HOW TO CHOOSE A WINE - for lacy

Was in bed on a Sunday afternoon my mind engrossed with the writing of Tom Clancy, when Lacy buzzed me once..twice for some guides on buying wine as she was out in C4 wiht Ant.

Like as I am the expert but I thought again why not.. a good learning curve... after dispensing some honest feeling bout the brands and not bull shitting I started searching the net for a bit of info and I found this...

"Champagne is a stand out favourite, but red wines such as Shiraz, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon are also a great choice.

Feel like a white? Take a look at a Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. We’ve given you a quick low-down on all these wines to help take some of the confusion out of picking the perfect wine.

Champagne
A true romantic classic. What could be sweeter or more passionate than entwining arms with your lover and sipping from a glass full of bubbles? To put a bit of a twist on the classic, drop some chopped strawberries into your glass or try a sparkling rose – it’s pink!

Shiraz
Shiraz tastes different depending on the climate. In cooler areas, you should be able to taste black cherry, pepper and spice. Warmer areas produce notes of chocolate and stewed plum. There’s a lot of depth in a Shiraz and this develops over a period of time so the older the bottle, the more complex the flavour. Try to get an older vintage but if you can’t, the young bottles taste just fine.

Merlot
This is a wine that has been traditionally blended with Cabernet Sauvignon to produce Cabernet Merlot. In Merlot, you can taste plum, redcurrant, mint, pimento, game, earth and leather! Merlot is sweet and is best drunk at a younger age. It’s great to pair with pasta, roasts or Mediterranean vegies.

Cabernet Sauvignon
Another wine that varies in taste according to where the grapes were grown. In cooler areas you should be able to taste mint, blackcurrant, red berries and even some leafiness. In warmer areas, you should be able to get notes of chocolate and tobacco. Cabernet Sauvignon can be quite a dry wine due to the tannins in it.

Chardonnay
In warmer areas Chardonnay has notes of peach, fig and melon. In cooler areas, the flavours become tarter with notes of lemon, grapefruit and green apple. It’s interesting to note that the type of oak barrel the wine ferments in affects the secondary flavours such as nuts, toast and vanilla.


Enjoy

Sauvignon Blanc
New Zealand is famous for producing some of the best Sauvignon Blancs in the world. The flavours of this wine are very diverse, ranging from herbaceousness to tropical fruit, passionfruit and gooseberry to tomato leaf, spice and flint. In stronger varieties of the wine you might be able to taste asparagus, capsicum or gun smoke (wow!). Sauvignon Blanc is the perfect wine for summer and it goes well with seafood – especially oysters. Try and serve it as cold as possible.

So, hopefully, this little guide has given you some tips for choosing the perfect wine. If you’re still a little confused (and who wouldn’t be with all that wine out there?) then just ask the friendly folks at the bottle shop for some help. They’re trained to find you exactly what you’re looking for!