How to choose red wine? Subtleties of choice, instructions and tips

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

Birthday, new year, wedding or just ordinary pleasant gatherings with friends? Then we go to the store and hesitate with a list of groceries at the liquor counter. Our task is to choose a good red wine. Strange as it may seem, but the vast majority of the average buyer will prefer a bottle with a beautiful label and a conspicuous overseas name, or, even worse, take a promotional product. However, often there is nothing good behind the attractive appearance of the bottle.

Unfortunately, many today believe that choosing red wine is a whole science that only professionals - sommeliers can understand. However, this is not the case. You only need to know a few common truths to easily answer the question of how to choose a quality red wine.

Before we start reviewing the indicators of good red wine, let's talk about its properties, benefits and a bit of history.

The history of red wine

Wine, like no other drink, generates so much international controversy about who is its inventor. Each southern country claims that it was on its territory that wine was first born. There are a huge number of legends and parables in which you can find the origins of this ancient drink: ancient Egyptian, ancient Greek, Roman, Phoenician, German, etc. However, none of the hypotheses has any evidence.

Archaeologists date the emergence of wine around 5-4 millennium BC. The remains of pottery with the remains of a wine drink have survived to this day. In Egypt, from the 28th century BC, bas-reliefs with images of slaves harvesting grapes have been preserved. The Caucasian peoples prove their involvement in the appearance of wine by an etymological analysis of the name, which is of Caucasian origin. In these lands, the drink originated over 4,000 years ago.

In the Middle Ages, wine gained particular popularity due to the growing spread of Christianity. The church itself produced this drink for ritual purposes. Famous monastic varieties have survived to this day. Thanks to navigation, wine spread to Asia, England and other European countries.

On the benefits of red wine

From ancient times, red wine was used for medicinal purposes, and only later it became known as a cheerful drink. It has long been proven that red wine has antioxidant properties, removes toxins and toxic substances from the internal organs. This leads to rejuvenation of the body, regenerates skin and hair tissues.cover. Red wine often acts like a pancreatin pill, breaking down fats and carbohydrates, thereby aiding digestion and keeping the body from becoming overweight.

In addition, wine is prescribed for people with anemia or anemia. It is responsible for the production of red blood cells, improves blood circulation. And also the drink can be useful for its composition, rich in micro- and macroelements, vitamins, amino acids, in the period of beriberi and for patients with disorders of the brain, respiratory system, cardiovascular diseases.

But it is important to remember that wine is useful only in small quantities and if the quality of the drink is high. Otherwise, it can only bring harm to the body. Finally - how to choose the right red wine, dry or sweet.

Which one to choose?

There are more than four thousand varieties of wine in the world. For us, ordinary consumers, a lightweight classification has been developed that allows us to understand the approximate composition of the drink. According to the alcohol content, wines are divided into table, fortified, flavored and sparkling.

According to the amount of sugar, table drinks are dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet and sweet, and fortified drinks are strong, sweet, semi-dessert, dessert and liqueurs. Dry red wine contains up to 0.3% sugar, sweet - 15% or more. Anything in between is far from quality wine.

Semi-dry and semi-sweet wines have a lot of preservatives added. In sweet varieties, sugar acts as a natural preservative, therefore, such wine does notis harmful. There is no answer to the question of how to choose a good red semi-sweet wine. Often the sugar that is added to semi-sweet wines helps brighten up a spoiled or poor-quality product. And how to choose a good red dry wine, let's talk further.

Don't judge by appearance

Once you have decided on the type of wine, you need to remember one golden rule: you can not judge wine by the brightness of the label. No matter what manufacturers attract the attention of buyers: images of dragons, bulls and other creatures, inlays with rhinestones, shiny holograms … Agree, this is not for such a noble drink as red wine. On a bottle that deserves attention, most likely there will be a strict monotonous label with the name of the wine in large print. All this is done so that the buyer remembers the name, and not the picture depicted on it.

