Have You Ever Wondered Which Red Wine is the One for You? Let Us Advise You.

To choose an appropriate wine for a special occasion or dinner can be for some of us a bit stressful task, especially for those, who would like to enjoy a nice wine, but feeling lost in varieties, vintages and origins of grapes...So, how to make a right choice?

We will put aside the reason why you choosed a red wine, most likely, you simply like the taste or it goes well with some hearty meal you would like to serve. However, bare in mind that red wine is not better or worse from white or rosé only because its colour. No! When it comes to wine, no matter the colour, everybody is equal. Just like in real life.

Besides the colour you should notice the following information too:

Terroir

The term „terroir“ refers to: the type of soil, altitude, orientation of wine-rows, latitude and microclimate and all these factors have influence on the quality of grapes. There are types which are not capable to grow everywhere in the world (for example Spanish Tempranillo will not grow in Slovakia in competitive quality) and others, more sensitive for territory even within country, such as Slovakia.

A lot of Slovak winemakers have adopted to the market and grew the varieties with highest demand such as: Pinot Griss anywhere possible, in spite of grape's sensitivity for different terroirs. If you ever try to buy the same variety of wine from one producer with different location, you wil notice the impact of terroir on final product.

Wine producer

Have you ever watched the TV shows about a restaurants and what they hide behind the curtain? In many cases the common issues are dirty refigerators, motor oil in fryer, cook with nasty hair who doesn’t wash his hand after cigarette etc.. Would you dare to enter such a restaurant? 

It won’t be a surprise for you, if we tell you that wine is actually made by humans. Some of them are honest, tidy and wine producing is everyhting to them. Those others are....different. Take advantage of special occasions such as „Door open days“ in wine cellars, talk to winemakers and expert sommeliers, get to know them because such people such wine.

Wine vintage - because the age is not just a number

The year grapes were harvested has huge influence on a quality of a wine. It mostly depends on the area’s weather at the time of harvesting was taking place. For example: the year 2015 was a good one for Slovak wine, but it does not mean it was a good one for Slovenia or French wines too.

The fact if you like the wine or not can be related to the time of drinking. E.g. young wines (essentially first wine of a particular year) should be consumed by the spring of next year. The rest of them have potential to age well and become a better wine over the time of 2 to 6 years. It depends on the colour and variety. It can be said, that in general red and sweet wines are more suitable for ageing in bottles than others.

What should I look for when buying wine?

Maybe you are not interested in vintages, varieties or origins, you just simply want to know the name of a good wine suitable for your online shopping cart. In general you will not make a mistake with wines like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or Pinot Noir. On the other hand, you should not expect the same variety from different wine manufacturer, to taste the same.

Does the price tag help you in your search?

Sometimes the good wines can be found from 5 euros higher but its not a rule. Nevertheless you should not hang on the rule „everything under 10 euros is a garbage“ either. Not at all! The fact that e-shops such as ours (drinkonline.eu) buy the wine in big numbers, allow us to get better price and to sell quality wine for affordable prices.

Therefore If you are a layman, it is probably best for you to trust your gut (might be dangerous) or get help from master sommelier, who will surely help you to choose the perfect bottle of red. And where else to look for them if not on www.drinkonline.eu