The Best Places for Beginners to Buy Wine
If you’re new to wines, or if you’re buying for a wine enthusiast when you don’t drink it yourself, then it can seem quite intimidating to try to choose a decent bottle. Don’t worry, though it can be done, you just need to head to the right places. Here’s the five best places to look.
Your local, independent wine seller
If you have one nearby, you’re in luck, because this is the #1 place to head to. These types of shop tend to have a good selection in all price ranges and staff members are usually enthusiastic and shouldn’t be patronising or dismissive. They live for wine, so stop and chat.
A big chain wine seller
You might think you’ll get the same range as the local independent here, but for a better price. However, you’re only half right. The prices are lower, but the selection is smaller – these shops make their profits by buying in wine in bulk, which limits the range somewhat. Having said that, the staff are usually just as helpful as the local indies and you can get a decent bottle of something for $10.00. What’s not to like? Apart from the lack of small-production labels…
Whole Foods
Not cheap, but if you’re planning to spend a reasonable amount, you’ll find some interesting, small-production bottles here, usually for more than $20.00. Helpful staff, too, which makes all the difference.
Costco
Yup – Costco! You’ll find the best prices here if you’re looking at decent-but-popular wines. It’s pretty good for those, but don’t expect any fancy or eccentric styles there. One downside is that staff aren’t very knowledgeable. Oh, and you’ll have to become a member to enter the shop at all.
Online
Buying wine online has a number of advantages – you have an almost unlimited range to choose from, you can compare prices easily and you can browse to your heart’s content without leaving your chair. The only problem is that you won’t have the same level of personal help. It’s also more expensive to buy online as bottles are heavy! It’s a good option, though and you may, if you’re learning about wines, turn more and more to the internet.
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Red Wine May Combat Acne
The health benefits said to accrue from the moderate consumption of red wine are well-known—lowering cholesterol, helping prevent clogged arteries, controlling blood sugar, even fighting off the common cold.
Now California scientists think they’ve found one more benefit, one that can heal the outer you as well as the inner. A glass or two of red wine can help kill the bacteria that cause acne, the scourge of teenagers everywhere. Actually, it’s the antioxidant resveratrol, the same compound determined to be responsible for most of red wine’s other health benefits.
Resveratrol works by stopping formation of free radicals, atoms or groups of atoms known to cause cellular damage, of which acne is one. Interestingly enough, when paired with the oxidant benzoyl peroxide, the two seemingly at-odds compounds (as benzoyl peroxide creates free radicals) work even better to kill acne-causing bacteria and control its formation. Or at least so say researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Does this mean local liquor stores and wine shops will be overrun with pimple-pocked teenyboppers whipping out fake IDs to get an amusing little Cabernet to help erase the angry red moonscape on their faces?
Probably not. But you never know. One day we may see pimple cream manufacturers getting into the wine business.
Wine By Mail Shipments Booming
For decades the prohibition of ordering wines directly from out-of-state wineries was a thorn in the side of vintners both large and (especially) small. In recent years, though, state after state has ended or relaxed that prohibition, and wine lovers finally have an avenue to purchase those hard-to-find wines without getting on a plane and flying to their source.
And they’ve wasted little time taking advantage of that avenue. In fact, last year mail order direct from winery shipments increased four times as much as off-premise wine sales, 8.5 percent to 2 percent, according to the annual Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping report from ShipCompliant and Wines & Vines. That amounts to some 4.2 million cases valued at almost $2 billion.
Wines from Napa Valley wineries accounted for more than half of that dollar amount, the report states, with Oregon wineries recording gains of almost 15 percent over the previous year.
Other report highlights: Cabernet Sauvignon accounted for 30 percent of all direct-from-winery shipped wines, with residents of the District of Columbia, California, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming ordering the most wine per capita. Whatever they were ordering, it wasn’t cheap, with the average price of direct-shipped wine closing in on the $40 mark.
There’s likely still some room for those numbers to grow, as seven states (Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Utah, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama) still forbid direct wine shipping, with another five (New Jersey, Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana and Arizona) allowing it within limits.
How to Start Your Own Wine Cellar
No matter what your budget, you probably know much fun and satisfaction you can get from choosing and buying in a good selection of wine. Whether you opt for rare vintages or whether you like to visit a bulk winery so you can keep your guests topped up at your summer barbecues, there’s something incredibly comforting about stocking up with your favorites.
You might have been thinking for a while of starting off your own wine cellar; after all, the garage is no place to store your bottles, is it? If you’re about to embark on this journey, read on to glean some tips from the experts.
