Submitted by Glenda Neil

Your Can Be a Confident Wine Buyer

Despite the fact that for many of us a glass of wine is an everyday occurrence there still clings a strong whiff of snobbery to the entire wine selection process.

If you break out in a sweat when handed the wine list in a restaurant, remember that there are only two types of wine. Wine you like and wine you don?t like, and it?s mostly likely the fear of choosing a wine you don?t like that guides your choice, especially with wine prices in restaurants so high.

When purchasing in the supermarket or wine store many of us feel safe buying wines that have those tiny unreadable medal stickers prominently displayed, they at least show that some wine judges somewhere, sometime liked them. Generally wines that are medal winners are at least soundly made, and faultless, but it doesn?t mean you are necessarily going to like them.

Selecting wine in a restaurant setting is much more intimidating as you have no more information than that shown on the wine list. In any good restaurant where you are unfamiliar with the wines its pays to ask your wine waiter for a recommendation. Another safe bet is to choose a more expensive wine than the cheapest. The more the wine costs the restaurant, the less the mark-up on the wine will be. So the $100 dollar bottle you buy only cost them $70 but the $20 bottle may have only cost them $7.

The only way to become a confident wine buyer wine is to be adventurous and keep experimenting don?t get stuck in a rut drinking the same old thing for safety?s sake. Find a winery whose products you enjoy and work your way through their range, or better still visit the winery and try before you buy.

To get the best out of your wines remember most wine is ready to drink when you purchase it especially those priced under $25. Some but not all wines improve with age, choose carefully if you intend to cellar. If possible get a more than one bottle, one to open and try the rest to cellar.

With so many wines now bottled under screwcaps I have found that many improve if you open them one day pour one glass only then refrigerate over night. Otherwise slosh into a decanter making sure the wine gets lots of air. The reason for this is that screwcaps are much more efficient than corks for keeping any air out of the wine, and allowing just a little air tends to help the wine open up more. This works for both red?s and whites though you need to let the reds warm at room temperature before you drink. This only really applies to young just bottled wines, not wines with any bottle age.

In the next couple of weeks I will be reviewing Joelle Thompson?s ?The Indispensable Wine Guide? Wines Under $25, which is usually an excellent guide to both value and quality wines.