It’s not easy to buy good wine today. The wide assortment presented on the shelves of hypermarkets does not guarantee the possibility of acquiring a quality drink. Too often, a beautiful bottle contains a flavored and tinted alcohol-containing solution that only remotely resembles red wine. The name may be the most sonorous, it only determines the type of "bouquet identical to natural", indicated by a three-digit code with the letter "E". What to do, progressive European technologies, cost reduction and other benefits of the free market ...
It is best to buy wine in specialized stores. With all the advantages of drinks made from white grapes, dry red wine is the most beneficial for health . Names, as a rule, indicate either the region of growth of the raw material, or its variety.
Ordinary varieties are traditionally considered the most affordable. Ideally, they should be produced using the same technology as vintage wines, and differ from them only in aging in oak barrels. Such aging enriches the bouquet with special shades and softens the taste. Tasters use the terms “velvetiness”, “roundness”, “saturation” and other concepts that are inaccessible to the average consumer, but anyone who tasted good red wine can distinguish a good product from a cheap fake. The name “Cabernet” or “Negru de Purcari” says a lot to those who grew up and matured in the Soviet Union, in which, of course, a lot of things were done wrong, but GOSTs were strict and basically respected. And today, natural ordinary wine is preferable in terms of taste to an expensive, most often imported liquid, issued as a prestigious variety. In the best case, for a substantial sum you can buy a completely ordinary product of French, Italian, Greek or Chilean winemakers, although natural, but not superior to domestic.
Table wines differ from fortified wines in the content of alcohol and sugar. Our domestic consumer prefers semisweet varieties, and those that roamed “dry”, that is, without the addition of sugar, often reject, they seem too acidic. Such an opinion is erroneous, and testifies to such an unfortunate fact as a low culture of consumption of drinks.
However, fortified red wine also has its distinguished fans . The name “Port” underwent profanity in the aforementioned decades, when it symbolized an inexpensive swill, “blackened” for booze. But in vain. This port has nothing to do with the notorious "portyusha", it is a noble drink with a rich bouquet and, incidentally, is not cheap. The alcohol content in it is really considerable (up to 20%), but they do not drink it in glasses. “Aygeshat” or “Surozh” should be savored by drinking in small sips so that it moistens the entire oral cavity and tongue.
Important and the ability to choose the right kind of red wine. A name containing the word "dessert" means a lower alcohol content and a sweeter taste. It is served with pastries or cake. For example, Cahors, traditionally used for church communion, is tart and fragrant, and its best grades are South Coast, Chumai, and Getashen.
And finally, champagne. It is usually made from white grapes, but there is also sparkling red wine. The name “Artyomovskoye” indicates the high quality of the product produced by classical technology, including remuage and degorging, that is, changing the cork to remove sediment formed during fermentation.
Finally, tips for those who do not understand wine, but want to buy a good drink. Firstly, the cork should be cortical, not polyethylene. Secondly, the label must certainly indicate the year of harvest and the manufacturer. And thirdly, the price. Good is always expensive.