While glancing at a variety of wine displaying in a wine shop, you may have problems to choose over so many wine labels. Then you start asking yourself, “Oh, my God! There are so many of them, and which one should I pick? Which one suits me best? Which one tastes good?”

For your knowledge, there are more than 5,000 grape varieties. Of all, they’re most commonly used to make into white and red wine. Semillon, Chardonnay, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc are some of the most popular white wine grapes, while the common red wine grapes include Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, to name a few of them. Very often, Australia, North and South America prefer to use the name of the grape to categorize their wine, in which you’ll find their name on the bottle.

Note: Wines here do not refer to those with higher alcohol content such as brandy, whisky, vodka, and etc.

Prohibition: Muslims (due to their religious teaching that prohibits them to take any alcoholic drinks), children, infants, pregnant moms (may cause miscarriage, birth defect, and any unexpected deformity), individual who’ve a record of food/ drink allergy, or those who’re alcohol intolerance, or casein intolerant (I may suggest you to take vegan wine, but if the condition persists, you should give it up), or any unexplainable or complicated medical conditions. Additionally, people who’re experiencing chronic diseases (such as diabetes type II, any type of cancer, heart disease and etc.), patients who’re at a chronic stage of disease, and other acute diseases that did not state here are strictly prohibited to take wines.

Note: It’s always better to seek for an advice from a registered and qualified physician prior to consumption of any type of wine.

Warning: Wine cannot be taken together with drugs (such as heroin, marijuana, and etc.), antidepressant, over the counter drugs or any prescribed drugs as it may cause death or any unexpected incidence. Please don’t disregard this warning, or else, you’ll have to bear on the risk.

Make Sure You Know Your Wine Profile

There is a great difference between red and white wine particularly in regards to their ingredient and color. Red wine is made from the skin and fruit of the red grapes, while white one is made from white grapes. In terms of color, white wine grapes are always yellow or green, in contrast to that, red wine grapes are often purple or blue. In France, however, white wine can be made from red Pinot Noir grapes (the name of the red grapes). Blanc de Noir is one of them, but its price sounds a bit higher than when white wine is made from white grapes.

France has long been renowned for its exclusively made champagnes. The champagne was originally a pure white wine. Due to its dual process of fermentation, the carbon dioxide is formed in its bottle, and thus creating the finest fizzy bubbles you may love so much. As mentioned earlier, most wine is named after vineyards; champagnes are given a name from the houses that produce them. Founded in 1829, Bollinger is one of the family-owned houses, which until today, still remains as the highest wine-making label. Thereafter, RD, vintage La Grand Année (sometimes available as Rosé, and is an exclusive blend of white Chardonnay grapes and red Pinor Noir grapes) and the non-vintage Special Cuvée are some of the champagne labels that are produced under the name of Bollinger. Specifically, La Grand Année is a wonderful vintage champagne that is particularly made from the finest harvest.

Which One Should I Choose From, Red or White?

The best choice is to start with white wine. The reason is that it tends to be fresher, crisper, fruitier and lighter. In contrary, red wine tends to be heavier.

How About Its Age, Does It Matter Much?

Vintage refers to the year the grapes were picked, and its date can be found on the label of the bottle. Besides the year, vintage also gives you hints about the wine. The finest wine is always made under good conditions of rain, soil and sun. Most France’s Bordeaux region made wine, particularly in the year of 2,000 can be considered as a great vintage. In that particular year, the weather conditions were fine and thereby producing the finest wine ever made in the previous 100 years.

The riper grapes are normally produced in the hot season, resulting in wine that is characterized by richer and sweeter taste. But if the weather is colder, it produces sharper-tasting wine.

So, from the above explanation, the age does matter in selecting a good wine. You can always base upon vintage chart as a rough guide to assess the quality and properties of the wine.

Which Label Should I Look For?

In general, wine experts characterize wine into two groups: (1) New World wines and (2) Old World wines. New World wine countries include South Africa, Australia, Canada, USA, New Zealand, and South American countries, while Old World wine countries include Italy, Spain, France and other European countries. In comparison to Old World wine, almost all New World wine labels are fairy informative in regards to the alcohol content, vintage of the wine, and grape variety used to produce the wine.

If you’re a beginner, meaning that it’s your first time to try on wine, it’s always better to choose from any wines that have an alcohol content of 12% or lower. By choosing wine with the lower alcohol content, you won’t feel the taste so strong, heavier or difficult to enjoy. When you get accustomed with its taste, then you can try to drink different varieties of wine, so you can differentiate among its taste and start to understand what you really like.

How to Keep Wine or Champagne to Its Best?

Be sure to keep your wine in a place with a low humidity and a stable temperature. The wine should be kept lying down, so that the corks stay plump and moist inside the bottle, while keeping air out. The temperature between 12°C to 18°C is by far the best storage temperature to keep your wine, and remember to keep your wine in a wine fridge. Otherwise, you’ve to store your wine in a dark and cool part of your house like under the stairs.

Champagne is best to keep chilled while serving. Prior to serving, you can keep it in a fridge for several hours or you may place it in a bucket filled with ice or iced water. If you want to enjoy it in a hurry, just add a pinch of salt into the ice or iced water to accelerate its chilling. Remember, never place it in a fridge since its delicate balance of its content may be spoiled.

Should I Drink Now or Keep?

You may have heard of or read that people keep store wine for over a decade. And most people will think that wine gets better with age. Is this true? It’s certainly untrue! It’s usually better to buy a good wine from a seller who keeps the wine well. Upon purchasing, you should drink it very soon but not to wait till ten years, twenty years or more. This is because some wines are best to be drunk when they’re still fresh and young. Nevertheless, wines from Bordeaux and Shiraz grapes can be stored for a longer period. Specifically, white wines are best drunk within one or two years of its vintage year, in contrast to that, red wines can be kept for years which just keep them getting better with age.

How to Nourish Your Life With Wine

Due to the presence of a natural antioxidant, resveratrol, red wine has been found to benefit health. It has shown to reduce the risk of getting cancer, atherosclerosis (the hardening of arteries) and cardiovascular disease. Nevertheless, excessive drinking can lead to oral cancer, atherosclerosis, and may also increase the occurrence of hypertension-related complicated symptoms (read more details from my previous article entitled  Red wine: Drink or not drink?). According to my previous article entitled the secrets of youth, health and longevity: how to live healthily to 100 or beyond, moderate wine intake does show a remarkable health benefit. In this article, it’s also recommended that males should take about 10 ounces a day, while females is about 5 ounces a day, and in addition to that, the daily red wine intake shouldn’t excess 100 ml.

Only moderate red wine intake will help nourish your life so that you can take longer journey in your life. In a nutshell, this article does not aim to encourage people to get addicted with wines or drink wines in excess.

Bon appetite! Cheers!

Attention: If after taking wine, you experience a symptom of hangover, headache, nausea, vomiting, dizzy, stomachache, unusual symptom, or make you feeling sick, I’d suggest you to give it up but seek for an immediate medical attention.

You can read more of my content at LiteSeek. Take care and have a good day!