Recycled Wine Buying Advice

 

 

The following is a piece on wine buying from a magazine article I wrote in 2013.  A few changes have been made to bring it up to date, but the suggestions are still relevant, especially as we enter the holiday entertaining season.

If you haven’t been wine shopping lately, you may be in for a bewildering surprise.  Whether you’re buying a bottle to have with tonight’s dinner or one to lay away for a special occasion,  you’ll find that even the most modest wine shop is stocked with a wide range of wines from most of the major wine regions at prices to fit all budgets.

Don’t panic! 

Before you head out to shop, decide if the purchase is a wine for casual drinking or for a meal, and how much you can spend.  Wandering aimlessly up and down the aisles staring at bottle after bottle of wine will get you nowhere.  

A good approach, for all budgets, is to find a wine shop where you can get some quality one-on-one advice on buying a wine that you’re going to like and that won’t break the budget.  Supermarket wine sections are convenient but not likely to have a clerk to help you select the right wine. So if the market is where you shop for wine, be prepared to do some searching on your own.

Buying a bottle of wine is like shopping for any other food product; you want to know how it tastes and how much it costs.  Read as much as you can before going wine shopping.  Numerous wine magazines (Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, to name two) and wine newsletters (Robert Parker's Wine Advocate) are helpful for the novice wine consumer as well as the hard-core wine collector.   

For immediate and up-to-date advice and recommendations, go online and click on any of the many wine sites and blogs devoted to wine, such as "Wine Review Online," and "Gerald D Boyd On Wine."

Now that you have a bottle of wine, the next step is finding a good food to have with it?  Matching wine with food can be involved, but there are a few simple rules that make the choice easier.  The pairing can be very specific, even scientific, but using commonsense will  result in a pleasing wine and food match.  

The old adage of white wine with fish, red wine with meat, still has merit, but even more important is how the dish is seasoned and what sauce or garnishes are used.  Commonsense says that a heavy Zinfandel, with its full tannin, is not a good match with a lightly sautéed lemon sole, nor will an off-dry Riesling please the taste buds when paired with roast beef.

Generally, white wine is lighter in body and weight than red wine, so Sauvignon Blanc, with its crisp acidity and lighter body will not be as heavy as Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah.    There are, of course, exceptions that have been proven time and again to be as close to perfect as you can get in wine and food pairing, such as Pinot Noir and grilled fresh salmon and Sauvignon Blanc with goat cheese.

If you're adventurous and want to make a pairing outside the box, then ignore the rules and drink whatever wine you like with any food.  Food and wine pairing suggestions are only guidelines, not gospel.

Wine availability and price vary from market to market.  Here are six wines, all priced at $20 or less, that should be in stock where you buy wine or with a little searching: La Crema Monterey California Chardonnay; Barnard Griffin Columbia Valley Washington Sauvignon Blanc; Elk Cove Willamette Valley Oregon Pinot Gris; Kenwood Vineyards San Joaquin County/Sonoma Count Pinot Noir; Mettler Family Lodi California Zinfandel; Francis Ford Coppola Diamond Collection California Cabernet Sauvignon.

Wine shopping is personal.  If the store where you shop doesn't carry the wine you want, ask the clerk for a special order, or try a recommended substitute.

Next post: Armagnac

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