Delicious, inexpensive semi-sweet red wine. The most delicious wines

Going to the store for a bottle good wine, many people get lost in the wide range of products, including various varieties and types. Each of us remembers one of the most delicious wines, which he constantly buys, putting all others aside. Although in fact, the huge variety of tastes of this divine drink deserves you to understand them and at least sometimes try something new.

Types of wine

All types of wine can be classified according to different characteristics:

• by color (red, white, pink)
• by sugar and alcohol content (table drinks - dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, as well as fortified drinks - strong, semi-sweet, sweet, liqueur and sparkling)
• by preparation method (natural, effervescent, diluted, alcoholic and sweetened)
• by wine material (grape, raisin, berry, fruit, vegetable and mixed)

The very first thing a consumer pays attention to is the color of the wine. It depends on the grape variety, as well as on the duration of fermentation of the drink. Any type of red wine is made from dark grapes. At first, when the wine is just playing, it is lighter. But the older the drink is, the darker its color. The most popular varieties of red wine are French Bordeaux, Italian Chianti, Merlot, Beaujolais, Cabernet Sauvignon and others.

Almost all white wines are made from light grapes. In those rare cases when they take dark grapes, the skins are removed from it, thereby preventing intense coloring of the drink. The most famous white wines are Chardonnay, Vermouth, Meursault, Sauvignon Blanc, Montrachet, Verdicchio, Sauternes, Muscadet and others.

Rosé wine is often made from a mixture of red and white grapes using white winemaking techniques that involve cleaning the grapes and other secrets. The most famous rosé wines are Provençal Sancerre and Italian Bardolino.

The second important characteristic of wine that interests buyers is the sugar and alcohol content. According to this parameter, wines are divided into drier table wines, sweeter fortified and sparkling ones. Any type of dry wine contains the least amount of sugar. This drink contains only 0.3% sugar and 9-14% alcohol. According to statistics, this particular type of wine is the most popular in the world. It is preferred by 80% of people. This is due to the fact that dry wine goes well with a variety of dishes. And in moderation, it is even good for health. In addition, dry wine is low in calories and is eliminated from the body fairly quickly. Semi-dry wine retains more sugar than dry wine - up to 3%, with an alcohol content of 9-12%. This wine has a bright aroma and a pleasant aftertaste. Semi-sweet wine has a sugar content of 3-8% and an alcohol content of 9-12%. It is very light and tasty. This wine goes well with various desserts. It is drunk with cheese and fruit.

The next sweetest category of wines is fortified dessert wines, which include Madeira and Port. The strongest varieties of such wines contain up to 20% alcohol. At the same time, semi-sweet dessert wines contain 5-12% sugar, sweet wines – up to 20% sugar, and liqueur wines – up to 35% sugar. A separate variety of dessert wine is sparkling. This is the champagne that all women love. But it is important to know that sparkling wines are not always sweet. They can also be dry.

If we talk about the method of making wine, then of course the natural method using juice without any artificial sweeteners or flavors is preferable. However, in some cases, sugar (liqueur wine) or honey (honey wine) is added to wine to enhance the taste and aroma. In addition, sometimes manufacturers artificially enhance the strength of wine with alcohol or, conversely, dilute the drink with water.

And finally, what concerns the wine material. Many experts say that wine can only be made from grapes. Drinks made from the juice of other fruits, berries and fruits are not wine. However, nevertheless, consumers drink such drinks with pleasure, calling them wine. What could it be? Berry wine from cherries, plums, peaches and apricots, fruit wine from apples and pears, raisin wine, as well as vegetable wine from rose petals, maple and birch sap, melon and watermelon.

Multi-varietal wines made from grapes are divided into sepage and blended. They need to be distinguished. When making sepage wines, they mix different types grapes And when producing blended wines, it is not grapes that are mixed, but a ready-made fermented product.

The best wines

As you know, various varieties wines differ in basic characteristics and also depend on production conditions. The same wine can have different taste, if it was made in different regions and in different years. The most delicious wines produced not only from high-quality grapes, but also in the most favorable seasons, when the grapes ripen as sweet and aromatic as possible.

In addition, the best wines have a long aging period. If we are talking about “aged” wines, they are in containers for at least 6 months before bottling. “Vintage” wines are aged in barrels from one and a half years (dry table wines) to two years (sweet wines) dessert wines). And finally, the most elite “collection” wine varieties are first aged in metal or oak barrels, and then after bottling they are stored for several more years in bottles in special storage facilities. These wines are the most expensive. They are even sold at auctions.

Currently there is huge amount different varieties wine And every day more and more new titles appear. It is not at all necessary to know them all. It is enough to remember at least a few classic varieties. And if you understand the basic classification, you will always be able to choose good wine for yourself in the store without any problems. Then try and decide what you like best.

