How To Purchase Wine

Buying wine is what we’ll be looking at in this section of our wine guide…

Supermarkets are the biggest suppliers of wine to consumers; it’s availability next to everday items such as bread and milk making it an impulse buy on many a shopping trip. Your first few wine purchases were probably at one, and attracted by low prices and familiar labels, you’ve likely continued to go back for more.

However, in terms of the quality and range of wine stocked, the average supermarket doesn’t fare well. Despite displaying different labels and originating from different countries you’ll find that they soon start to taste very much the same. This is because they are noy the result of small scale agriculture; rather they are industrial products, made in the winery, not the vineyard, to a recipe.

A significant step-up from the supermarkets are the merchants, whether they are national or regional chains. Wine purchased from these will result in you getting a lot more pleasure for your money. Some of the wines stocked will be the same as in supermarkets but they’ll be outnumbered by higher quality ones. National chains in particular have considerable buying power, and offer interesting varieties of wine at appealing prices.

Small independent merchants also have much too offer. In this type of outlet you will usually receive excellent and knowledgeable service and advice. It’s normal for the employees to have tasted the wines on sale, and so you can ask their opinion on any that interest you. None of this happens in your local supermarket.

Mail order and the internet are another two wine buying options to consider. Why limit yourself to a small, familiar range encountered on the weekly shopping trip when you can have access to tens of thousands of wines from these sources? Delivery normally takes just a few days and postage charges are more than reasonable. It’s an increasingly popular way to purchase wine.

Alternatively, you could visit, and buy buy directly from, the wine producers. For real wine enthusiasts, there’s no better way; taking in the landscape the grapes were grown in and meeting the people who grew them will tell you much more about a wine than any label or review possibly could. Most wine producers, be they in Germany, France, Australia or anywhere else, will usually have some facilities to allow visitors to taste their produce. As well as the advantage of tasting a number of wines before choosing whether or not to buy, it’s also likely that you’ll be able to get them at discounted prices.