Many people buy the same wine every time they go to the liquor store because they know what it tastes like and they don’t want to be surprised or disappointed by spending money on something new that they may not like. This is a shame since there are literally hundreds of wines from all around the. world, each with its own distinctive taste, that ought to be enjoyed.
The simplest way to judge what a wine will taste like without pulling the cork is to play wine detective. There are certain things you can learn about a wine without having to pour it into a glass. All you have to do is to read the label (and the back label, too, if the bottle has one).
To determine what a wine will taste like, ask yourself the following questions:
What is the wine’s alcohol strength?
The alcohol content will tell you about how the wine will feel in the mouth. Will it be light, medium-bodied or full-bodied?
- light-bodied (8% by volume – 10% by volume)
- medium-bodied (11% – 12% by volume)
- full-bodied (12.5% – 14% +)
What is the grape variety or wine name?
Each wine grape has its own distinctive taste.
Where was the grape grown?
A Chardonnay grown in Chablis will taste very different to one grown in Chile or California. The climate and soil have a bearing on the ultimate flavor of the wine.
In general terms, cool climate growing areas (as in Northern Europe, Ontario, New York, New Zealand) will produce wines that have higher acidity levels than wines from warm or hot growing regions such as California, Australia and Chile. Warmer climates provide ripe (high sugar) grapes which produce higher-alcohol wines with greater concentration of fruit and lower acidity.
So expect wines from cooler regions to be leaner and lower in alcohol than wines from warm growing regions.
What is the wine’s vintage?
The vintage date tells you the year grapes were harvested and crushed. In the northern hemisphere, the harvest happens usually in September or October; in the southern hemisphere, March or April.
In regions such as California and Australia, there is not much fluctuation of temperature from one year to the next. The vintages are more even than they are in northern Europe where there can be dramatic disparities in temperatures from one year to the next.
Each region has its own climate which can vary significantly within its own borders. for instance, an early summer hail storm in Burgundy can move across the vineyards and destroy one farmer’s grapes while leaving his neighbor’s intact.
A vintage chart will give you a broad indication as to what the overall quality of the year was for a given region. However, it cannot take into consideration what individual winemakers did. One grower may have picked his grapes just before a rain and made a stunning wine, while others in the village may have left their crop on the vine hoping for a week of sunshine for extra ripeness. The rain would be sucked up by the vine’s roots, swelling the berries and diluting their sugars. The wine from such grapes would be thin.
The presence of a vintage date gives you the age of the wine. It will appear either on the label, on the neck label or the back label.
The absence of a vintage date suggests that the wine is a blend of two or more years.
Most white wines should be consumed within two years of the vintage date. Most reds should be consumed between two and five years (for budget and medium-priced wines), and six to ten years (for quality wines).
Is the wine the product of a single vineyard or village?
By determining where the grapes were grown for a specific wine, you will get some idea about its quality.
In the wine world, small is beautiful. The smaller the area the grapes come from, the better the wine will be. Even within a single vineyard there will be a parcel of vines that produces the ripest, healthiest grapes. Most wine makers will isolate these grapes and ferment them separately to make their most expensive wine. (These may be called “Reserve” wines, although there is no international convention setting out a definition of reserve.)
Grapes do not ripen at the same rate. Vines at the bottom of the slope will not get as much exposure to sunshine as those at the top. They won’t be as well drained and may be more susceptible to frost damage or vine pests. Grapes on individual bunches, too, will ripen at different times. Usually the ripest part of the bunch is the outer top corners which have more exposure to the sun. (The Italians call them recie, meaning ears. Recioto della Valpolicella is a wine made from these fully ripened clusters.)
In most cases, a single Vineyard wine will be superior to a wine that has a village appellation. (Example: A wine from the village of Beaune in Burgundy will not be as good as Beaune Clos des Mouches which comes exclusively from the vineyard of that name.)
Comparatively few wines you will find in most liquor stores originate in a single vineyard. Most will be a blend of different Vineyards from the same village or region. Just keep in mind that, in general terms, the larger the geographic area, the lower the quality will be.
How deep is the color?
White wines start off life as water white. They gain color as they mature, especially those aged in barrels. Sweet whites will be deeper in color than dry whites.
