Why buy wine?

In Australia, wine has become the new beverage of choice for people in allwalks of life. Moreover, Australia has developed an enviable reputation amongstwine drinkers and appreciators the world over. Myshopping.com.au can help youmake the right selection of wine for any occasion and to suit any taste. Listedon our website, you will find some of the most celebrated labels and awardwinning wines and you can make a selection based on reviews, price andsupplier, regardless of why you want to purchase wine.

Wine

There are essentially three reasons that we can think of why you might wantto buy wine: to drink in some social occasion, to give as a gift, or as aninvestment with a realisable future.

Buying wine to drink

Winemaker Greg Gallagher at the Charles Sturt University, South Australia,says judging a good wine is simple. “It starts with asking, ‘do you like it?’ ”he says, “and finishes with ‘did you like it?’” When you have a list offavourite wines, all you need to do is find them on Myshopping.com.au, and youwill find out where it’s sold for the best price.

But, because it’s not always easy remembering the name, style and vintage ofthe wine you enjoy, it’s a good idea to keep a record of wines you drink thatyou really like (and those that you’d prefer to avoid), for futurereference.

When you’re buying wine to drink, there are a number of considerations youmight like to bear in mind, the first being: what is the occasion? It stands toreason that a wine for an intimate dinner with a partner might be a differentchoice than one for a footy night with the boys. Sharing a wine with someone isa lot more than simply sharing the drink. It’s also sharing your taste, yourvalues and your standards, so it pays to think carefully about the occasion andthe company with whom you are sharing the wine.

A second consideration might be, what is accompanying the wine? Wine isoften enjoyed with a meal, but you might like to consider also how the occasion(or meal) will develop. Matching the perfect wine with the perfect food andmood is an exhilarating experience, and is often at the heart of greatmemories.

You may also want to consider the ambience of the occasion. A wine forenjoying at an evening symphony concert will have a different character to thatenjoyed at a beach picnic.

Buying wine as a gift

Wine makes an excellent gift for many reasons. It’s an easy purchase; youcan buy a wine to suit practically any budget. And it is a demonstration ofyour taste and standards, subtly imparted to someone whom you may care for.

However, as well as meeting your taste standards, you also need to choose awine that will meet the tastes of the receiver. It pays to find out what sortof wine that person enjoys, and buy within that person’s style or regionpreferences. A person who enjoys sweet white wines will appreciate a gift thatmatches that personality.

Buying wine as an investment

Some wines make a good investment because they are rare and have anestablished reputation causing them to appreciate in value. Possibly the mostfamous of these in Australia is Penfolds’ Grange Hermitage, a Shiraz styleClaret that has been made since 1951 (a bottle of that vintage now might setyou back $50,000 or more if you can find one). Although young in terms of wineheritage, Australia has some notable wines that do and will appreciate invalue.

A good investment wine is not necessarily a guarantee of a high qualitydrinking wine. The investment values are arrived at by reputation. A particularvintage may have enjoyed popularity for any number of reasons and become scarcebecause only a limited number of bottles were produced. What results is acollectors market and wine changes hands through auctions, private sales,estate dissolutions and wine club memberships.

What makes a good investment wine however, is the fact that you are able tosell the wine at some future date for a sum greater than what you paid.Therefore the condition of the wine-or more importantly, the bottle-is ofparamount consideration. The provenance of an investment wine is important.Before buying, you need to establish its history of origin and previousownership. Satisfied that the bottle is in good condition, once in yourpossession it needs to be cellared correctly in the absence of heat, light andmovement. You should document your ownership and the conditions of itscellaring before selling it to a new buyer.

What makes good wine?

The winemaking process

The quality of a wine is affected by a wide variety of factors that occur inand as a result of the winemaking, cellaring and handling processes. One of thekey factors is the terrain and climate, commonly referred to as a ‘region’,where the grapes are grown. Different conditions affect different varietiesdifferently. A Shiraz style from McLaren Vale in South Australia, for example,is a heavier and darker wine than the same style from the Swan Valley inWestern Australia, which tends to be lighter and more peppery. A Chardonnayfrom the Hunter Valley is more full-bodied than one from Margaret River.

