winemaker. Consumers that pay attention will know if a winemaker makes wine under two or more labels, or if the winemaker leaves a winery to go somewhere else.
If You Shop by Price
Almost everybody has a price cap of what they're willing to pay. Some get uncomfortable going over $15; others won't shop under $40 thinking it's not going to be any good below that price. The very bottom of the red wine price range is going to be industrial wines that aren't particularly good. That's a fact. On the other hand, spending $50 is no guarantee of getting a wine you'll love.
In every price range I've tried from about $15 and up I've found good wines. As you go up in price, the chance of getting an excellent wine goes up. There is a point of diminishing returns. Some will say that's about $50, others might say $100. I don't know where it is, but just trust your own palate and wallet.
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| A wine that will please most people and under 25 bucks There are many similar wines around |
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