The question of whether good wine can be cheap is not new. There are already hundreds of materials on this topic, but in order not to re-read them all, we decided to dot the i’s in one. Below, brand chef sommelier of the Maison Dellos restaurant holding Sergei Aksenovsky and wine expert Anton Obrezchikov talk about below what price you should definitely not buy wine, what to look for when choosing an inexpensive wine, how to drink it correctly and other nuances.

Sergey Aksenovsky

brand chef sommelier of the Maison Dellos restaurant holding (restaurants " Cafe Pushkin", "Orange 3"

and others)

Price is a starting point for those who find it difficult to navigate. I pay more attention to the region and country of origin.

I would divide the topic of good inexpensive wine into several parts: what to choose, how to choose and how to drink. The latter plays an important role. Unfortunately, few people pay attention to the process of drinking wine outside the restaurant. At home, we usually don’t always follow the rules; we don’t bother about the correct temperature and the right glasses. But everything is in order.

What and how to choose

For good expensive wine, I would advise going to specialized stores and wine stores, but in the case of inexpensive wine, on the contrary, I advise going to supermarkets; due to their volumes, they can provide favorable price. You can, of course, stumble upon good prices and in a boutique, but this is rather an exception. In the West, by the way, chain supermarkets have long been puzzled by the issue of educating customers through their own wine guides. For example, the British Tesco has been publishing a guide in the form of a booklet for ten years now. It has its own ratings, its own identification marks, which are designed to help the buyer with the choice of wine. If you want to buy inexpensive but good wine, you need to go to serious chain supermarkets, such as, for example, Auchan, Perekrestok, and so on.

Everyone has their own inexpensive wine. For some, 300 rubles is the limit, for others - 400, 700, and so on. But, frankly speaking, it is very difficult to find more or less normal wine on the store counter for less than 600–700 rubles. In fact, now this figure is approaching a thousand rubles. You, as a private client, can order wine from an importing company. So it will cost you much less than in a store, and even more so in a restaurant. For this purpose, wine trading companies have departments for private/corporate clients. Once you are in the company’s customer base, you can count on quite reasonable prices and delivery of wine. Conditions for all companies are different. But if we consider supermarkets, I repeat, 600–700 rubles, in my opinion, this is currently an extremely low price indicator, below which you can only take it if you are confident in what you are taking.

Old World Wines usually cost more. This is also not news. Therefore we focus on New World

It is clear that Old World wines tend to be more expensive, this is not news. Therefore, we focus on the New World - Chile, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. We do not pay attention to the screw cap: as we say, this is not an indicator of the quality of the wine (the cork can also be rubber, polyurethane, composite, and so on, this is in this case simply reduces the cost of packaging). Inexpensive wines are young wines that need to be drunk right away, and over 80% of these wines are made with screw caps. If you see an inexpensive wine on the shelf with some old year - even the year before last - this most likely indicates that the wine is from an old purchase (which, again, may allow the store to make a lower price for it). But it may have been stored incorrectly. Stores do not always have the right conditions storage (temperature, humidity, absence of bright light and foreign odors in warehouses, good ventilation). Wine in a democratic format is usually very popular and sells out quickly. That's why we pay attention to the year - the younger the better for inexpensive wine.

We are also looking towards white wines. Experience shows that white wine is easier to find at an affordable price. Inexpensive semi-dry white wine is easier to find than normal semi-dry red. In addition, we give preference to monovarietal wines, that is, wines from one grape variety. As a rule, the name of the variety can be seen on the wine label. Anything of more than one variety is already an assemblage wine. Single-varietal wines tend to be more understandable.

The varietal characteristics of grapes in wine are the basis, like a letter in the alphabet; having studied them, you will be able to form words, that is, gradually recognize them in assemblage wine.

Cultivate your taste

Taste is a muscle, it needs to be trained. Even if you don't have it, it can be developed like any skill if you have interest and motivation. In the case of the body, we play sports, in the case of wine, we taste it. Thanks to this, the receptors become more developed, sophisticated, and over time they recognize more and more nuances. But only if you do everything consciously. They didn’t just drink and forget. You need to make an effort and, even in the case of cheap wines, read the labels, remember, take photographs.

Now the mass mobile applications by fault. For those who are starting to be interested in wine, I would advise using, for example, the Vivino application. This is extreme simple story: any person drinking a bottle of wine takes a photo of the label through the application, the scanner recognizes the wine, and you immediately get access to information about your wine: the internal rating of this wine, reviews, how many people have tried it, price, region, information about the manufacturer. Then you can place in the program the location of the place where you drank, with whom you drank, and your impressions of the wine you drank, which will then be seen by another user who scanned the same wine. The downside of this program is subjectivity. The users are non-professionals, and therefore the reviews and ratings are often strange.

