If you are not a hereditary winemaker and do not own your own wine cellar, not a restaurateur and not a sommelier, you probably sometimes wonder what wine to choose for a particular occasion. It can be a holiday, an evening with friends or at home, a romantic dinner.
What kind of wine to choose, often depends on the occasion: at a New Year's party or at a wedding it is customary to drink champagne or sparkling wines, everyday ordinary table wine will suit everyday, and a vintage wine corresponds to anniversaries. Much depends on the company in which you plan to spend your time: men prefer dry wines or special ones, such as port wines or Madeira, and ladies often like semisweet or sweet wine, some prefer hardened wines.
What are the wines - we read the label
Wines according to the traditional classification are divided into several categories depending on the parameters.
Depending on the age, the wines are divided into Beaujolais (this year's wine), ordinary (wine can not stand in barrels, immediately after fermentation the drink is sealed in bottles), aged (after fermentation the wine is aged for at least half a year in oak barrels), vintage (not less than one and a half years of aging) and collection (at least 3 years old).
Depending on the wine produced from the grapes, one can distinguish single-grained wines (from one type of grapes) and mixed (several varieties of grapes are used for wine production).
By the amount of sugar, the wines are divided into dry (have a tart, sour taste, perhaps with a light bitterness), semi-dry and semisweet (they have a moderately sweet taste, grape tones are much worse than in dry wines), dessert (very sweet wines) and liqueur the name speaks for itself). Dry wines are the least strong (up to 12 degrees), liquor - the strongest (up to 20 degrees).
In addition to this wine can be red, white, pink, sparkling, fizzy and quiet. How to choose a good wine and not get confused in the variety of products presented?
A few tips on choosing a wine
If you decide to give a bottle of good wine for a while, consider some points.
The place of purchase is important: guaranteed high-quality wine can be bought in wine boutiques and specialized stores - in such places they deal only with trusted suppliers and closely monitor the quality of products. By the way, as a rule, a consultant works in such a shop, which will advise how to choose a dry wine, or what kind of white wine to prefer in this period.
The best wines are French, but not all know how to choose a French wine, and if you do not speak the language of musketeers, look for the word Château on the label. It means that the wine is produced under the control of a special
Wine determines snacks, and vice versa: white wines (dry or semi-dry), red meat (veal, pork), game and Mediterranean cuisine are traditionally served with red wines to fish, seafood and chicken breasts. Pink wines are good for light snacks, and strong and special - to cheeses. Therefore, if you have a bottle of white wine, for example, Aligote or Chardonnay, and for dinner it is supposed to serve Greek salad and lamb chops, it is better to clean the white wine to the best case and think about how to choose a red dry wine - it will decorate such a dinner.
Remember: the wines do not like hot food (the burnt tongue does not perceive the whole range of flavors), it does not fit well with very sharp dishes and is not at all combined with marinades and pickles - nothing better than a glass of cold vodka has been invented for them. And most importantly: in the throat of wine health, in the glass - a good mood, in the bottle - possible troubles. Be moderate.