Guides
How to buy the best bottle of wine
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The answers you get tend to match the questions you ask.
The more people you ask which wine is the best, the more answers you’ll get.
Is an expensive, rare, old bottle from the exclusive house of champagne Krug necessarily better than the wonderfully refreshing 5-Euro bottle of rosé you enjoyed with your loved one over a crisp baguette with cheese and pâté at the view of the sunlit Mediterranean?
Endless criteria and preferences play a part here, so any precise answer is (fortunately) as good as impossible to obtain.
An old-school, analogue specialist
So, the answer is not which wine, but where to find it. Buying a good bottle of wine is a bit like buying records used to be. It’s all about where you find your wine.
Find a real wine merchant in your local area. Get to know him or her and let your wine merchant get to know you and your preferences. The more your wine dealer (or record pusher) knows about your taste preferences, the greater the chance of your next purchase hitting bull’s eye.
Your wine merchant will most likely ask you a couple of preliminary questions. These may be about which wines you like, what you need the wine for, your potential budget and so on. It’s a good start if you can narrow it down to geography, grape or colour.
A question of style
In wine circles, the concepts of “modern” and “traditional” style exist. These concepts are highly generalising, and lots of examples out there contradict this view of things, but it remains a nice way to describe your preferences.
By “modern” you mean wines whose style is like the overseas wines from particularly South America, Australia and the US. Meaning, expressive, full-bodied, soft, juicy blusterers with lots of alcohol and age.
At the other end of the scale, we have the expression “traditional style” which refers to the more classic idea of France, Italy and Germany. Keywords here are elegance, subtlety, dryness, modesty, acidity, tannins and freshness.
It would be of great help to your wine merchant if you’re able to point him or her in one of these two main directions.
Exchange ideas and spend a bit more
Let your wine merchant introduce you to a sample or two in the store and allow yourself to buy a bottle or two at his or her recommendation.
Go back to your wine dealer once you’ve emptied your bottles and preferably while they’re still pretty fresh in your memory. Give your feedback, speak your mind and explain how you liked the wines or not.
And now is the time to treat yourself by upping your price level a bit. If you normally spend £10 on a bottle of wine, try passing £12. If your limit is £12, then have a go at one around £15-18.
Fortunately, this game won’t go on endlessly. Roughly speaking, there’s a magical limit around £25-30 where you start paying for low supply coupled with great demand rather than high quality inside the bottle. There are exceptions to this, but basically it’s not entirely off.
Third strike and you are out
If your wine merchant doesn’t hit bull’s eye the third time, it’s about time you found yourself another wine dealer. Period.
If he or she is spot on, it’s the start of many wonderful and, especially not least, new experiences within the world of wine. Just as is the case with your local record pusher, it’s great fun being introduced to something new which will spark your curiosity and broaden your horizons.
Not to mention the joy of having your local wine merchant, record dealer or butcher think of you as someone worth pleasing.
So, we can boil it all down to these three tips:
1. Get to know your wine merchant and let your wine merchant get to know you.
2. Stick your neck out and spend a bit more a bottle next time.
3. Safely avoid spending more than £30 a bottle.
And, by the by, there’s no such thing is the wrong expression when describing taste sensations. There are useful phrases and trade terms you’ll learn as you go along.