| Buying a good bottle of wine can be intimidating | | | | the wine. When the name of particular grape is |
| especially if you are not experienced. Often | | | | used, no less than seventy-five percent of the |
| buyers think that you have to spend a lot of | | | | wine must be from this grape thus a wine labeled |
| money in order to get a full bodied and smooth | | | | Cabernet Sauvignon must be seventy-five |
| tasting bottle of wine. This is simply not the case. | | | | percent Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. |
| While wine preference is personal, there are | | | | The other twenty-five percent can be from any |
| several ways to find a great bottle of wine for | | | | other varietal. Under the kind of wine is where the |
| less than fifteen bucks. First, find a wine merchant | | | | grapes come from. This part is the key for |
| who carries many different labels of wine. Next | | | | picking a good to great bottle of wine. A wine |
| you should narrow down your wine varietal such | | | | that is labeled Napa Valley or Sonoma County |
| as Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, | | | | must only use grapes found within these areas. |
| etc. Once know what kind of wine you are looking | | | | Usually the smaller the area, the better the quality |
| for, lastly you have to decided how much do you | | | | wine. A wine labeled "California" means that |
| want to spend. I typically do not want to spend | | | | grapes can come from anywhere in the state. |
| more than fifteen bucks. To some this still may | | | | This to me makes too much of hodgepodge |
| sound like a lot of money but if you are willing to | | | | mixture to be of any significant quality. The last |
| go to fifteen dollars, you will have access to | | | | point I want to bring up is if the wine label says |
| plenty of wines. | | | | "Reserve," or "Estate." |
| Now that we know how much we want to spend | | | | A reserve wine is going to the superior wines |
| and what kind of wine we want to buy, we now | | | | from that winery. It is make with select grapes |
| can look at the label where we can learn much | | | | and utilizes the "Free Run Juice" which is the juice |
| about this particular bottle of wine. What vineyard | | | | of the grapes before they are pressed. Reserve |
| or winery made the wine? The name of the | | | | wines however do cost more and I typically only |
| winery is the most obvious title on the label. | | | | drink them on special occasions. Estate wines are |
| Under that you will see the year or vintage. This | | | | neat because the term "estate" means that the |
| is the year the grapes were harvested and made | | | | wine must be produced entirely on the property. |
| into wine. A young wine will have different | | | | It must be grown, produced and bottle right on |
| characteristics than an older wine. Under the year, | | | | the property. |
| you will find the variety of grape used to make | | | | |