How can I select a good wine in the supermarket?
Posted by admin
Mk asked:
Im not in Budapest and i see so many different types of wine in supermarkets. Wines from France, California, Hungarian, etc and all at different prices.
Im not in Budapest and i see so many different types of wine in supermarkets. Wines from France, California, Hungarian, etc and all at different prices.
If I need a good quality smooth red wine at a reasonable price how do i pick that?
June 28th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
you can’t its a gamble
June 30th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
You first need to know what type of red wines you prefer. They are classified by grapes, country/vineyard, body (tannin), age and various other factors like flavor (from organic compounds and processes).
For example, I know I like Australian shiraz and Californian zinfandel/Italian primativo (same grape). They are medium-full bodied but smooth, and tend to have a wintry or spicy flavor (plum, berries, licorice, pepper, cloves, etc). Although higher tannin levels generally indicates a rougher feel, darker fruits even out the flavor so they tend to be very drinkable.
You could try a wine-tasting class somewhere in your community, to find out for yourself what you like. Otherwise, try a wine shop where the staff is knowledgeable and you can explain to them what you are looking for, they will be able to recommend a starting place. Alternately, you can try a few bottles (by reading the labels and picking one) until you find something you like, and choose other wines of the same grape and similar area.
The cheapest wines will never be the best ones, but you can find decent ones for a reasonable price. I’m not familiar with wine prices in Hungary, but you can get a decent bottle starting around £7-8 in the UK and similar euro prices in other countries.
I could recommend a few, but I don’t know the selection there and our tastes in wine may be very different. Here are a couple I like:
Berton’s Black Shiraz
Ravenwood’s zinfandels (there are several)
While expensive European wines can be very good, I find more good cheap wines from California and Australia. And don’t be fooled by ***** tops, some of the better Australian wines don’t use corks.