How to pick a great bottle of wine

Picking a bottle of wine, whether for dinner party, as host gift, or just to enjoy at home can be an overwhelming task. There are so many options out there, with a such a wide variety of prices it can be tough to delineate what’s good from what’s just a pretty label.

• Picking the right type of wine:

  • Typically, you’ll have two base types of wine, White and Red. Pairing the wine with the food you will be eating is critical to your enjoyment of that bottle. A decent rule of thumb is pairing white wine with lighter faire (seafood, salads) and red wine with heavier foods (red meat, pasta). There’s a lot of variance within each type with dozens of grape varietals between the two but this is a good place to start.

• Old World vs. New World

  • Old world wines are going to be from your classic wine regions, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, etc. typically, you do get some higher quality wine for the money because you’re getting the cost of the land passed down into the cost of the wine. You can typically identify these bottles through more simple and understated labels.

  • New World wines are typically from Australia, The US, Argentina, Chile, and South Africa. Generally highlighted by more vibrant and flashy labels; there are some great options from these regions but you sometimes lose out on value because the vineyard are still paying for land.

• Reading a Label

  • Generally speaking, the more detail about where the wine is from is an indicator of higher quality, regardless of price. Look for an exact town, vineyard or even plot number. A wine that simply has the region without an appellation could indicate a lower quality wine.

  • Look for a vintage! Everyone knows the ‘aged like fine wine’ saying which is fairly accurate, the older the bottle, the better it has potential to be. But you don’t have to find an old bottle to have a great experience. A vintage being listed on the bottle shows the wine maker is series about the wine and there is certain amount of care. Note, vintage does not notate when the grapes went into bottle, but when those grapes were harvested.

• Importers

  • The importer can usually be found on the back of the label, we’re lucky enough to partner with Vineyard brands this year. They offer a great mix of Old and New World wines from 60 different wineries in various countries including Australia, Spain, Italy, Portugal, South Africa, France (including the legendary Bordeaux region). Offering the highest in quality and value with national distribution; you can’t go wrong selecting a bottle imported by Vineyard Brands. You can learn more about their portfolio here: https://www.vineyardbrands.com/main.aspx?20230202#producers