How to choose a good inexpensive wine?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

The phrase "good inexpensive wine" may make you smile, but in fact it is not a myth, there is such a concept. It can even turn out the opposite here, when, having bought an expensive product, you can get not the best quality.

With all the richness of the choice of this divine drink, it can be very difficult to decide, and if you don’t understand it well, then it’s impossible at all. First of all, it must be said that a price below 400 rubles already indicates not too good quality, and buying a product cheaper means completely excluding the concept of “good”

What is meant for what

The variety and price will also depend on what event the purchase precedes, because light table wine, for example, is in no way suitable for a romantic date, as well as for giving it to someone. But drinking a glass of such a drink before or during a meal is a completely different matter. When you need to prepare for the most important meeting in your life or make a beautiful gift, a completely different category of wine comes into play. For special occasions, it is better to buy a good inexpensive semi-sweet wine, it is preferred by most lovers of this drink. Red wine can be served with meat, and fish andbird - white.

A little about packaging

Quality wine is poured into heavy bottles, in which the shoulders are somewhat wider than the bottom, and there is a recess in the bottom. But this does not mean that there is no good product in ordinary bottles. Rather, on the contrary, good inexpensive wine is sold in just such a container. But the intricate shape of the bottle, most likely, was created for not very high-quality products in order to somehow attract the attention of the buyer. When buying wine for direct consumption, exclude cardboard packaging. Such products may only be suitable for cooking dishes in which this type of alcohol needs to be added.

If earlier the quality of wine could be judged by the cork, now it is not so relevant, because in some European countries screw caps for packaging young wines have become a kind of trend.

Which store to buy from

Even if you decide to buy a good inexpensive wine for a simple dinner, you should still go to a specialized store for it, where all the conditions for proper storage of the product are created. In ordinary supermarkets, even the temperature regime can affect the quality of the drink, especially if it has stood on the shelf for a long time. In stores that sell this particular product, all bottles should be in a cool and dark room and just lie, not stand. As a rule, professionals work in such establishments who will always help you make the right choice.

Look at the label

Onbottles with a long exposure cannot be new, as if the label had just come off the assembly line. If so, then most likely the wine is fake. And of course, labels with quality products should not have spelling errors and bad, smudged paint. The exception is sales, where you can find a good inexpensive wine with a torn or dirty label, which is why it got there.

A good inexpensive dry wine should be between 9% and 14% ABV and contain almost no sugar. All these parameters must be indicated on the label, as is the case with all other varieties of wine. If you want to buy a good inexpensive semi-sweet wine, then the sugar content in it should not exceed 13%, and the strength - 15%. If it is indicated that the sugar content is from 16 to 32%, and the strength is from 13 to 16%, then you have a dessert sweet or liqueur wine.

What must be required

A good manufacturer has absolutely no reason to hide his name. Therefore, if the label does not indicate who made the product, then you should not buy it.

The vintage year is always written on the packaging of natural wine. Without finding such information, you can purchase a chemical concentrate instead of wine.

Very good, if it is indicated from which grape variety the wine is made. No one will write that the products are made from not the best raw materials. At best, this information will be veiled something like this: "The best grape varieties were used." Actually hardlythe best and maybe not even grapes.

The name of the region where raw materials for wine production are grown is indicated by all producers who are proud of the quality of their products.

Perhaps this information is not relevant for inexpensive wines, but indicating the aging time is also an important detail.

Good inexpensive red wine

Red wines, unlike white wines, are more tart because they contain more tannins. Their taste is more full and velvety. Therefore, wine lovers prefer red varieties more. Vintage wine with a long aging period can not be inexpensive, so you should look at ordinary wines aged approximately one year.

An important detail: wines produced in the countries of the Old World, for example, in France, Italy or Spain, are more expensive. Therefore, it is better to look at manufacturers such as Australia, New Zealand, Chile. Crimean, Georgian and Abkhazian red wines of the price category specified above are also not inferior in quality to foreign ones.

Good inexpensive red semi-sweet wine - kindzmarauli badagoni (Georgian wine). Grape variety "Saperavi".

Medici Ermete, Lambrusco dell ` Emilia Rosso IGT is an excellent Italian wine made from Lambusco grapes. The quality of Italian wines is indicated by the markings on the labels: DOC (Denominazione di origine controllata) and DOCG (…e garantita).

Don't buy red winemade in Germany or Hungary. These countries specialize in the production of white wines, which they are good at.

Choosing white wine

The best white wines come from Germany. If you want to buy a good, inexpensive dry white wine, then it is best to look at German producers. Riesling is considered the best white wine produced in this country. Wines produced under this name are dry, semi-sweet and sweet. On the label with dry wine will be the inscription Trocken. By the way, wine with the same name is produced in other countries. And if German wine of this brand is more difficult to find, then Alsatian is found on the shelves much more often and is not inferior in quality to wine from Germany.

Another good white wine is the French Sauternes. This wine can be both aged and quite young. Naturally, young wine is cheaper, which is what we need.

General recommendations

Trying to figure out how to choose an inexpensive good wine, you need to highlight a few general rules, the first of which will be: inexpensive does not mean the cheapest. The price category to start with is approximately 400 rubles. Wine that costs so much is not sold in boxes, of course, if it is not 10 liters.

• If you buy wine in a supermarket, try to take it where there is less light, both solar and artificial.
• Do not chase the beauty of the bottle, you did not come for it, but for whatwhat is inside. Read the label carefully, it contains all the useful information.
• If wine is better dry or sweet. Semi-sweet wine is made from raw materials of not the best quality and in other countries, unlike Russia, they drink very little.
• In addition to white and red, there is also rosé wine, which is not so common in our country.

Of course, not all names of good inexpensive wines are listed above, these are just some of the possible options.