The label contains all the important information for the consumer: grape variety, country of origin, crop year, aging period, alcohol content, importer and much more. And nothing should divert our attention from it, because if you miss any of the above, you can make a mistake in choosing. If some information is missing, then the manufacturer is trying to hide it.

For example, how to choose a quality dry red wine according to the aging period? The absence of this information means that the wine was poured immediately, which violated the technology. If the manufacturer does not write the grape variety, but only masks its absence with poetic words,like "the best varieties of French winemakers", this means that the raw materials of this drink are just waste.

Another tip from famous sommeliers: you need to pay attention to the cork of the drink. Firstly, the cork should be located in the bottle evenly, it should not be too dry or wet. Secondly, the longer and stronger the cork, the better the wine. Thirdly, on the cork of quality wine, the vintage year, vineyard number, bottling company name, city, code and brand of the estate will be indicated.

The bottle of wine must be dark glass. In this case, the bottom should be with a recess: the deeper, the better the wine.

And lastly, you need to shake the bottle. Good wine will be without sediment, and it should flow down the walls of the bottle slowly and evenly, as if enveloping them.

Birthplace

When we talk about the birthplace of wine, we mean the country of origin. The leader of winemaking today is France. The most famous varieties of French red wine are Burgundy, Bordeaux and Rhone.

The second wine exporting country is Italy. Thanks to the warm climate, grapes grow here all year round, which allows the production of large quantities of wines. The Tuscany region gives birth to such wonderful red dry wines as Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany.

The third place is taken by Spanish canteens, local, fine and elite wines. One of the most famous wines in the world is the Spanish Rioja, which has beautiful fruity notes and a pronounced taste.

The wines of the New World countries also deserve respect: Argentina, Chile, South Africa, etc. Due to the hot climate and year-round bright sun, the grapes here are sweet and fragrant. Unusual grape varieties grow here: Zinfandel, Malbec, Shiraz, Grenache and others.

Abkhazian and Georgian wines decorate gatherings in nature with traditional barbecue, grilled vegetables, as they have a powerful aroma, deep taste and a lot of tannins. Among Georgian wines, the most famous are Saperavi, Mukuzani and Akhasheni. The most popular brands of Abkhazian wines are Amra, Bouquet of Abkhazia, and Chegem, which strongly resemble homemade wines.

Dependence of price on place of birth

The birthplace of wine, of course, determines everything: the taste of grapes, fineness, strength. However, here it is worth starting from how much money you are willing to give for a particular drink. Choosing a red dry wine, as a rule, by manufacturer is quite simple. Everyone knows that drinks from French Burgundy (France), Bordeaux (France), Tuscany (Italy), Rioja (Spain) and Ribera del Duero (Spain) are considered the best. However, the price of these drinks is much higher than other good wines. How to choose red wine in this case?

For example, a good red dry wine produced by the New World can be purchased for 400-500 rubles. Approximately the same quality drink from France or Italy will cost 200-300 rubles more. However, one should not give preference to wines for100-200 rubles, if all the above requirements have been met. A good manufacturer cannot afford to sell a quality drink for such a price, since the cost of a bottle, storage, good raw materials, and labor significantly exceeds such a price. It is assumed that the price for a bottle of high-quality imported drink will be about 10-12 dollars.

And lastly. A good reason to save the budget is young wines, because two-year-old wines taste great and are not very expensive. You should not trust a producer who sets a low price for aged varieties. Most likely, this is a spoiled product.

How to choose a delicious red wine

Of course, the taste of wine depends on the grape variety from which it was produced. Choosing the southern areas of raw material growth, where the sun shines practically all year round, we can be sure that one or another grape variety will be much sweeter than the same variety growing to the north. How to choose red wine based on this knowledge? For this, there are approximate guidelines for the grades of raw materials from which the drink is made.

Wines based on Merlot, Tempranillo, Pinot Noir grapes are always smoother, softer, less tart and viscous. Light wines are produced on the right bank of Bordeaux, in Chile's Maipo and Maule valleys, in the New Zealand state of Hawke's Bay.

