How to Determine A Good Quality Wine Vs. Personal Taste

Determining a good quality wine can be important to understanding the pricing of wine and finding good affordable wine. When you know how the quality of wine is determined, you can find better wine values or even use that knowledge to put together a wine gift basket for the wine lovers you know. However, official wine qualities can mean little when it comes to personal choice.

Instructions

1. Why is official wine values important? Official wine qualities are important for a couple of reasons. The wine industry must set standards to determine a good quality wine as a means for guidelines to wine production. Official wine qualities are also an important factor in determining the price of wine.

2. What factors determine wine quality? Wine quality is determined by a number of factors. The general factors the industry uses to determine wine quality are: variety of grapes, where the grapes were grown, the production method, the color, taste and viscosity of the wine. If the wine was matured for a longer period of time and in oak barrels, it will generally have a higher quality rating.

3. 

   Viscosity...What is that? Wine's with a higher viscosity will generally have a higher quality rating. Viscosity is basically the consistency of the wine. Wines with a high viscosity will be more syrupy and have a tendency to appear to stick to the sides of the glass. The viscosity is determined by the sugar and alcohol levels present in the wine.

4. So what does it all mean to you? While it is important to understand how the official quality of wine is important, what you really care about is personal taste. Understanding and knowing the quality of wine can be useful when you throw a wine tasting party or are seeking a bottle of good affordable wine as a gift. But for you personally, the quality rating of a bottle of wine means very little when it comes to personal taste. A bottle of wine could be the most expensive or have the highest official quality rating, but if you don't like it, you're still probably not going to buy it.

Tips & Warnings

• Knowledge of determining a good quality wine is helpful in understanding wine values.

• Choose wine because you like it, not simply because of its quality rating or price tag.

• Don't drink and drive.

• Always drink responsibly.

Resources

• Fool Proof Wine Values
• Finding Quality Wine On Line
• Wine Quality: Tasting & Selection