The Art of Buying Fine Wine

Buying wine should not be an intimidating process, yet for many this is exactly what it is. There are so many types of wines, so many brands and qualities that it is simply impossible to know them all. Also new brands appear on the market every year, so even the best wine connoisseurs among us can take a wrong turn with a new wine. So then how do we buy that fine wine without having to return it due to bad choice in the first place?

There are mainly two places that you can buy them offline: either at a store or in restaurants. And there are of course the online shops. Buying them at a store is usually better first of all because of price. Restaurants are known to overcharge. There are many stores that you can get your drinks from, such as supermarkets, discount stores and those small specialty stores that are focused on wines and other spirits and alcohols.

Maybe the cheapest place to buy it is at the local supermarket. They have really great prices but you might not find all the wine types that a specialized store has. However for general, average consumptions, these are the best.

If you go to a discount store you will be able to get those fancy private labels with the brand name on them. You won't find these usually in other places as they are made specially for those chains. The quality is good, but by no means excellent in the most cases.

Finally you have those great specialty stores that have a beautiful selection of wines usually from all over the world. Beware though as the prices are higher here than in any other stores. You can even get here many types of accessories such as the famous decanter stopper and corkscrew. These shops have wines categorized in any way you want: based on the country of origin, based on the color and type, based on price and anything else you can think of. You can even find them based on the types of grapes they are made of.

Truth be said, these last ones are the stores where you will find those fine wines that cost a small fortune but are a delight for any real wine enthusiast. Usually they are in separate rooms that are either locked or they have them in a side area in the back of the store.

Consuming a good quality red wine needs decanting in a crystal decanter for maximum effect. Visit crystaldecanter.org for anything you'd ever want to know on the subject of decanters and their uses for wine consumption.