Virtual Sips: How to Pick Out the Perfect Wine Online
Browsing for wine online is a highly convenient process that eliminates the need to visit a wine store. You can compare quality wines and access hundreds of bottles in just a few clicks. After picking out a delicious wine, you can even receive it on your doorstep from excellent online wine retailers. However, comparing and navigating the vast selection available can be difficult because every wine has unique qualities.
To know how to pick out the perfect wine online, you may use a few tips that ensure you select options that match your taste. Keep reading to discover which tips to consider when selecting the best wines online.
6 Tips for Picking the Perfect Wine Online
From understanding wine preferences to looking at reviews, here are the six tips for picking the perfect wine online to ensure you easily navigate the vast options and indulge in the most delicious wine.
1. Consider and Understand Wine Preferences
The first tip is to consider and understand wine preferences before exploring and buying wines online. One of the simplest ways to consider your wine preferences is to reflect on the flavours, textures, and aromas you enjoy. It involves considering other food types you like to consume, which will give clues about the wines that suit your tastebuds.
For example, you may consider your taste in coffee before you choose a good wine. If you enjoy the bitter, powerful flavours of black coffee, you may be partial to full-bodied, powerful red wines such as our Bordeaux Cotes de Bourg or Tempranillo wine from Spain. If you prefer lattes or coffee with cream, you may enjoy a smoother Merlot or Shiraz wine, as the similar textures and flavours in each of these beverages both cause your brain to release dopamine.
Source: https://www.wineonline.ca/bordeaux-cotes-de-bourg-by-chateau-belair-coubet-2021.html
Alternatively, you may consider your dessert preferences. If you have a sweet tooth and enjoy desserts such as ice cream, you may enjoy sweet wines with similar flavour profiles, such as Moscato or Chenin Blanc. On the other hand, if you are partial to tartness in your desserts, you may enjoy white, dry wines, such as Sauvignon Blanc.
2. Understand Grape Types
Once you have narrowed down your wine preferences, you can begin to consider and understand grape types that winemakers use for your favourite wine types. With knowledge of different grape types, you can further narrow down your options and look specifically for the wines that include your preferred varieties.
There are more than one thousand wine grape types, and they are not the same as the grapes you find in a supermarket. These grape types have seeds inside and thick skins. Each wine contains specific grape varieties that give it a unique flavour profile after fermentation and aging.
For example, white wine contains grape types such as Chenin Blanc, originating from the Loire Valley wine region in France. Red wines contain other specific grape types, such as Pinot Noir, which grows in French vineyards.
You will also find that rosé wine contains red grape varieties and that the skins only touch the wine briefly during production. Some of the red grape varieties winemakers use for rosé wines, such as our Cotes du Rhone Rosé 2022, include Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Source: https://www.wineonline.ca/cotes-du-rhone-rose-by-chateau-du-trignon-2022.html
3. Review and Understand the Vintage Year
When picking wine online, you should review and understand the vintage year. The vintage year refers to the year the winemaker harvests the grapes your wine contains. This information is important because the vintage date can affect the flavour profiles and quality of the wine.
Climate and weather can affect the vintage year of your wine and grapes. For example, to ripen fully and mature properly, grapes require sunny weather. If rainfall quantities are high, this can have a negative effect on the grapes, causing them to rot.
Yet, you should also consider whether the climate of the vintage year was too hot. Under dry, arid conditions, your grapes may take on raisin-like qualities. As a result, the grapes transfer higher levels of tannins to your wine, making it slightly bitter.
4. Consider the Winemaking Techniques
Several methods exist for creating wine. If you consider the winemaking techniques behind the bottle you want to buy, you can gain insights into the wine’s characteristics.
For example, if a winemaker stores wine in oak barrels as part of the winemaking technique, the wine is often exposed to oxygen. The oxygenation reduces the tannins in the wine and helps the wine achieve maximum fruitiness. Oak barrel storage can also affect the flavour profiles in other ways. It can add a slightly nutty taste to the wine, especially after it has aged for many years.
Alternative winemaking techniques, such as storing the wine in steel tanks, can keep oxygen exposure low. In this case, the freshness of the wine is greater, which lends itself well to wines that are easily affected by oxygenation.
5. Look at Wine Reviews and Ratings
Choosing wine is also easier when you look at wine reviews and ratings. Expert winetasters often review wines and provide a description of their characteristics and quality. Great wine often receives excellent reviews, so you may use them as a guide.
Sommeliers often use a 100-point scale to review and rate wines. A wine that has received between 95 and 100 points is a classic, excellent wine. Wines that receive between 90 and 94 points are outstanding in their quality.
Online wine retailers also display reviews from customers, who may consider the wine’s price, quality, and flavour. However, customer reviews shouldn’t be the only factor you consider when wine shopping online. Remember that wine reviews and ratings may reflect the personal preferences of the reviewer.
6. Understand Food Pairings
A final tip for selecting a good bottle of wine online is to understand food pairings to match foods and wines. Wines can potentially elevate the dining experience if you get the pairings correct.
When matching wine with food, a good rule is that cured and red meats pair well with red wine, while seafood, salads, and soft cheeses pair well with white wine. You may consider the food you want to serve guests before choosing wines to match your dish.
Pick Out the Perfect Wine with Wine Online
Wine Online makes it easy for you to pick out the perfect wine. Our product offering features expert wine reviews, specifications, and in-depth descriptions of each wine’s characteristics. Whether you prefer Pinot Noir or Sauvignon Blanc, you will find the perfect wine with Wine Online.
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