Is there a birthday, a new year, a wedding, or just ordinary pleasant gatherings with friends? Then we go to the store and indecisively stop with a list of products at the counter with alcoholic drinks. Our task is to choose a good red wine. Strange as it may seem, the overwhelming majority of the average buyer will prefer a bottle with a beautiful label and a conspicuous overseas name or, even worse, take a promotional item. However, often, an attractive appearance of a bottle does not cost anything good.
Unfortunately, many today believe that choosing red wine is a science that only professionals can understand - sommeliers. However, this is not the case. You need to know only a few common truths to easily answer the question of how to choose high-quality red wine.
Before starting a review of the indicators of good red wine, let's talk about its properties, benefits and a little bit about history.
The story of the appearance of red wine
Wine, like no other drink, generates so many international disputes about who is its inventor. Each southern country claims that it was on its territory that wine was first born. There are a huge number of legends and parables in which you can find the origins of this ancient drink: ancient Egyptian, ancient Greek, Roman, Phoenician, Germanic, etc. However, none of the hypotheses have any evidence.
Archaeologists date the appearance of wine around 5-4 millennia BC. The remains of pottery with the remains of a wine drink have survived to this day. In Egypt, from the 28th century BC, bas-reliefs with images of slaves picking grapes have been preserved. The Caucasian peoples prove their involvement in the emergence of wine by an etymological analysis of the name, which is of Caucasian origin. In these lands, the drink originated more than 4000 years ago.
In the Middle Ages, wine gained particular popularity in connection with the growing spread of Christianity. The church itself produced this drink for ritual purposes. Famous monastic varieties have survived to this day. Thanks to navigation, wine has spread to Asia, England and other European countries.
About the benefits of red wine
Since ancient times, red wine was consumed for medicinal purposes, and only later it became known as a laughing drink. It has long been proven that red wine has antioxidant properties, removes toxins and toxic substances from internal organs. This leads to rejuvenation of the body, regenerates the tissues of the skin and hair. Red wine often acts like a pancreatin pill, breaking down fats and carbohydrates, thereby helping digestion and protecting the body from being overweight.
In addition, wine is prescribed to people with anemia or anemia. It is responsible for the production of red blood cells, improves blood circulation. Also, the drink can be useful for its composition, rich in micro and macro elements, vitamins, amino acids, during vitamin deficiency and in patients with disorders of the brain, respiratory system, and cardiovascular diseases.
But it is important to remember that wine is useful only in small quantities and subject to the high quality of the drink. Otherwise, it can only harm the body. Finally - on how to choose the right red wine, dry or sweet.
Which one to choose?
In total, there are more than four thousand varieties of wines in the world. For us, ordinary consumers, a lightweight classification has been developed that allows us to understand the approximate composition of the drink. According to the alcohol content, wines are divided into canteens, fortified, flavored and sparkling.
By the amount of sugar, table drinks are dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet and sweet, and fortified drinks are strong, sweet, semi-dessert, dessert and liquor. Dry red wine contains up to 0.3% sugar, sweet - 15% or more. Everything that is between these indicators is far from quality wine.
In semi-dry and semi-sweet wines, many preservatives are added. In sweet varieties, sugar is a natural preservative, therefore, this wine is not harmful. There is no answer to the question of how to choose a good semisweet red wine. Often sugar, which is added to semisweet wines, helps brighten up a spoiled or low-quality product. And about how to choose a good dry red wine, we will talk further.
In appearance they do not judge
Once you have decided on the type of wine, you need to remember one golden rule: you can not judge wine by the brightness of the label. What manufacturers attract: buyers of dragons, bulls and other creatures, inlaid with rhinestones, shiny holograms ... Agree, this is not for such a noble drink like red wine. The bottle that deserves attention is likely to have a strict monotonous label with the name of the wine in large print. All this is done so that the buyer remembers exactly the name, and not the picture depicted on it.
