| Plenty of people are intimidated at the thought of | | | | compounds fairly similar to those occurring |
| buying wine, because 'wine is so confusing'. That is | | | | naturally in fruits, vegetables, and spices. The |
| not too far from the truth, because the sheer | | | | taste of a particular wine depends on the grape |
| variety of wine can certainly be bewildering. | | | | variety that has gone into its making, but the 'oak |
| Therefore, most wine buyers, unless they are | | | | cask' factor is at work as well - to be explained |
| experts, prefer to stick to tried and tested | | | | later. |
| brands and vintages. However, you can be a little | | | | So a wine may be dry, off dry, fruity, or sweet, |
| adventurous when you choose your next bottle | | | | depending on the grape variety. To take an |
| of wine. Don't believe us? Here's how: | | | | example, a wine's sweetness is determined by |
| First up, trying new wines is not as risky as you | | | | the amount of residual sugar it contains |
| think. Sometime ago, the Wine Market Council | | | | post-fermentation, relative to its acidity. Dry wine, |
| released data that showed that Merlot, | | | | for instance, has extremely low residual sugar |
| Chardonnay, and White Zinfandel are the most | | | | content. |
| popular wines in the U.S. However, with close to | | | | However, when it comes to flavors, a wine may |
| 20,000 different wines available in the country, | | | | contain chocolate, vanilla, or coffee flavors, to |
| there's certainly room for experiment. | | | | take only three examples, and all of these come |
| So when you choose your next bottle of wine, | | | | about as a result of ageing the wine in oak casks |
| you could well afford to be a little daring and buy | | | | - hence the oak cask factor. Then again, if you |
| a wine you haven't tried before. Obviously, price | | | | detect a banana flavor, you can attribute it to the |
| will be a factor, but once you establish your | | | | presence of particular yeast, and not any grape. |
| budget, you could try asking the wine store staff | | | | Similarly, plenty of people report detecting animal |
| to give you some helpful tips about various | | | | scents in wine, once again attributable to natural |
| brands and labels. | | | | yeasts. |
| Wines, as you probably know, are classified into | | | | Finally, here's a list of some relatively uncommon |
| five broad types depending on their method of | | | | brands that you could go for the next time you |
| vinification: table wines, sparkling wines, dessert | | | | choose a bottle of wine: |
| wines, aperitiv wines and pop wines. However, | | | | Nebbiolo: A red wine that tastes of leather, tar, |
| unless you're an expert, and we're assuming | | | | stewed prunes, chocolate, liquorices, and roses |
| you're not, you are best advised to classify wines | | | | Tempranillo: Another red wine that contains vanilla, |
| according to taste. Ultimately, you will be the best | | | | strawberry and tobacco flavors |
| judge of what tastes good to your palate, so no | | | | Melon de Bourgogne: A white wine with lime, salt, |
| matter how much anyone recommends a label or | | | | and green apple flavors |
| a vintage, trust your taste above all else. | | | | Viognier: Yet another white wine that tastes of |
| Tastes the best | | | | peach, pear, nutmeg, and apricot |
| Wines are essentially made up of chemical | | | | Chenin Blanc: A white wine with wet wool(! |