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Wine
Help
For those of you who don't know precisely what you're
looking for in a wine selection, here are some questions
you should consider in order to help us help you better.
1. What style of wine do
you like?
You don't have to study our Wine Terms article to
tell us if you like your wine full-bodied, dry, fruity,
light, or, in the case of white wine, crisp. It also
helps if you can recall a particular wine varietal
that you like, such as Chardonnay or Riesling for
white wines, or Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, for
red wines. You might also want to tell us the name
of a wine that you have liked in the past.
2. How much do you want to
spend?
Wine quality generally goes up in increments of
$10; therefore we categorize them as: $10-20; $20-30;
$30-40; $40-50; over $50; and over $100. Believe it
or not, it is possible to get a perfectly drinkable
table wine for under $10, and younger vintage wines
for between $10 and $20. For over $20, you can start
finding some very respectable wines ready to drink,
and you can really start getting into the finest wines
at over $30. Note that the higher priced red wines
often benefit with aging, but many can be enjoyed
relatively young. Wines often cost less when young
and gain price with age, so that's one way to get
a very good bottle at an affordable price.
3. What's the occasion?
It helps us to know if you're buying for that night's
dinner, for a gift, a party, or to hold in your cellar.
Sometimes, the best values are in new vintage wines
that can benefit from aging. Buy them now, store them
properly at under 60 degrees, and then pull them out
when ready, enjoying the almost-certain fact that
you will have paid much less for that bottle than
anyone buying it at that later date.
4. How will you be drinking
it?
Is this for a picnic on a Sunday afternoon? For
a formal dinner? Or for drinking before or after dinner?
If you'll be drinking it with food, will it be a meat,
poultry, or fish dinner, or cheese, appetizers, or
dessert? Is the food spicy? If so, what type of spice?
There's no reason to select a type of wine based on
old-fashioned assumptions, but it's also true that
some wines work better with some types of foods, spices,
or occasions.
5. If it's a gift, how serious
is your recipient about wine?
Believe it or not, you don't always have to buy
an expensive wine to please a wine lover. Many wine
lovers enjoy finding wines they don't know about that
have high quality to price ratios—after all,
even wine aficionados can't spend a fortune every
night on wine. Be prepared to tell us as much as you
can about your recipient in terms of their interest
in wine and food, or the occasion to which you're
bringing the wine.
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