While knowing which vines are best suited to a soil type and climate is oneaspect, another is knowing when to pick the fruit for particular effect. Thefruit’s flavour at the time of picking is a major character of the residualflavours of the wine. After initial fermentation, some winemakers choose toferment in oak, others not to. Using oak affects the reduction of tannins inthe wine. Different types of oak-English, American, old-affect the flavour andcharacter of the wine as it matures to its nominal alcohol level. It is in thebarrel that a lot of transformations in flavours and character occur, and agreat deal of skill is required to know exactly when to bottle the wine.

Different winemakers have different techniques and, while a good wine can’tbe made from bad grapes, it is largely the winemaker’s skill that produces agood wine.

Taste

One of the ways we can tell the quality of wine as judged by its taste, iswhether it has had successes in any of a number of wine shows held around thecountry. Experts from the wine industry judge wines on their quality and medalwinners enjoy the benefits of being recognised and written about in the mainmedia.

While not every medal winner is a wine that suits our taste, it is as adirect result of the shows and competitions that Australian wines have grown inpopularity and quality. At Myshopping.com.au you can compare many award winningwines.

What’s your taste?

Regions and style

When you are shopping for wine, one of the first questions to answer iswhether you are choosing a red wine or a white wine. Once you have decidedthis, you can then start to narrow down the different styles. Begin with thequestion of whether you are seeking a dry wine or a sweet wine.

Styles of wine are named after the region from which the grape originated.In the popular dark reds you have the Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlotstyles that tend to be drier wines. Lighter reds feature Beaujolais, Pinot Noirand Rose styles and these tend toward sweeter wines.

Popular white wines include the Chablis, Riesling, Semillon, Chenin,Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay styles in dry wines, with Traminer Riesling,Moselle and late picked Verdelho in the sweeter styles. Aperitifs include sweetand dry sherry and Marsala. Dessert wines include Sauternes, Muscats andPorts.

Many wines are now presented as blended wines, a way to offer wider varietyin taste and a way to use up less popular grapes and thereby minimise waste inthe industry.

Australia has more than a dozen identified wine growing regions that producedistinctive wines of the main styles. The Barossa Valley in South Australia ispossibly the most famous region with the richest heritage, and features manylabels from subregions such as Claire Valley, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek andthe Adelaide Hills. These regions produce some of the most spectacular Rieslingwines, and Shiraz styles in the country. East of this region, near the borderwith Victoria lies the Coonawarra district (also known as Riverland), famousfor its Cabernet Sauvignon. In Victoria lie the Yarra Valley and MorningtonPeninsular districts. The Goulbourn Valley lies on the border with New SouthWales. The Hunter Valley in New South Wales produces some of Australia’s finestwines, while in the West, Margaret River, t4he Swan Valley and the Plantagenetdistricts all produce fine wines.

Trends

Recent economic conditions and consecutive years of oversupply have changedmuch of Australia’s wine market. There are many small boutique wineries whoseproducts can be bought direct from the cellar door. Many of these wines arefeatured on Myshopping.com.au by style and region.

The wine industry is encouraging the buying of wines and cellaring them(storing them in a cool place) for a period of time and enjoying them at alater time. To cellar your wine, store it somewhere cool, dark, airy, and freefrom vibration and dampness. Temperature stability is the most important factorin preserving wine in the cellar. Storing wine in an environment where thetemperature varies gradually with the seasons is better than in a room thatvaries with the day and night.

For long-term storage, the ideal cellar temperature is 18 degrees Celsiusand a relative humidity of 60-75%. Warmer conditions accelerate the developmentof wines, which could mean a reduction in the pleasure of drinking them.

The second phenomenon to occur through oversupply is the introduction ofcleanskins, a method of selling wine without a brand label. This is presentedas being ‘money saving’ because of a reduction in marketing expense, howeverthe real cost saving per bottle is around 3-5 cents (the cost of printing andapplying a label).

Cleanskins enable a wine producer to present a lower cost bottle, but thisis mostly achieved by not having to identify the origins of the grape, or thevarietal blends that make up the wine. And while it is true that somecleanskins are eminently drinkable wines, evidence suggests that they aregenerally of a far poorer quality than branded label products. It is suggestedthat you taste the wine before purchasing any cleanskins.

Wine is a high fashion product, and wine trends emerge on a regular basis.The best way to follow these trends is to shop usingMyshopping.com.au—comparing prices and suppliers, and following medal winninglabels.

Added Sunday, August 29, 2010 in Wine Information Add a Comment