Work out your budget
You may have a smaller budget, or money may be no object, but you have to pin down roughly what your annual spend will be, as well as how much time you’ll spend researching and visiting wineries and tasting sessions.
You might already have a handy closet that will comfortably fit a few racks, so this means you can spend a bit more on something to fill it in that first year. On the other hand, you may have to build or install a well-insulated cupboard or even a specialised wine fridge. It’s entirely up to you, but those figures are all-important.
Select your wines
You’d be mistaken if you thought that a wine cellar is only for the finest wines known to man. Of course, some people will want that, but then how often do they crack one open? Most of us have mid-range tastes and budgets and these wines deserve good treatment too.
You should concentrate on the wines you enjoy the most – whether that’s Malbecs, Merlots or Cavas. There literally is no right or wrong here.
Having said that, you shouldn’t just collect your faves – you should branch out a bit so that you can cater for your cousin who visits once a year and only drinks whites. You should also get in some wines that are classic pairings for cheese, meat and fish dishes so you can enjoy your dinner parties more.
Ask yourself why you’re doing it
There are many different reasons to have your own wine cellar – you might have a particular favorite that you like to enjoy every day or so, or you might throw regular dinner parties. On the other hand, you might see some vintages as an investment.
Your reasons for starting your wine cellar will determine how much you spend – both on the cellar and the wines themselves. Casual collectors will probably open and enjoy their collection, while investors will need to control temperature, light and humidity to make sure the vintage makes it through the years intact.
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Hurray for Rosé
Rosé has increased hugely in popularity in recent years, becoming something of a staple summer tipple. In France, it’s actually more popular than white wine over the summer months, and is seen more and more at picnics and barbecues. Despite rosé coming into the fold, most of us don’t even know how it’s actually made.
There are lots of misconceptions about this wine – lots of people believe Zinfandel is a blush wine rather than a rosé, but it’s made in the rosé style, it’s just very sweet.
How is rosé made?
We all know that red grapes become red wine and white grapes become white, so how exactly do the winemakers produce that lovely pink color that gives rosé its name?
It's all about the contact
All grapes are the same color on the inside – when they’re pressed, the juice runs clear. The color of a wine isn’t from the inside of the grape – the pulp – it’s actually from the skin. If the juice is left in contact with the grape skins, there’s some color transfer and this process is called maceration. With white grapes, the characteristic yellow color is produced and with red grapes, the various shades of red come out.
Roséwine is created by pressing the red grapes and then letting the skins soak in with the juice for only a short while – just two or three days. The winemaker watches the mixture and once the juice has taken on as much of the red color as is desired, the grape skins are taken out and the juice can start to ferment into some amazing rosé.
Provence in France is the area best-known for producing rosés, but California is catching on quick with its Zinfandels.
One way that roséisn’t created is by mixing red and white wines together! Of course, mixing the two would result in a pink wine, but you wouldn’t be very popular among your wine buff chums…
Wines on a Plane
As anyone who has done any traveling over the past dozen or so years already knows, flying on domestic airlines ranks somewhere between catching dengue fever and being beaten with a two-by-four on the scale of pleasurable activities.
A glass (or two or three) of wine can help sooth jangled nerves and relieve the frustration of endless lines, crowded airports and airplane cabins apparently designed by the Marquise de Sade for maximum passenger (airline-speak for “cattle”) discomfort.
But even as you appreciate the calming effects of fermented grape juice, the suspicion sneaks in that the wine you’re drinking really doesn’t taste very good, or at least not nearly as good as it tastes on the ground.
That suspicion, by the way, is right. But, honest, it’s not the airlines’ fault. According to British researchers, being crammed into an aluminum tube hurtling through the air at 35,000 feet does things to you, things that can make that otherwise perfectly acceptable glass of California Chardonnay taste like Chateau Sweatpants.
The chief culprit, researchers say, is the low humidity on airplanes, which dries out your mouth and nose and throws your taste buds off kilter. Low humidity also blunts your sense of smell, which contributes mightily to your perception of a wine’s flavor. Flying through time zones and the general stress of travel can upset the body’s pH levels; the noise and vibration of air travel only adds to your discomfort.
What can a stressed-out, wine-loving passenger do?
Wear noise-canceling headphones, for one. Or listen to the right kind of music. Studies have shown that music with lots of high notes can heighten taste perception of sweetness, while music with lots of low notes can increase the perception of bitterness. Anything you can do to relieve pre-flight stress can help too.
Then there’s the wines themselves. Best are ripe, fruity reds with soft tannins and low acidity. Not so good are tart, mineral-y, grapefruity whites, which can come off as too assertive for flight-damaged palates. Or you could just stay home and pop a bottle of your favorite Cabernet.