How to shop for wine at a supermarket?

Wine 101: How to choose a bottle of wine at the supermarket?

Karen GEORGE

27 Aug 2015

updated the 6 October 2015 à 22:28

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Choosing Wines on Price
Never select wines on price if you are unfamiliar with the brand. Every winemaker will tell you his wines are the best, every distributor and importer will tell you it is value for money. Trust your own research.
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Look for renowned critics and their ratings
Look out for wine reviews from Robert Parker, Antonio Galloni, Wine Spectator and Burghound to name a few. These ciritics regularly rate and tout expensive labels as well as review wine with great value.
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Be your own sommelier
Know your wines well, know what critics say about it. Know what it tastes like and what you can pair it with. Know where the wines came from and what grapes are used to make it. Still interested? Do more research and see how it is made.
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Serve it at the right temperature
Buy an ice bucket. The warmest recommended temperature for most wines is room temperature, however, it must be noted that this refers to a temperate climate. In equatorial Singapore, it means everything needs to be chilled. A simple rule of thumb is the lighter the colour, the more ice you need. Start with a bucket containing 1/8 of floating ice for dark red wines and increase the ice content as the wine gets lighter to half a bucket of ice floating for champagnes and aromatic whites.
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Learn to pour it
Before you get your senses involved, you will need the right tools. Wines are poured only halfway into a glass, this is to let the aromas collect in the bowl and allow the drinker to nose it.
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Learn to taste it
Enjoying wines engages your sight in appreciating the colour of the wine, it lets you anticipate the flavours on visual cues. Learn to sniff your wines, with thousands of aromas detectable, take time to enjoy each sniff. Understand the differences in the palate, analyse the attack, feel the palate and contemplate the finish.
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Learn to store it
While 4⁰C (fridge temperature) is far too cold to serve some wines, it is a great temperature to store open wines. Stopper your wines to prevent more oxygen from being introduced to the bottle. Stand it upright to reduce surface of wine (versus lying it down) in contact with the air in the bottle, the cold temperature reduces the speed of oxidation. Enjoy it over the next 2 days. Pour the wine into a glass and leave it to stand for 10 minutes and it's ready to go (increases by ~1⁰C /minute).

Don’t let the countless options of bottled wine at the supermarket intimidate you. Here’s our comprehensive guide on how to shop for the alcoholic beverage.

So you’ve got an informal dinner party coming up and obviously serving soda and fruit punch isn’t going to cut it if you’re looking to establish a sophisticated vibe at your get-together. What then will be your beverage of choice?

Well if you’ve been to any function or party you’ll know that wine is the drink de rigueur to imbibe. Be it Valentine’s Day, wedding dinners, Christmas or any other celebratory occasion, wine has always held special position as the sophisticated beverage of choice.

Yet, as popular as the alcoholic drink is, truth be told, a lot of people don’t actually know how to shop for it. Do you opt for red or white? What should you pair it with? What makes one wine more expensive than another? How important is the vintage? So many questions, no idea how to answer.

Most who are new to the vino game and want to get a crowd pleasing choice will find themselves in good company with a La Vielle Ferme bottle. Meaning ‘the old farmhouse’, the wine hails from the fertile Mediterranean soils of Mazan in the south of the Rhone Valley. The rich fruity red wine is easy on the palate and has an elegantly structured flavour of blackberry, strawberry and soft tannins.

Of course La Vielle Ferme isn’t the only option in the market and if you’re looking to explore your vinery options, a quick flip through our gallery will have you up to scratch in useful tips to implement when going shopping at the your local supermarket.

Never again will you find yourself standing open mouthed at the wine section in the supermarket!

Karen George

Photos: Shutterstock

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