To put it very roughly, there are varieties that are complex, complex, noble, and there are simpler ones. Of the latter, it is easier to find inexpensive wine - these are, for example, pinotage (red), pinot grigio, blanc, (white). There are more complex varieties - nebbiolo: cheap wines from them are, in principle, rare. But, again, I repeat, this is a very crude explanation.

Even inexpensive wine you can make it more interesting, just complicate it due to correct delivery

Three components of the wine business

Winemakers themselves often distinguish three components of their business. The first is territory, that is, a set of climatic and natural indicators that ultimately affect wine. These are soil, groundwater, slope exposure relative to the cardinal points, distance from the sea, and so on.

The second component is production. A winemaker has a lot of tools within the framework of legislation, thanks to which he can influence and correct the wine production process itself. This also includes working in the vineyard. This is a whole science.

The third is marketing. Making wine is one thing, it is important to be able to sell it. And here often the efforts of one winemaker cannot do it. Wine producers unite in associations, consortia, and unions to protect, promote, and popularize their own wines and wine production regions. As an example, the situation with Austrian wines in Russia. Holding annual salons of Austrian wines in Moscow for several years has done its job. Austria produces amazing wines, but conscious promotion of the product is also important here. Nowadays, any wine list of a decent Moscow restaurant cannot do without Austrian wines. Therefore, it is impossible to neglect marketing.

If we talk about marketing in terms of its share in the price of a bottle of inexpensive wine, then it’s probably worth looking for serious brands here, because they can afford to maintain the level of quality, for them it’s easier than for small producers. By the way, as a rule, small producers sell their wine material to larger ones, who mix it and release it under their own brand. If you really pay attention to the company, then you should choose large manufacturers.

How to drink

Much has already been said and written on this topic. Allegedly, you can ruin good wine so that you won’t experience anything: if you serve it in front of correct temperature or drinking from the wrong glass. Following this logic, it turns out that inexpensive wine can be made more interesting, complicated by just the right presentation. Of course, a RUB 320 wine served at the right temperature won't turn into ambrosia in your Riedel glass, but at least give it a try. It will be a rewarding experience.

If you bother with a picnic, worry about the glass, the temperature of the wine. You will enjoy more. Of course, you can, like in your student years, drink wine from plastic cups, but in this case you are simply pouring something into yourself. In principle, there is no need to talk about any organoleptics.

What's happened correct delivery? This is primarily temperature. Both red and white wines need to be refrigerated. Why is this important? Different aromatic components have different weight and evaporate at different rates at different temperatures. If you serve the wine warm, you will simply lose most of the aromatic components: they will evaporate. It’s better to supercool the wine a little and give it a chance to warm up in the glass (for a picnic, you can cool it a little more and wrap the bottle in foil so that it keeps the temperature longer). By the way, it heats up very quickly, so you need to hold the glass by the stem so as not to heat it by hand.

All red wines should be chilled to 16 degrees. Pink and white ones need to be cooled more, from 9 to 11 degrees. Simply place the bottle in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes.

Get one universal glass. It has a Bordeaux shape - with an unsealed, cut edge. There are such impersonal ones wine glasses, the so-called jokers, are made of thick glass, from which any wine will be the same in aroma and on the tongue.

I have several glasses at home, like any person who deals with wine, because I know that this affects the perception of wine. I don’t bother too much: I have five glasses. Two for sparkling wine: a narrower and taller one for prosecco and a larger one for champagne wines, which is more reminiscent of wine - the more serious the champagne, the larger the glass should be. Aroma appears due to evaporation, due to the interaction of oxygen with wine, and by what larger area contact, the larger the area of ​​evaporation, and the brighter the aroma will be. If the glass is wide in the middle and narrowed at the top, the aroma will be more concentrated. In addition, there is one glass for white wine - sauvignon blanc and riesling, one universal Bordeaux glass, another large Bordeaux glass for Bordeaux and the largest one - for serious wines, for example, pinot noir.

Well, don’t forget: what simpler wine, the simpler the snack should be. After all, wine has always been and is a meal companion. Drink wine, taste it, write down your impressions, study wine. Everything is learned by comparison. We all once started with inexpensive wine.

ANton cutters

wine expert

Wine is a material that can sometimes be quite difficult to evaluate, like objects of art. There is poor quality cheap wine, but there is also poor expensive wine. Obviously, there is a certain lower price threshold, after which the price of wine “on the shelf” includes almost nothing except the cost of a glass bottle and the cost of capping it.

