We're going to talk about how to choose red wine. Now, choosing a red wine is there are
a variety of styles, you need to look at what the occasion is going to be, when you're going
to have the red wine. You also need to think about your own tastes for the styles of wines
you like. If you're sharing your wine with other people, perhaps look at what they like
as well. So there's a lot to think about. However, I would probably begin by saying
that one of the key things you look at in the red wine is its strength. If you're drinking
at lunchtime for example, you want to pick a wine that's light. Light in alcohol and
maybe light in texture and body. Because it just stops you falling asleep in the late
afternoon. So that's a possibility of - a guide as to the first thing you should look
at. In terms of your tastes you've got to think about do you like big fruity wines,
or do you like restrained wines, if you like big fruity wines you go for something like
an Australia Shiraz, wines from Chile, wines from California, and some of the wines from
New Zealand and South Africa as well. So basically New World wines. The Old Worlds do make wines
that are big and fruity as well, South of France, Languedoc-Roussillon region will give
you wines of this style, and also the Rhone region will give you wines that are big, fruity.
However, with the Rhone wines they can be a bit more restrained, so - and they're very
fruit friendly as well. And for myself when I look for wine I start off as I say by looking
at what is my occasion going to be, I'll need a wine at lunch, I want a white wine, something
quite drinkable, something quite relaxing, something fruity. If I'm going for a big lunch,
yes I can combine that with a big, heavy wine for example Chateauneuf-du-Pape, some of the
good Bordeaux, even a Californian Cabernet Sauvignon. Again that depends on the food
that's being served. Wines in the evening you've got more flexibility. The weight of
the wine is less of an issue because if you're at home, you know you're going to be relaxing,
winding down at the end of the day, so you can choose virtually any wine from light wines,
like a Beaujolais to a big Cabernet Sauvignon from California. Your only - what only dictates
your choice at this stage is whether you're combining it with a meal, where you can afford
to have more tonic and richer wines, or whether you want the wine more or less like an aperitif
or relaxing wine. Sometimes you can use wines, a very expensive wine, actually to analyze
and intellectualize about this wine with friends. Sitting, chatting, in which case you're - again
your field of wines is open and you might be looking for much more complex wines then.
Apart from what you initially think about choosing wines, you have a lot of guidance
out there on the market. There are a number of books you can use to learn about the different
styles of red wines you can choose. And then when you get to the shop, often the bottles
will tell the geographic region the wine is coming from, so you know whether you like
- if you like French wines for example, you can perhaps get something like a Burgundy,
which normally comes in a Burgundy shaped bottle as opposed to a Bordeaux shaped bottle.
That's an easy guide to choose whether you're going for burgundy and Rhone wines or Bordeaux-esque
style wines. Now this may all sound like a mine field, however if you use - there are
a lot of small specialist shops that can give you a lot of help in choosing wine, and they
will be able to guide you through, if you tell them exactly how you're using your wine,
what your tastes are, they will actually go through and show you the wines that fit with
your characteristics. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, the best thing about wine is exploration.
Most wine producers these days are making very, very good quality wines, even at five
ninety-nine and up to a hundred pounds, two hundred pounds, so it doesn't really matter
what your price point is, you're always going to get really good quality wines from a good
specialist. I would always try and buy wines that are within the drinking period and for
that perhaps you need to do a bit of homework to find out how the wines age, if it's a cheap
wine, always try and buy it as near to vintage as possible. But vintage I mean the year at
which the wine - the grapes are picked, and that's the year they put on the bottle in
most cases. So that's how we choose red wine.