You’ve been invited to a dinner party, or are having some friends over for some fun and you need the right wine (ok, let’s be honest, wineS) to make the event complete. If this situation causes you to break out in a cold, overwhelmed sweat, have no fear, Amie and her purple teeth are here!
I spend a fair bit of time perusing wine shelves and in my travels I have witnessed many a furrowed brow as a poor unsuspecting person attempts to navigate the many countries, grapes, vintages and regions available. Trying to decide which bottle to choose seems like an impossible task as all the descriptors swirl together into a complicated vortex of information that, without hours upon hours of study, makes little or no sense to the average beverage consumer.
How does one select one, two or even a dozen bottles from the hundreds of choices on the shelves? I have a few tricks up my sleeve to help you along your path to savoury enlightenment.
Let me start by saying that I put zero stock in the cute labels that some marketing masterminds use to lure consumers into a false sense of security. While it may be nice to look at a brightly coloured label with some catchy pun, I often find these highly commercialized wines to blend into the crowd and offer very little to wow my palate. I should say though, that I have found a few very entertaining wines in these amusing packages, so I don’t allow a cute label to completely turn me away. I guess I’m trying to say that just like in books, we shouldn’t judge a wine by its label. Aside from cute graphics, bright colours or trendy names, labels can offer quite a wealth of information that might help you determine if a particular wine meets your needs. Many countries list the type of grape, so if you are looking for a dry white wine to serve with delicate fish, you might look for a dry Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc, whereas if you’re serving roast beef, you might be more inclined to reach for a Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. Labels often cite vintage, region, alcohol content, sweetness, and more often than not the back label notes flavour characteristics and potential food matches.
I highly suggest you make use of the expertise of the staff at your local store. I don’t know what kind of training the staff at smaller retailers undergo, but the LCBO staff are at minimum educated about general wine information and have the opportunity to taste many of the products sold, making them a great resource. Even as someone who spends more time reading about wine than about anything else, I still enjoy trying a bottle recommended by an LCBO employee as a way of trying to branch out of my comfort zone and I have yet to be disappointed.
There are many resources if you want to read up on wines to decide ahead of walking into a store. I’d like to think that this blog could serve such a purpose, as does the LCBO website, Vintages magazine, Vines Magazine, Food & Drink Magazine, and any number of wine books and guides available for sale or at your local library. Always ask around as well... see what your friends are drinking and give it a try!
Onto my review...
This past weekend I needed to grab a bottle of wine to take over to my Mom & Dad’s place to go with my Mom’s homemade pizza, and I happened to be in Metro so I stopped at the wine rack there. I tend to get a little frustrated with the limited offerings in the little kiosks, but I was short on time, so I went with a bottle of Naked Grape Shiraz Malbec. This is a highly commercial wine that I would compare more to Welches grape juice than to the wines I usually choose... it was very light and fruity, lacking any real varietal character but was a very easy drinker with a smooth finish. I guess mediocre wine is better than no wine at all, but next time I’ll pass on the Naked Grape. For less than the $10 I spent on that bottle, I would prefer a more satisfying beverage, such as my reliable Astica Malbec/Merlot.