A bottle of wine made in Europe cannot cost one euro simply based on the labor costs of the winegrowers. At the same time, for example, for one and a half euros in Italy, for example, if you know the places, it is quite possible to buy a liter of sane table wine in bulk - from a machine similar to a gas station. This wine will not be outstanding or memorable in its characteristics, but if it is just normal, without mistakes, made under a certain set of circumstances, with the right people and in right place, you can drink it with great pleasure, for example, at a spontaneous picnic with some local snacks.

What follows from this? The emotional component of wine is extremely important. Of course, a wine that costs 100 euros a bottle will be different from wine from a gas station - it will be richer, with more complex aromas in the bouquet, it will live and develop in the glass, and you will understand this without difficulty, whereas a wine that costs one and a half euros will you will simply wash down your food - like water, but only with wine.

Will a wine that costs a thousand euros a bottle be any different from a wine that costs a hundred euros a bottle? Undoubtedly, but if you compare both with wine “from the gas station”, you are unlikely to notice the difference - rather, they will need to be compared with each other. Can a thousand euro wine be bad? Yes, it may turn out to be spoiled, for example, by a disease called “cork”, but if you buy such wines, then you can probably prove the defect to the people who sold it to you, and, in an amicable way, they should return your money, be it a sommelier in a restaurant or an importer.

In addition, expensive wines are sometimes counterfeited, as are art objects. Is it worth overpaying the conventional difference between a bottle that costs a hundred and a bottle that costs a thousand? This, to be honest, depends on who you want. Wines for 5, 10, 15, 50, 10, 500 and 1,000 euros per bottle can each be excellent in their own way, the main thing is not to try to compare them with each other solely on the basis of price and prove to anyone with foam at the mouth that the bottle of Massandra that you bought yesterday at Auchan for 400 rubles is cooler than this Portuguese port for 4 thousand rubles. If a winemaker set such a price for his wine, apparently he wanted to say something by this. If the price of your favorite wine hurts your eyes compared to the European one, try to find something similar in style, but only cheaper. All wine is different - this, in fact, is the main meaning of the “message in a bottle”.

Illustration: Olya Volk

If you set a goal and go around several Yekaterinburg supermarkets in one evening, you can quickly notice one pattern: the presence of people with thoughtful eyes in the alcohol departments. Well-dressed men peering into bottles of red; friends repeating memorized names; students hanging around Tetrapacks with some kind of Muscat. The likelihood that, upon leaving the store, they will be able to rationally explain their choice of wine is extremely small.

Looking at the vast majority of such buyers, IMC author Elena Babushkina decided to take up the “liquidation of alcohol illiteracy” and walked through the retail chains of Yekaterinburg together with the sommelier of the Troekurov restaurant Andrei Levin. What to focus on when choosing grape wine costing up to 300 rubles and from 300 to 600 rubles - read in the resulting material.

ANDREY LEVIN, sommelier of the Troekurov restaurant:

The direct function of wine cheaper than 600 rubles is to decorate the taste of food and joyful intoxication. Such drinks are appropriate for a home dinner, or at a major celebration where alcohol is purchased in bulk. Having made the right choice, you will enjoy it, but you should not expect from it the versatility of taste that more expensive wines can give.

It is important to remember that wine for 300-600 rubles is not wine from the cellar. It is stored on counters, which, in turn, are illuminated by spotlights. These lights are very powerful and point directly at the wine, so never buy wine that is hot to the touch. This wine “boils” inside the bottle, losing all its properties. Bottles sparkling wine, for example, often explode right on the shelves.

In an area such as a sale basket, you should only pay attention to single bottles with external defects. If the wine does not have any, and is even displayed in orderly rows, it may be a manufacturer’s mistake, and this is indeed a defective batch.

An incredible, huge myth is the age of wine. I myself came to this profession with a learned attitude: the older the wine, the better it is. This is not true, or rather, not entirely true. If you see a “used” wine that costs about 600 rubles, most likely this is a bottle that was not sold on time. At best, the drink inside is on the verge of souring (at worst, the wine has already turned sour). Remember: the younger the democratic wine, the fresher it is, the tastier it is.

Another myth is the presence of sulfur dioxide in wine. They say they can cause poisoning. They say it gives me headaches in the morning. Believe me, you will die from it first alcohol poisoning, rather than get poisoned by sulfur dioxide, because the concentration of this preservative in wines is negligible.

When you come to the store with three hundred rubles, it is best to focus on bottles of white wine. I can explain why, point by point. Firstly, white wine is initially cheaper because white grapes less whimsical and reaches maturity faster than red. Secondly, white wine is easier to understand and drink. Some find it difficult to “make friends” with red wine also for the reason that it gives a 3D effect - a three-dimensional sensation of taste and smell. That's why it's valued higher.

