Food & Wine
How to avoid buying dud wines
Sometimes picking a good, enjoyable and not too expensive bottle of wine out of the maze of shelves can be a challenge. It can be a gamble and nobody likes a mouthful of wine that just won’t do the job. Over60 spoke to Rob Geddes, author of Australian Wine Vintages and one of the few Australians to be awarded the Master of Wine, about his top tips on what to look for when buying inexpensive wine (and dodging those dud wine buys).
- Buy the youngest vintage possible. Most wine is bottled ready to drink so if it sits gathering dust in hot wine shop it is less likely to taste as the winemaker intended.
- Buy the major varietals. Australia has great winemakers and great grape resources so pick out the major varieties like chardonnay, semillon, riesling, shiraz, cabernet and Grenache.
- My picks are shiraz cabernet and shiraz Grenache blends which are a great strength of Australian wine and deliver well above their price.
- Buy the major brands as Australia’s biggest companies always have a few Australian winemakers.
- Buy the most expensive out of two similar matches. So if there are two Jacobs Creek wines buy the more expensive of the two.
- Buy screw cap as they keep wine fresher for longer than cork.
- Some wines are sold off just because the next vintage is coming, not because they are losing quality. This is very true with semillon and riesling and both likely to hold for two to three years past vintage. Rosé is another one where the wines can hold for two to three years
- It is a fact that larger retailers can get better prices than small retailers. They have bigger buying power and because they are bigger businesses they need to order more wine. If they make a mistake it is likely to be a bigger mistake than a small retailer so watch out in September when they may discover their last inventory was a problem. The same applies for large wine producers. Look out for sales to grab a bargain wine for under $20.
- Watch out for end of financial year sales in June. There can be discounts on case buys on top of already discounted prices that make wine cheap as the retailers chase sales.
Related links:
A guide to pairing wine and food
Luxe to less wine guide: cabernet sauvignon
Quality wines that won't break the bank