How to choose a wine by the appearance of the bottle

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Distinctive features by which you can choose a good wine without opening the bottle.

Glass thickness

There are light and heavy bottles. Lungs are thin-walled bottles made of pale green, pale brown, blue or clear glass. There is no notch on the bottom. They are filled with wines that are not intended for long-term storage. They should be drunk within 1–2 years.

Heavy bottles with thick walls are made from dark green or dark brown glass. You need to take such a bottle if you are going to store wine for a long time.

Bottle shape

There are 12 types of bottles. With just one glance at the mold, you can tell what kind of wine is in it.

Bordeaux

Straight, with high "shoulders" and a small depression at the bottom. These bottles are used to fill wines from the French region of Bordeaux from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Semillon, Sauternes and Meritage grape varieties. For red wine, dark green glass is used, for white wine - light green or transparent.

Burgundy

With shallow "shoulders" and a slightly wider base than other species. The bottles are always made of dark green glass and are used for Pinot Noir, Aligote and Chardonnay grapes.

Rona

This bottle is similar to the previous one, but it has a slightly larger neck and more angular sloping "shoulders". Also, the embossing of the coat of arms is often placed on it. The bottle is used for wines made from grapes "Grenache", "Mourvèdre", "Syrah". Red wine is bottled in green glass, white and pink in clear glass.

Champagne

The design of this bottle is developed in accordance with the characteristics of the drink. Thick glass, sloping "shoulders" and a deep depression on the bottom help to distribute the pressure inside the bottle: it can reach 6 atmospheres.

Cote de Provence

Used for rosé and red wine by traditional winemakers in the French region of Côte de Provence.

Alsatian flute

These are tall bottles with an elongated neck and a flat bottom. Popular with winemakers in the French region of Alsace and the German region of Moselle. They are made from light green glass and are used for Riesling and Müller Thurgau wines.

Rhine

Tall, slender, with a long neck. Made of dark brown glass. Used for wines from Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Gewürztraminer grapes.

Chianti

Rounded, with a curved bottom, in a straw basket. It is also called Fiasco. Used exclusively for Chianti, an Italian red wine from the Tuscany region. However, Chianti is now often bottled in standard wine bottles.

Box fighter

The bottle is in the shape of a flattened ellipsoid, with a short neck and an engraved emblem on the left side. It is widely used for wines from the Franconia region in Germany and for some Portuguese wines.

Yura

The light green bottle with a slightly flared "skirt" is used by winemakers from the Jura region in northeastern France. Wine is poured into it from the grapes "Savagnen", "Pulsar", "Trousseau", "Pinot Noir", "Chardonnay".

Weng Jeong

A bottle for wine produced from the Savagnen grapes in the Jura region. This wine matures for six years in a barrel under a film of yeast. The volume of the bottle is 620 ml. It is the only white wine in the world that is served at room temperature.

Fortified wine

A distinctive feature of this bottle is the convex "neck", which prevents the appearance of plaque, and the dark glass. Used for Madeira, Marsala, Vermouth and Porto.

Notch on the bottom

The notch says nothing about the quality of the wine. The recess is created so that during long-term aging, the sediment in the wine collects on the walls of the bottle. This helps to prevent the beverage from becoming cloudy while serving. Also, the depth of excavation depends on the specifics of the region of production.

Cork

In the store, you most often come across bottles with a screw or classic cork, which you need to take out with a corkscrew. Classic cork is made from natural cork or cork scraps or synthetic materials. A cork made from natural materials is better because it lets microscopic doses of oxygen into the bottle. This helps the guilt to develop and age. Also, pay attention to the length of the plug: the longer it is, the better.

The screw plug is used by winemakers in New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Germany and the USA. It is made of an aluminum alloy and completely blocks the oxygen supply, preventing the wine from deteriorating and aging. It is recommended to drink such wines within 1-3 years after production. Recently, however, Australian producers have been clogging expensive wines with a screw stopper.

Capsule on the neck

Cheap wines have a plastic capsule. Dear ones are made of thick foil.

Label

The label contains information about the manufacturer and properties of the wine. Here are the main designations indicated on the bottle that are worth paying attention to.

Manufacturer name

Chateau Terre Rouge, Le G de Chateau Guiraud, Oyster Bay, Crimean Cellar, Inkerman - all these are the names of manufacturers. The lettering looks like a logo and is not always the first to catch the eye.

Production region

The region is usually written in large print. The most famous French ones are Bordeux (Bordeaux), Medoc (Medoc), Bourgogne (Burgundy), Chablis (Chablis), Graves (Graves), Champagne (Champagne). The main Spanish is Rioja.

Grape sort

The grape variety is usually large and legible on the bottle. You can confuse it with the name of the wine. Merlo ("Merlot"), Malbec ("Malbec"), Pino Noir ("Pinot Noir"), Pino Grigio ("Pinot Grigio"), Cabernet ("Cabernet"), Chardonnay ("Chardonnay"), "Muscat "," Isabella ", Risling (" Riesling "), Montepulciano (" Montepulciano ") - all these are grape varieties. It is easy for a beginner to get confused in them, but with experience the difference between them becomes clearer.

Sugar content

Unlike the strength, the sugar value is not indicated on the bottle. Instead, they write "dry", "semi-dry", "sweet" or "semi-sweet". Choose the one you like.

Harvest year

The vintage can be found on the bottle of wine. The yield depends on weather conditions, diseases, pests. To choose the best drink, check on the Internet which year was the best for a given wine.

Quality category

There are four of them:

• Vin de Table - light table wine for every day.
• Vin de Pays is a local or table wine with an indication of the origin of the grapes.
• Vin Delimite de Qualite Superieure (V. D. Q. S.) is a high quality wine.
• Appellation Controlee (A. C.) or Appellation D`origine Controlee (A. O. C.) - the highest category of wines.

Italian winemakers designate categories with other abbreviations. DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) and DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) mean the highest level, you can tell them apart by the pink ribbon. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is assigned to local wine.

Excerpt

When choosing Spanish wine, pay attention to the inscriptions Joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva. They indicate the aging of the wine in ascending order: from youngest to aged for at least five years. Wines labeled Gran Reserva are produced only in the best harvest years. The same designations can be found on Italian wines.

Filling type

Wine bottled in the vineyard is labeled with the phrase Mis En Bouteille A La Propriété, and wine bottled in the vineyard area is labeled Mis En Bouteille Dans Le Région De Production. If it says Mis En Bouteille Par, then the wine was bottled by a large company that buys grapes from private individuals. In this case, the quality of raw materials is not tightly controlled.