By choosing wine in the range of 300-600 rubles, you can give yourself a little relaxation. As a rule, these wines already fall under the quality control zone of the producing country, have a certain category and meet a number of requirements. In Russia, such a product is already considered illiquid (expensive!), so you won’t find fakes on the shelves. This price category allows you to choose dry white, semi-sweet white, and dry red. But you won’t find a semi-sweet red one for this money.

In general, a passion for semi-sweet and sweet wines is what the mentality of Soviet youth, Soviet childhood dictated to us. In the Soviet past there was no high gastronomy and interesting wines, there was no drinking culture. Wine was a dessert - and, therefore, simply had to be sweet. Sweets are lighter in flavor, easy to drink, and do not require the drinker to think about what is in his glass. This approach is already losing its relevance. You would know how happy I am about this!

When choosing wine, you cannot ignore the geographical component. For example, wine from the Old World (all of Europe - France, Italy, Spain, Germany, etc.) is always more expensive, because the wine-making traditions of these countries date back to the times of Ancient Rome. The Romans taught the Gauls - the French - to drink wine, the French became trendsetters in wine fashion. Fashionable = expensive.

In turn, New World wine (which includes Chile, Argentina, South Africa, South and North America, Australia and New Zealand) is more affordable in price, although it is not inferior in quality to Old World wine. Local artisan producers adopted the traditions of European winemakers back in the 19th century: at that time, the “grape plague” was raging in the Old World - an invasion of the phylloxera aphid, killing vineyards year after year. Winemakers, in desperation, fled with their vines (and sometimes even without them) to other countries, crossing the Atlantic Ocean and ending up in Chile and the USA. There they encountered a hotter climate and best conditions for the ripening of grapes, which to this day allows us not to inflate prices. So, when buying wine for 300 rubles, you should first pay attention to the wines of the New World.

Those who plan to develop their taste should also focus on New World wines. The fact is that these countries often produce single-varietal wines, while bottles of wine from Europe often mix 2 or more grape varieties. If you want to learn how to distinguish grape varieties, I advise you to start, for example, with the wines of Chile.

There is an opinion that a silicone stopper indicates a low grade of wine. When buying affordable wine, don’t worry about it - it’s just the manufacturer’s choice. The same goes for the “mobility” of the polyethylene capsule that protects the cork. If it spins, it doesn't mean anything.

A win-win option when going to the store is to focus on well-known wine lines.

“Leaf of trust” from Andrey Levin:

NEW WORLD. Chile

“Concha y Toro” (producer of Frontera, Sunrise, Terrunyo wines, line of wines costing from 200 to 10,000 rubles);

MAPU (Chilean project of French winemaker Baron Philippe Rothschild, a line of wines costing from 300 to 1500 rubles).

NEW WORLD. Argentina

Trivento (line priced from 280 to 1100 rubles);

TOSO (I don’t single it out, but you can trust it. It’s always fresh and very simple).

NEW WORLD. Australia

HARDY’s (wines costing 300 - 700 rubles; white is especially interesting semi-dry wine around 550 rubles, which as a result of a marketing move began to be called semi-sweet in Russia).

NEW WORLD. South Africa

Things are complicated with wine from South Africa now. At one time, representatives of wine companies made no effort to market South African wine in Russian market. Project managers did not work. The result is that “tired wine” is stored on the shelves, which could not be sold. I don’t recommend South African wines to you.

NEW WORLD. New Zealand

There are no cheap manufacturers, and all the expensive ones come in a wide range. However, if you see New Zealand wine on sale and costing about 600 rubles, you are in luck! Grab a bottle and grab some lemon and grapefruit slices for a snack.

NEW WORLD. USA

There is no American wine costing up to 600 rubles on our shelves - this is not the right price category. American wines are expensive, not because they are special, but because of the high markup.

OLD WORLD. Spain

Torres (one of the greatest producers, wines from 500 to 4000 rubles);

Marques de Caceres (wines from 529 to 4000 rubles).

OLD WORLD. Italy

Pasqua (wines from 435 to 1000 rubles);

Via Veneto (wines from 215 to 350 rubles. It is reasonable to focus on varieties such as Soave, Bardolino, Valpolicello, Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay).

OLDY LIGHT. France

I haven't met any cheap French rulers that I should trust. At your own peril and risk, you can take wine made by someone unknown and where for 300 rubles, but with French name, necessarily containing the word “Cuvée” or “Chateau”. But the best solution is to take wine from another country.

OLD WORLD. Germany

In the price category up to 600 rubles, you can truly trust only the wine “Milk of the Beloved Woman” - Liebfraumilch. This wine is produced in the Rheinhessen region from Riesling and Müller-Thurgau grapes. And be careful: it is wiser to ignore any wine that is desperately similar to the “Milk of the Beloved Woman” (either in terms of the label or the color of the bottle). But you need to get used to the elongated shape of the bottle, which is called the “Alsatian flute” - this is the signature style of German winemakers.