Red wines in their youth are purple. As they age they lose color, running through a spectrum of ruby to garnet and beginning to turn brick-colored and orange at the rim and eventually brown. The depth of color and its hue can give you an indication about how the wine will taste.
While it is not easy to determine the color of a red wine through green or brown glass, you can get some idea of it by holding the neck of the bottle up to the light. You will certainly be able to see if the wine has intensity of color or not. Red wines that you can see through will not have the same concentration of flavor as those that are opaque.
In white wines, a pale, almost water-white wine will mean a light, crisp, dry wine which has probably been fermented and aged in stainless steel as opposed to oak (for the effect of oak, see below).
A golden wine suggests either richness of flavor, long maturity (look at the vintage date) or sweetness.
Was the wine barrel-aged or barrel-fermented?
Most wines today are fermented and aged in stainless-steel tanks. These tanks, which can be as large as 100,000 litres or more, are inert and airtight. Stainless steel adds nothing to the wine, maintaining the true flavor of the grape and its freshness.
The use of oak barrels changes the flavor of wine. First, barrels “breathe” through their staves allowing the wine to come into contact with air. Oxygen ages wine and the properties of the wood add the taste of vanillans and the feel of wood tannins.
The size of the barrel, too, can influence the amount of oak taste the wine absorbs. Small barrels will impart more oak flavor than large barrels and new barrels more than older barrels.
If the label says the wine was fermented or aged in French or American oak barrels, you can expect the wine to have the bouquet and taste of oak. Depending on where the oak originated, the taste will be of vanilla or coconut with spiciness reminiscent of cloves, cinnamon or mace.
Oak is more widely used on wines from warm growing regions because they have the fruit extract that will support the additional taste of the wood. The more delicate flavors of wines grown in cool growing climates might be overpowered from being aged in oak.
Is there sediment in the bottom of the bottle?
A fine dust-like deposit in a bottle of red wine is a testimony to its age. The sediment is tannin and coloring matter that has been precipitated out over the years. If stirred up this sediment will make the wine muddy and will also introduce a bitterness to the taste. The bottle should be carefully decanted to separate the wine from the sediment.
For expensive old wines, use a coffee filter on the heel of the bottle so that you don’t waste precious wine.
What size is the bottle?
The size of the bottle has a direct bearing on how fast the wine will mature. A bottle of red wine that may still be closed and tannic because it is too young could be more drinkable in the half-bottle format. The smaller the amount of wine in a container, the faster it will mature. Magnums (1.5 litres) take longer to mature than bottles. So, if you want to cellar red wines to celebrate an anniversary a decade or more in the future, choose the magnum size.
What is the condition of the label and the capsule?
When buying wine, make sure that the label and the capsule are in good condition. A scuffed, stained label suggests a badly stored wine and that could mean a disappointment when you pull the cork. A wine that has been badly handled, exposed to excessive light, heat or vibration will be oxidized and taste like stewed prunes and mushrooms.
Avoid leakers. If the capsule shows that wine has gotten out of the bottle, it means that air can get in and the wine will smell like vinegar. Ensure that the cork is just below the lip of the bottle or flush with it. If it protrudes, the wine has been subjected to heat and could be “off.”
How full is the bottle?
Winemakers fill their bottles to within half an inch to an inch of the cork. Air is the enemy of wine, and too much will make it go “off.” With age some wine will evaporate and the air pocket between the cork and the wine will increase. This is called “ullage.” It is dangerous to the wine’s health. When buying wine, select bottles that have a good fill.
Even those who have never had (0 a drink of wine, spirits or beer have alcohol present in their systems. Bacterial activity in the body breaks down sugars and starches and converts them to alcohol at a rate of about one ounce a day. 
Basically, it is the acidity that makes a wine taste dry. Wine contains a number of acids including citric (the same as lemons) and malic (green apples). Unripe grapes or grapes from young vines will be contain higher acidity than ripe fruit from mature vines. 
Wine is the fermented juice of freshly picked grapes – most of the time; because some people make an alcoholic beverage from fruits and flowers (elderberries, plums, rhubarb, dandelions, etc.) that they call “wine.”
