Why buy wine?
In Australia, wine has become the new beverage of choice for people in all walks of life. In addition, Australia has developed a reputation among wine drinkers and appreciators the world over. Myshopping.com.au can help you make the right choice of wine for all occasions and for all tastes. Listed on our website you will find some of the best known brands and award-winning wines and you can make a selection based on reviews, price and supplier, regardless of why you want to buy wine.
Wine
There are three main reasons why we can think of why you might want to buy wine: to drink in some social contexts, to give as a gift, or as an investment with a realizable future.
Buying wine drink
Winemaker Greg Gallagher at the Charles Sturt University, South Australia, says judging a good wine is easy. “It begins by asking,” do you like it? “Says he,” and ending with “Did you like it?” “When you have a list of favorite wines, all you do find them on Myshopping.com.au, and you will find out where it is sold for best price .
But, for it is not always easy to remember name, style and vintage of the wine you enjoy, it’s a good idea to keep a register of wines you drink that you really like (and those who prefer to avoid), for future reference.
When you buy wine to drink, there are a number of considerations you might like to keep in mind, the first is: what is the point? It is obvious that a wine for an intimate dinner with a partner can be another choice than one for a footy night with the boys. Sharing a wine with someone is much more than just sharing drink. This applies also to share your tastes, your values and your standards, so it pays to think carefully about the time and company with whom you share wine.
A second consideration might be, what is the accompanying wine? Wine is often enjoyed with a meal, but you might want to consider also how the occasion (or meal) will be developed. Matching the perfect wine with great food and atmosphere is an exciting experience, and are often the focus of major memories.
You may also want to consider the atmosphere at the moment. A wine to enjoy at an evening symphony concert will have a different nature to be enjoyed on a beach picnic.
Buying wine gift
Wine makes a great gift for many reasons. It is a simple purchase, you can buy a wine to suit practically any budget. And it is a demonstration of your taste and standards, subtly conveyed to someone you may care for.
However and satisfy your taste standards, you must also select a wine that will satisfy the tastes of the recipient. It pays to find out what kind of wine that person has, and buy within that person’s style or preferences area. A person who has sweet white wines will appreciate a gift that match personality.
Buying wine investment
Some wines make a good investment because they are rare and have an established reputation and causing them to rise in value. Perhaps the most famous of these in Australia is Penfolds’ Grange Hermitage, a Shiraz style Claret that has made since 1951 (one bottle vintage now might set you back $ 50,000 or more if you can find one). Although young in terms of wine heritage, Australia has some notable wines that do and will appreciate in value.
A good investment wine is not necessarily a guarantee of high quality wine. The investment values are obtained by reputation. A particular vintage may have had popularity for any number of reasons and become key because only a limited number of bottles produced. What results is a collectors market development and changes going on wine through auctions, private sales, estate dissolutions and wine club memberships.
What make a good investment wine is the fact that you are able to sell wine at some future date for a sum greater than you paid. Therefore, state wine or even more importantly, the bottle-is of paramount importance. The origin of an investment wine is important. Before you buy, you must establish its history of origin and previous owners. Convinced that the bottle is in good condition, once in your possession it must be cellared correctly in the absence of heat, light and movement. You should document your ownership and the conditions of its storage potential, then sell it to a new buyer.
What makes good wine?
The winemaking process
The quality of a wine is influenced by a variety of factors that occur in and as a result of the winemaking, aging potential and management processes. One of the major factors are topography and climate, commonly referred to as the “region”, where the grapes are grown. Different conditions affect different varieties differently. A Shiraz style from McLaren Vale, South Australia, for example, is a heavier and darker wine than the same style from the Swan Valley in Western Australia, which tend to be lighter and more peppery. A Chardonnay from the Hunter Valley is richer than one from Margaret River.
While know which vines are best suited to the soil and climate is one aspect, another is knowing when to pick fruit for particular effect. The fruit’s taste in picking is an important character of the remaining flavors of wine. After initial fermentation, some winemakers choose to ferment in oak, others not. Using oak affects the reduction of tannins in wine. Different types of oak-English, American, old-fashioned effect on the taste and character of the wine as it matures to its nominal alcohol level. It’s the barrel that many changes in taste and character occur, and a lot of skill needed to know exactly when the bottle wine.
Different winemakers have different techniques, while a good wine can not be manufactured by the bad grapes, it is basically a great winemaker which gives a good wine.
Taste
One of the ways we can tell the quality of wine as judged by its taste, is whether it has had successes in any of a number of wine shows held around the country. Experts from the wine industry judge wines on their quality and medal winners will benefit from being recognized and written about in the main media.
While not every medal winner is a wine that suits our taste, it is as a direct result of exhibitions and competitions that Australian wines have grown in popularity and quality. On Myshopping.com.au you can compare many award winning wines.
What is your taste?
Regions and style
When you are shopping for wine, is one of the first questions to answer if you choose a red wine or white wine. Once you have determined this, you can begin to limit the different styles. Start by asking if you are looking for a dry wine or a sweet wine.
Styles of wine are named after the region from which the grape originated. In the popular dark red you have Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot styles that tend to be drier wines. Lighter red element Beaujolais, Pinot Noir and Rose styles and these tend to wines.
Popular sweeter 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 sweet and dry sherry and Marsala. Dessert wines include Sauternes, Muscat and Ports.
Many wines are now presented as blended wines, a way to offer more variety in taste and a way to use less popular grapes and thereby minimize waste in industry.
Australia has more than a dozen identified wine growing regions that produce distinctive wines of the main styles. Barossa Valley in South Australia is perhaps the most famous region with the richest cultural heritage, and has many labels from subregions such as Claire Valley, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and Adelaide Hills. These regions produce some of the most spectacular Riesling wines, Shiraz styles in the country. East of this region, near the border of Victoria is Coonawarra district (also known as River Country), known for its Cabernet Sauvignon. The Victoria is located in the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula district. The Goulbourn Valley lies on the border with New South Wales. Hunter Valley in New South Wales produces some of Australia’s best wines, while in the West, Margaret River, t4he Swan Valley and the Plantagenet districts all produce fine wines.
Trends
Recent economic conditions and consecutive years of oversupply have changed much of Australia’s wine market. There are many small boutique wineries whose products can be purchased directly from the cellar door. Many of these wines are on Myshopping.com.au of style and region.
The wine industry is to encourage the purchase of wine and the storage potential of them (storing them in a cool spot) for a while and enjoy them at a later date. So cellar your wine, store it somewhere cool, dark, airy and free from vibration and moisture. Temperature is the key factor in preserving wine in the cellar. Storing wine in an environment where the temperature varies gradually with the seasons is better than in a room that varies with the day and night.
For long-term storage, is the ideal cellar temperature 18 degrees and a relative humidity of 60-75%. Warmer conditions accelerate the development of wines, which can mean a reduction in the pleasure of drinking them.
The other phenomena occur through oversupply is the introduction of clean skins, a method of selling wine without a brand label. This is presented as a “money saving” due to a decrease in marketing expense, however, is the real cost saving per bottle is around 3-5 cents (the cost of printing and applying a label).
Cleanskins allow wine producers to introduce a lower cost bottle, but this is usually achieved by not having to identify the origins of the grape, or varietal mixtures that constitute the wine. And while it is true that some clean skins are eminently drinkable wines, everything indicates that they are generally a much poorer quality than branded label products. It is suggested that 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 with Myshopping.com.au-compare prices and providers, and following medal winning labels.
Andrew Gates is a writer for Australian comparison shopping site MyShopping.com.au. MyShopping.com.au helps you compare wine and buy online from top-rated online stores. You can also read wine reviews and specifications.