DOMESTIC WINES

Speaking about affordable wines priced up to 600 rubles, one cannot help but say a special word for patriots. Perhaps they should be happy, because Russian winemakers have gained a second wind. French specialists are hired and vineyards are being revived. During our shopping trip in the wine library of the Magnum alcohol market, we came across two interesting examples: wine from the producer Chateau le Grand Vostock, the Golubok variety (one of the few decent grape varieties), as well as a series of still wines from the Chateau Taman winery (line priced from 300 to 700 rubles). They still lack a little nobility: for example, the wine smells of foliage not from a fairytale forest, but from the Central Park of Culture and Culture park. But let's believe that everything is ahead.

RESUME

If you have a maximum of 600 rubles in your pocket, your wine diagnosis is a cold bottle of young wine, preferably dry, preferably produced in Chile, Argentina, Australia, Italy, Spain or Germany. As an experiment, you can pay attention to wine from France or New Zealand, provided that it is on sale and costs around 600 rubles.

Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc - the most popular white wine is produced from these grape varieties. At the same time high quality and tasty alcoholic drinks are also produced from other berries. Many white wine lovers enjoy the taste of Muscat, Gewürztraminer, and Colombard.

Interesting fact. The most expensive white wine is the 1811 Chateau d'Yquem. It is produced from Sauvignon Blanc grapes.

Chardonnay

The drink is the most popular and beloved in the world. The young wine has a floral taste with a slight sourness. The spirit aged in oak barrels has a rich fruity taste with buttery notes.

Representatives of Chardonnay include:

• dry: Luigi Bosca Chardonnay Reserva, Omra Chardonnay, Bourgogne Chardonnay Kimmeridgien;
• sweet TBA No. 9 Chardonnay Nouvelle Vague;
• semi-sweet Askania;
• semi-dry: Casillero del Diablo, Savanha, Golden Kaan.

Taste finished product depends on where the berries were grown, at what temperatures and how the winemaker cared for the vine.

Sommeliers say that the best white Chardonnay wines are Burgundy. They have a mineral taste with notes of duchess, hay, lemon, and green apples. In our country you can find the following names in stores:

• Domaine du Colombier;
• Doudet Naudin;
• William Fevre.

But it’s not only France that wins various competitions. Australian wine made from Chardonnay berries has a gooseberry aroma and a nutty taste with hints of oriental sweets. Chardonnay from hot American California has notes of vanilla, oak and spice.

Riesling

This variety is frost-resistant and unpretentious. His homeland is Germany. Dry white Riesling wine is produced from unripe berries collected in September-October. For the dessert drink, the berries are harvested in November-December. The sweetest varieties are obtained from moldy grapes.

Riesling is found under the following names:

• dry wine: Pacific Rim Dry Riesling, Domaine Ernest Burn Riesling, The Lost Watch Adelaide Hills Riesling;
• sweet: Dr. L, Urziger Wurzgarten, Dr. Loosen, Bernkasteler Lay Riesling Kabinett;
• semi-sweet: Riesling Scharzhofberger Auslese GK No. 10 Gold Capsule, Riesling Spatlese Nackenheim Rothenberg, Feinherb;
• semi-dry: Kolonist, Vicar’s Choice, Villa Wolf.

The young wine has aromas of geranium, citrus, pears and apples. The aged white drink tastes of raisins, burnt rind and dried apricots. The old smells of honey and silicon.

Sauvignon Blanc

The homeland of this grape is the Loire Valley in France. There, such berries are considered among the most elite grape varieties.

The most popular table wine is white wine, which is not aged in oak barrels. The drink has a lively, sour taste with notes of fruit, berries and freshly cut grass.

The following items are available in our stores:

• dry: Marlborough Sun, Savahna, Lafoa;
• sweet: Chateau Rieussec, Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Chateau Doisy-Daene;
• semi-sweet: Chateau Mukhrani Sauvignon Blanc, Golitsyn Wines, El Paso;
• semi-dry: Trapiche, VR, Sobaja.

In Germany, Sauvignon Blanc is called Muscat-Sylvaner. The eastern part of the country makes heavy and sweet wines from this variety.

Alcohol from South Africa is also considered to be of fairly high quality. TO good drinks include:

• Obikwa;
• Savahna;
• Fair Exchange;
• Dombeya.

Sauvignon Blanc is also in large quantities grown in New Zealand. The wine made from these berries has a fruity aroma with notes of lychee, gooseberry, pineapple, and melon. French winemakers tried to copy the New Zealand “elixir”. But repeat unique taste They failed to produce white liquor.

Muscat

The taste of alcohol is easily recognizable. It's full, rich, slightly buttery. The characteristic aroma of the drink is given by the essential oils contained in the berries.

