Choosing a Bottle of Wine

Trying to choose a bottle of wine to have with a nice dinner can really be a challenge. Fortunately, I have found some ways to make this process less of a chore and a bit more fun. Here are a few general guidelines to follow that can help you find some good wine without spending too much time in the isle.

Wine Regions

Learn about a few good wine-making areas. Living in the Pacific Northwest, I am lucky to have local vineyards nearby. I like to choose wines from around here when I can find them at a low price. Pinot Noir is a local favorite and my top choice of wine. California also has many wonderful wineries and is a great place for growing many types of grapes. In addition to California and Oregon wines, I also like to choose wines from far away regions that have a long history of making wines. Well established vineyards are reliable and good at making quality wines. They have also figured out how to make them available for sale over seas. I look for wines from older wineries from France, Italy, and Spain. Also on my short list are Argentina, Chile, Australia and South Africa.

Types of Wine

There are so many… I look for wines that pair well with many different kinds of food. For reds, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel tend to go well with many foods. For whites, Pino Grigio is a good choice and so is Chardonnay. If you have a specific meal in mind you can always research which wine to pair with it.

Which Wine to Buy

Figure out what you like. When I find a wine that I like I will sometimes try other types of wine from the same vineyard or winery. That is an easy way to explore the world of wine.

This past winter, my husband an I kept track of the different wines that we were trying. We really wanted to know for sure which ones we liked. We kept a log of the bottles of wine that we tried and our comments on the flavors that we could taste and rated them on a scale of 1 to 10. It was a fun project, but after about six months we were surprised to discover that there are so many wines available that it was an impossible task for us to document them all. It seems to be an ever-changing assortment of choices. Luckily for us, it looks like we will not run out of new wines to try.

However, it is nice to have a few favorites that you can choose when you are in a hurry, looking for wine for a special occasion, or when you want to share it with friends. So when you find one that you really like, remember which one it is so that you have a go-to choice. I have found that a $10-15 Pinot Noir is usually a good safe bet. (Where I live, the majority of wine is priced from $3.99 to $30.)

If you are trying to choose a good wine right now, here is a quick list of some of my personal favorites.

• Favorite Reds: Pinot Noir, Merlot, Zinfandel, Chianti, Beaujolais, Tempranillo, Shiraz
• Favorite White Wines: Chardonnay and Pino Grigio

If you are looking for a fun way to learn about wine you may want to take a look at “The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert,” by Richard Betts. It is great to read and really gets you thinking about what you like in a wine.