9 Tips for Choosing the Right Wine

You are confronted with an array of bottles in your neighborhood wine shop. Some of the words are written in a foreign language, from a place you couldn’t locate on a map. You quickly thumb through your mental recollection of wine advertisements, finally narrowing it down to the label with either the cute French bunny or yellow kangaroo. Surprisingly, even in this choose-your-own-adventure, the price of the wine alone can’t truly determine the quality of the nectar that hides behind all those strange labels. Here is a guide to making an educated guess to avoid the ornately packaged swill.

1) Read. Read. Read. A wine hobby has an incredible ability to get better with the more you find out about it. Read Wine Style and Wine for Dummies, both by Mary Ewing-Mulligan, one of the best wine sources for beginners. When you get more advanced, move to Wines, Grapes and Vines and the Oxford Companion to Wine, both by Jancis Robinson. These books will tell you the names of reputable or prestigious wine producers.

2) Find a trustworthy source (some of my favorite establishments). The best wine stores will have great service, dish out some insider information about its products, and store the bottles by laying them horizontally. This prevents the cork from drying out, a vital technique). Wine is extremely sensitive to light and heat, so also make sure the store keeps its wine out of the sun and in a cool environment.

3) Look at the importer. Every imported bottle of wine is required by law to print its shipping information on the back of each bottle. Knowing the quality importers can help; better importers focus on better wines. Some of my favorites are Neal Rosenthal, Robert Chadderdon, Leonardo Locasio, Terry Theise, Vinifera Imports, Montecastelli, Marc de Grazia, Kermit Lynch and Louis/Dressner.###

4) Go to free tastings. Your local store might host sessions on the weekends or some weekday evenings. Sign up for their e-newsletters (I generally don’t give my email address away, but if its for free wine, sign me up), and check out some tastings. You can expand your horizons by learning about different types, and you can get a free buzz, if you’re into that kind of thing.

5) Try organic or biodynamic wines. Although this hardly assures great quality, chances are they trump their conventional counterparts. In some places, it is easier to make and care for these organic wines because of environmental conditions, so don’t shun conventional wines altogether.

6) Get to know your wine shop clerk. Your seller might give you some personalized suggestions if you establish a wine rapport.

7) Ignore wines that heavily advertise, and stay away from gimmicks such as animals and gold medal awards on the labels. If you see a big billboard on Broadway, remember: the cost of a 10-foot mermaid with a yellow tail is factored into the price.

You don’t need to spend $100 on a wine, but don’t buy anything less than $7. Although there is plenty of crap wine at $20 or $50, there is absolutely nothing worth the grapes for under $7 per bottle in a New York wine store.

9) Drink frequently. I know, I’m twisting your arm with this request. Not only is a half-bottle of wine per day shown to be healthy in some studies, but the more you drink, the more you’ll know about wine and the more fun you’ll have with it.