Muscat is most common in Ukraine, Moldova, Uzbekistan, and the Krasnodar Territory.

In wine boutiques you can find the following names:

• dry: Borsao, Tokaji Dry, Turckheim;
• sweet: Ats Cuvee, Late Harvest, Aszu 5 Puttonyos;
• semi-sweet: Colinele Moldovei, Pearl of Massandra, Omega Bay;
• semi-dry: Valle Dorado, Balkan Collection, Leon Beyer.

Muscat wines have the aroma of honey, roses, and raisins. Sparkling wines give off notes of rose, acacia, and linden.

In France, wines made from this grape variety are called Muscat Blanc. In Italy - Moscatto di Canelli or Moscato Bianco.

Gewürztraminer

The drink made from this grape variety is strong with a rich and spicy taste. The variety itself is capricious. It does not like hot climates and drought, so Gewürztraminer is most widely used in Germany, Italy, Austria, the USA and Canada.

Wine is sold in stores under the following names:

• dry: Nimbus, Kastelaz, Gewurztraminer Alto Adige DOC;
• sweet: Frankstein, Selection de Grains Nobles, Gewurztraminer Selection de Grains Nobles AOC;
• semi-sweet: Les Princes Abbes, Antares, Stamp;
• semi-dry: Spy Valley, Vina Esmeralda, Vendanges Manuelles.

Wine has spicy taste with notes of lychee, ginger, rose. Stamps made in the Alsace Valley have a sweet taste. The drink from the rest of Germany and Austria is dry.

Other grape varieties

White wines are also made from numerous other grape varieties. White berries are not always used to produce the drink. Some producers use red or pink color. In this case, the colored skin of the berries is not involved in the production.

The most famous drinks, in addition to those listed above, are:

• Muskateller;
• Trebbiano;
• Colombard;
• Palomino;
• Pinot Grigio;
• Chenin Blanc;
• Pinot Blanc.

Vintage and ordinary wines are made from any grape. Vintage wines are aged in barrels and made from certain grape varieties. Ordinary ones have a lower price. These are young and light drinks with fresh aroma and sour taste.

White varieties are united by their taste. It is fruity, with notes of apples, pears, and citrus. The aroma is light and pleasant. The aged drink is full-bodied. It leaves an oily residue on the glasses. Young has a pleasant sour taste. Inexpensive varieties are used in cooking or served at the table for no reason.

Today on the shelves of most alcohol stores there is large number names of red and white wines. Most people don’t understand how to choose a good dry red wine from hundreds of names.

In some regions such as Georgia and France, wine is considered a national drink. And they drink it for any reason, some even every day and many times.

In our country it is not customary to use this this drink, therefore, people’s literacy in choosing quality wine is very weak. In this article, we will look at what you should pay attention to when choosing dry red wine, and also rank popular brands by country.

Since ancient winemaking times, people who are well versed in this have always preferred dry wine. This drink has the lowest sugar content (about 0.4%) and is the most suitable option for people.

It is called dry precisely because there is almost no sugar in such drinks, as opposed to semi-sweet wine.

By the way, in Russia, most alcohol lovers prefer semi-sweet wines because of their taste qualities. And the cost of good dry is much more expensive than semi-sweet.

We still do not have a culture of choosing alcohol like in France. It is difficult to explain to a person why wine is so expensive and why he should overpay if he can get semi-sweet.

Dry red is produced from grape varieties:

• Merlot;
• Labrusco;
• Cabernet;
• Negrette;
• Aglianico;
• Sauvignon.

It is also worth noting that dry varieties have the richest and most intense bouquet of flavor combinations and aftertastes. It’s not for nothing that thousands of connoisseurs around the world prefer it, and experienced sommeliers will always appreciate it if a guest’s choice falls on such a drink.

Good and inexpensive

In the CIS countries, the fundamental criterion when choosing alcohol is price. In this regard, many people wonder, is it possible to find good inexpensive wine? Even with today's ruble exchange rate, there are many inexpensive and high-quality wines in stores.

The average price today is about 600-700 rubles for a bottle of good semi-sweet or sweet wine. Of course, within these limits there will also be semi-dry or even dry wine, but still, good dry wine will approach 1000 rubles per bottle.

You can pay attention to Georgian. It is of very high quality and relatively inexpensive compared to France.

In our stores there are also more expensive copies. Nice bottles can cost up to 2000 rubles and more.

Most often, the price is based on the year of harvest and brand. Lovers of “tasty” food can be immediately disappointed. Expensive wine is often not very tasty. You have to taste it and subtly feel the bouquet. This will come with experience.