The label contains all the important information for the consumer: grape variety, country of production, year of harvest, aging, alcohol content, importer and much more. And nothing should distract our attention from her, because, having missed any of the above, you can make a mistake in choosing. If some information is missing, then the manufacturer is trying to hide it.
For example, how to choose high-quality dry red wine by aging time? The absence of this information means that the wine was bottled right away, which was the reason the technology was broken. If the producer does not write a grape variety, but merely disguises his absence with poetic words, like "the best varieties of French winemakers", then this means that the raw material of this drink is only waste.
Another tip from famous sommeliers: you need to pay attention to the cork of the drink. Firstly, the cork should be placed evenly in the bottle, it should not be too dry or wet. Secondly, the longer and stronger the cork, the better the wine. Thirdly, on a cork of quality wine, the year of harvest, vineyard number, the name of the bottling company, city, code and farm mark will be indicated.
A bottle of wine should be made of dark glass. At the same time, the bottom should be deepened: the deeper, the better the wine.
And last, you need to shake the bottle. Good wine will be without sediment, and it should drain along the walls of the bottle slowly and evenly, as if enveloping them.
Place of Birth
Speaking about the birthplace of wine, we mean the country of origin. The leader in winemaking today is France. The most famous varieties of red French wine are Burgundy, Bordeaux and Rhone.
The second country to export wine is Italy. Thanks to the warm climate, grapes grow here all year round, which allows the production of large quantities of wines. The Tuscan region gives birth to such beautiful dry red wines as Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany.
In third place are Spanish canteens, local, vintage and elite wines. One of the most famous wine in the world is Spanish Rioja, which has beautiful fruity notes and a pronounced taste.
Wines of the New World countries deserve respect as well: Argentina, Chile, South Africa, etc. Thanks to the hot climate and the year-round bright sun, grapes are sweet and aromatic here. Unusual grape varieties grow here: Zinfandel, Malbek, Shiraz, Grenache, etc.
Abkhazian and Georgian wines decorate gatherings in nature with traditional barbecue, grilled vegetables, as they have a powerful aroma, deep taste and lots of tannins. Among Georgian wines, the most famous are saperavi, mukuzani and akhasheni. The most popular brands of Abkhazian wines: Amra, Bouquet of Abkhazia, and Chegem, which strongly resemble homemade wines.
Place of birth price
The birthplace of wine, of course, determines everything: the taste of grapes, fineness, strength. However, it is worth starting from what amount of money you are ready to give for a particular drink. Choose red dry wine, as a rule, according to the manufacturer is quite simple. Everyone knows that the best are drinks from French Burgundy (France), Bordeaux (France), Tuscany (Italy), Rioja (Spain) and Ribera del Duero (Spain). However, the price of these drinks is much higher than other good wines. How to choose red wine in this case?
For example, good red dry wine from New World producers can be purchased for 400-500 rubles. A drink of the same quality from France or Italy will cost 200-300 rubles more. However, here you should not give preference to wines for 100-200 rubles, if all of the above requirements have been met. A good producer cannot afford to sell a quality drink for such a cost, since the cost of a bottle, storage, good raw materials, labor greatly exceeds this price. It is accepted that the price per bottle of high-quality imported drink will be about 10-12 dollars.
Well, the last. A good reason to save the budget is young wines, because two-year-old wines taste great and are not very expensive. Do not trust the manufacturer, which sets a low price for mature varieties. Most likely, this is a spoiled product.
How to choose a delicious red wine
Of course, the taste of wine depends on the grape variety from which it was produced. Choosing the southern territories where raw materials grow, where the sun shines practically all year round, we can be sure that this or that grape variety will be much sweeter than the same variety growing north. How to choose red wine based on this knowledge? For this, there are approximate guidelines for the varieties of raw materials from which the drink is made.
Wines based on grapes Merlot, Tempranillo, Pinot Noir are always more smooth, soft, less tart and viscous. Light wines are produced on the right bank of Bordeaux, in the Chilean valleys of Maipo and Maule, in the New Zealand state of Hawkes Bay.