The most popular grape variety is "Cabernet Sauvignon", but the wines of this type are more tannic, bright, strongand sour. Related varieties include "malbec" (Argentinean or Southwestern French).

Varieties midway between Merlot and Sauvignon are Sulfur, the Australian Shiraz from Kaoru.

Wine is not drunk, but eaten

Wine as a drink is created exclusively for food. Without food, it gets boring very quickly, sets the teeth on edge due to the high content of acids. Therefore, when choosing wine for the table, it is necessary to focus on what dishes will be present on it. How to choose the right dry wine, red or white for food, is a rather difficult question. After all, the wrong choice can spoil the impression of cooked dishes. This is worth looking into. How to choose a delicious dry red wine?

There is a misconception that red wine is only for meat. However, this is not quite true. It goes well with both red fish and chicken, but you should choose soft, light varieties of the drink: Pinot Noir, Schiava, Gamay.

Sometimes dry red wine, like Cabernet Sauvignon, can ruin tender veal meat. In this case, it is better to choose Pinot Noir or Tempranillo.

Beef ribeye steaks, barbecue or grilled meat should be paired with powerful, strong Cabernet Sauvignon, Sulfur, Malbec, wines from the left bank of Bordeaux, Rioja wines. Red meat also pairs well with carmenère, which has notes of chocolate and black berries.

For pork, duck, lamb, hard and semi-hard cheeses, smoked meats, sommeliers recommendhigh alcohol red wines (12.5-13.5% such as Merlot, Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc.

How to choose red semi-sweet wine

We have already said above that semi-sweet wine is always of dubious quality. In Europe, this type of drink has long been abandoned, while in Russia and neighboring countries, the sweetness in wine is still popular.

Red semi-sweet or semi-dry varieties are made by interrupting dry fermentation. The interruption is achieved by adding preservatives to the drink, which not only negatively affect our he alth, but also completely destroy all the beneficial properties of red wine.

Preferring semi-sweet wine to dry, it is worth remembering that once you open a bottle, you will need to drink it to the bottom. It might go bad the next day.

If you still have a desire to buy a semi-sweet red wine, then there are some recommendations for choosing it.

Firstly, we study the bottle, the label according to the general rules mentioned above.

Secondly, you need to remember that natural semi-sweet wine cannot be made from sour grapes. To obtain such drinks, manufacturers choose sweet varieties, overexposing the berries in the sun to achieve mold, or, conversely, freezing them.

Thirdly, in search of semi-sweet quality wine, you should pay attention to the southern areas of grape growth. That is, the wines of Georgia, Moldova, Italy, Portugal. For example, well-known varieties are lambrusco, alexandruoli "Alazani Valley",kandzmarauli, merlot of the Moldovan producer "Cricova".

Quality Marks

In the countries of the Old World, namely France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal and other European producing countries, there is a certain quality control of wine. The drink is checked at all stages of production, and after tasting by the best sommeliers, it receives a category, thanks to which it can claim a correspondingly high price.

Dry wines can receive one of the following categories:

• VdT or VdM - canteen without a specific place and year of birth.
• Vin de Pays - French wine of local origin from a certain grape variety, which has passed all quality control.
• IGT - Italian local wine, controlled in relation to the grape variety. This category includes inexpensive, but high-quality drinks.
• AOC - French wine of the best quality, controlled origin and grape variety.
• DOC - quality Italian or Spanish wine with a specific place of origin, controlled at all stages of production.
• DO - Spanish controlled by origin.

A last recommendation: before going to the store, you should study the wine ratings. Some drinks are judged by famous sommeliers and wine critics such as Robert Parker, Stefan Aspirinio, Oz Clarke, James Laube, Hugh Johnson, Jancis Robinson and many others. Their estimates, without a doubt, can and should even be trusted. People with great careerstasting areas can't help but suggest how to choose red wine.