About the bottle

Specifically about the shape of the bottles themselves, we can say that all manufacturers use different shapes and glass. Here you can advise focusing on famous brands or just look on the shelves in France and see what forms are used there.

The volume of a good bottle is approximately 0.75. And pay attention to the bottom. It should have a deep depression. Cheaper brands use light-colored glass containers with shallow or flat bottoms.

Most often it is dark brown or green glass with a curved upward shape. It is this type of glass that prevents the penetration of light and allows the drink to be stored for many years.

Cork

Many people probably don’t know, but the cork is the most expensive element in a bottle. The safety of the liquid will depend on its quality, therefore best brands and farms try not to save on this. A real cork should be made of wood.

But some manufacturers (mostly from the cheap price segment) save money and use downright bad plastic plugs or even make a simple screw cap. If you come across this, it’s better to avoid this brand next time, it’s not real wine.

The best red and white wines are equipped with natural corks, which reliably retain all properties and do not allow oxygen inside. When you uncork the next bottle, pay attention to the cork; it should be tightly seated.

It shouldn't come out easily. Most often, the plug has to be pulled out with considerable force.

The cork itself should be dense, but soft. Each such plug usually indicates:

1. Name of farm or brand
2. Harvest year
3. Vineyard name
4. Name of the company that participated in the bottling
5. Location, region of production
6. Special code and brand (each manufacturer has their own)

What to look for

When choosing a good wine in a store, carefully study the contents of the label. This is important if you want to not just get drunk at dinner, but to make a meaningful choice and not be disappointed later. It’s always interesting to learn more about the brand where it was created, about the grape variety.

When purchasing, we pay attention to several factors:

1. Firstly the manufacturer. It should be indicated large on the front side. If you can’t find the name for a long time, then either you don’t understand something, or it’s some kind of fake.
2. Next, you should pay attention to the region of cultivation and production. According to European laws, there are several classifications. In short, the exact location of the vineyard is not always indicated on the bottle. If, in addition to the country, a region is indicated (for example, Bordeaux). then you are holding a good product in your hands.
3. Harvest year. This is very important, since all winemakers note whether the year was particularly successful or ordinary. If you can't find the year, then most often this drink is not made from grapes, but from a powdered concentrate.
4. The percentage of alcohol and sugar content must also be indicated. Remember that dry wines have minimal sugar content - about 0.3%

Just in case, it's worth noting that real wine only comes in bottles and not in cardboard boxes.

About color

This is something you can only test when you get home. It is impossible to evaluate the color through dark glass in a store.

You need to start with the fact that you should pour it into special transparent glasses, and not into a dark mug from which you just drank tea. Pour some wine into a glass and gently swirl it with your hand so that the drink plays in the light and fills with oxygen.

If the color is cloudy or very dark, then the wine has most likely spoiled. This could happen for a number of reasons. Or there was an error at the production stage (the berries could have been poorly selected and rotten ones were used). Or improper storage (did not maintain humidity, air temperature).

Now let’s move on to what the color of a good dry red wine should be:

• Deep, rich, slightly transparent, shiny, bright color speaks about the quality of the harvest;
• If the color is too dark, slightly garnet, slightly ruby, then this indicates a young harvest;
• Lighter, slightly orange drinks indicate maturity and age.

The best brands

1. The first place should be given to Italy. This country is relatively new to the race and is now winning it. Italy is completely planted with vineyards and local winemakers have learned to work perfectly with different techniques production and brought their skills to perfection.

The best Italian red wines:

DOGARINA DEKANO 12-14% 0.75

Aging - 3 years

Region - Veneto

The taste is very mild with light fruity notes and spicy aftertaste

AMIKONE CORVINA 13.5% 0.75

Region - Veneto

Taste - round and soft

The average price in the Russian Federation is 900 rubles.

2. France is confidently in second place and cannot say that it is stepping on the heels of Italy, but there are a lot of famous people here wine regions, which has something to brag about.

The best French red wines:

CHATEAU L'EVANGILLE 2012 14%

Region - Bordeaux, Pomerol

Taste - multi-faceted and delicate aroma intertwined in an accord of blackberry, black currant, ripe strawberry and oak bark

Price in the Russian Federation - 17,900 rubles

CHATEAU NENAN 2014 13.5%

Region - Bordeaux, Pomerol

Taste - exquisite taste filled with notes of blackberry, coffee, aroma of spring flowers and spices

Price in the Russian Federation - 5,800 rubles

Other countries that also have something to surprise you with on their wine list:

• Spain
• Argentina
• Georgia
• Russia

Finally, I would like to note that today there are thousands of wines on the market to suit every taste and budget. And no matter who you are, a collector who is hunting for the next rare harvest or a simple layman, remember the basic simple rules in choosing quality drink. You can see more details in the video. That's all, take care of yourself!