The most popular grape variety is Cabernet Sauvignon, but wines of this type are more tannic, bright, strong and sour. Similar varieties include "malbec" (Argentinean or Southwestern French).
Middle grades between Merlot and Sauvignon are sulfur, the Australian Shiraz from Cahors.
They don’t drink wine, but eat
Wine as a drink is made exclusively for food. Without food, it bothers very quickly, stuffs its edge on edge due to its high acid content. Therefore, choosing wine to the table, you need to focus on what dishes will be present on it. How to choose dry wine, red or white for food, is a rather difficult question. After all, the wrong choice can spoil the impression of cooked dishes. It’s worth a look here. How to choose a delicious red dry wine?
There is a misconception that red wine is intended only for meat. However, this is not quite true. It goes well with red fish and chicken, but at the same time it is worth choosing soft, light varieties of the drink: pinot noir, schiava, game.
Sometimes dry red wine, like Cabernet Sauvignon, can ruin tender veal meat. In this case, it is better to choose pinot noir or tempranillo.
For beef ribeye steaks, barbecue or grilled meat, you should choose powerful, strong wines Cabernet Sauvignon, sulfur, malbec, wines from the left bank of Bordeaux, wines of Rioja. Carmenmere with notes of chocolate and black berries also goes well with red meat.
For pork, duck, lamb, hard and semi-hard cheeses, smoked meats, sommeliers recommend red wines with a high alcohol content (12.5-13.5%, such as merlot, sangiovese, cabernet franc.
How to choose semi-sweet red wine
We have already said above that semi-sweet wine is always of dubious quality. In Europe, this type of drink has long been abandoned, while in Russia and neighboring countries the sweetness in wine is still popular.
Semi-sweet red or semi-dry varieties are made by interrupting dry fermentation. Interruption is achieved by adding preservatives to the drink, which not only negatively affect our health, but also completely destroy all the beneficial properties of red wine.
Preferring semisweet wine to dry, it is worth remembering that when you open the bottle, you will need to drink it to the bottom. It may go bad the next day.
If you still have a desire to purchase semi-sweet red wine, then there are some recommendations for choosing it.
First, we study the bottle, the label according to the general rules mentioned above.
Secondly, it must be remembered that natural semi-sweet wine cannot be produced from acidic grape varieties. To obtain such drinks, manufacturers choose sweet varieties, overexposing berries in the sun to achieve mold, or, conversely, freezing them.
Thirdly, in search of semisweet quality wine, you should pay attention to the southern territories of grape growing. That is, the wines of Georgia, Moldova, Italy, Portugal. For example, the famous varieties are Lambrusco, Alexandruoli "Alazani Valley", Kandzmarauli, Merlot Moldavian producer "Cricova".
Quality marks
In the countries of the Old World, namely France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal and other European producing countries, there is a certain quality control of wine. The drink is checked at all stages of production, and after tasting the best, the sommelier gets a category due to which it can claim the corresponding high price.
Dry wines can get one of the following categories:
- VdT or VdM - a dining room without a specific place and year of birth.
- Vin de Pays - French wine of local origin from a particular grape variety, having passed all quality control.
- IGT is an Italian local wine controlled with respect to grape varieties. This category includes inexpensive, but high-quality drinks.
- AOC - French wine of the best quality, controlled place of origin and grape variety.
- DOC - quality Italian or Spanish wine with a specific place of origin, passing control at all stages of production.
- DO - Spanish, controlled by place of origin.
A final recommendation: before going to the store, you should study the ratings of the wine. Some drinks are appreciated by famous sommeliers and wine critics, such as Robert Parker, Stefan Aspirinio, Oz Clark, James Laube, Hugh Johnson, Jensis Robinson and many others. Their estimates, no doubt, can and should be trusted. People with an excellent career in the field of tasting cannot help but suggest how to choose red wine.