Top Tips When You Buy Wine Online
When you buy wine online, you cannot smell it, see it, or taste it as you can in a restaurant. As a restaurant, however, the bottle of wine has been sitting in a wine cellar for perhaps decades, and nobody knows what it tastes like until it has been opened. If you stick to well-known brands and vintages from reputable wineries, you can find excellent places to buy online wines.
Many sites offer many online selections for buying wine. Wine gift baskets take all the uncertainty out of online wine buying. Online wines are grouped by occasion, type, and price. Top-selling wine accessories and glassware are offered. Smaller “thank-you” style online wine gifts are sold. Try a gift certificate if you can’t decide. There is also a rewards club available with money back on future online wine purchases.
They focus on ease of choice, regardless of your online wine buying experience. First-time buyers are greeted with 6-bottle wine tasting packs. Pre-selected wine assortment packs are sold. Online wine purchases are only shipped in multiples of 6 bottles, but the shipping is free. Wines are selected for online sale by actual wine tastings held by the company. Gift certificates are available. Search by region, wine type, delivery region, and price. Search results include the wine, links to the wineries that produce it, prices, and vintage. Like the other online wine sales sites, gift certificates are sold.
You probably don’t want to buy tremendously old and expensive bottles of wine online, unless you can afford the risk. These websites and others like them offer high quality, inexpensive online wines for sale. Online companies cannot ship to some locations, however. When you buy wine online, verify first that the bottles can be shipped to your desired destination.
Among the most difficult things to learn when it comes to wine is how to read and understand the mysterious wine label. Labels on wine bottles come in a variety of styles and it’s even possible to have a label custom made for a special occasion like a wedding or other special event. This can be a fun way to celebrate and commemorate special events and increase everyone’s excitement. But there are certain pieces of information that are normally included on commercial wine labels and anyone who purchases wine should learn how to read and interpret specific facts. This can be especially difficult for beginners and is further complicated if the label is written in a foreign language.
Common to every bottle of wine is a label that indicates the maker of the wine or the name of the winery. This information is helpful and easily recognisable so that you can easily identify your favourite brands in the future. Another piece of information usually found on the wine bottle is referred to as the appellation. This simply means the location where the grapes are grown and can be stated as a country, a region or be as specific as a particular vineyard. The next common item found on the label is called the vintage which represents the year in which the grapes were harvested. The year harvested is not the same as the year the wine was bottled as it is often common to age a wine for years before putting it in a bottle.
Additional information sometimes included on the label is the type of grape used in making the wine. Some labels include the level of ripeness the grapes had when harvested and some include estate bottling information to indicate whether the wine was made with the wineries own grapes. Other information included is often regulated by governing bodies but varies from country to country. Many wine producers include optional information on the label to further promote their product or to identify it in some way. With a little practice, reading a wine label can be mastered by even the newest of wine drinkers.
Having a wine cellar is the ideal way to protect those wines you want to preserve for years and years. While not all cellars or basements may be ideal for one storage, there are adjustments you can make to turn your cellar or basement into the perfect wine cellar.
There are certain qualifications a wine cellar must possess in order for a wine to age properly. Wine does best in darkness, high humidity, very minimal vibration, and a constant temperature. If wine is exposed to sunlight, which contains ultraviolet light, it actually ages the wine too quickly, and high humidity keeps the cork on the wine bottle fresh and secure. The constant temperature, however, is the most important factor in keeping your wine fresh. The worst thing you can do for your wine exposes it to extremely hot or cold weather or inconsistent temperatures. Although wines may differ inappropriate storage temperatures, the average is around 60% Fahrenheit. This fairly mild temperature will cause the wine to age more slowly, making them last longer.
We all know that it can be very difficult to keep any room a constant temperature without any equipment, right? That is the beauty of technology. There are now a variety of electronic devices available that can be installed in your wine cellar to keep it at a constant, even temperature, ensuring that your wines will not spoil from premature ageing. Once you have your wine cellar conditions under control, there is another thing you need to do; bring in the wine! Believe it or not, there is more to it than just piling the wine bottles into all those wine racks. With all the space in your wine cellar, you want to make sure you organise all your wine bottles accordingly, that way you will always know where a certain wine is without having to spend forever searching it out.
The best way to organise your wine is by type and age. You never want to mix your young and old wine together, because then the majority is bound to be opened too soon, or too late.
It is very important to get the right storage equipment for your wine because it plays a large part in the long term drinking quality and worth of your wine. The worst thing you can do for your wine bottles is to just throw them in a box in your basement or even arrange them upright on a shelf. Wine bottles must be stored horizontally, which is why they sell different racks and cabinets, especially for personal wine storage.
You might be reading this wondering, oh boy, now I have to go out and spend an arm and a leg just to accommodate the preservation needs of my wine! There is no need to worry because there is no end to the wine storage possibilities. You can find the perfect size and colour you need for your wine, without going over your budget. You can buy racks and cabinets at a store or online, custom made or a kit you can put together yourself.
There is more to wine storage than just the objects themselves. Temperature and humidity are also a very crucial part of proper wine storage. If you are going to be storing your wine for a longer period of time, the humidity should be between 55 and 65%. This keeps the corks from getting old and shrunken. For long term wine storage, it can be best to store your wines out of your house in a safe building that can better accommodate the needs of your wines.
Short term wine storage is a bit easier. These wines are generally safe to keep in racks in your own house. However, they still need to be placed in the right amounts of humidity; between 60 and 80%. If you choose to store your wine at home, one of the best places for your wine racks is in your basement.
Whether you are an avid wine collector or just like to have some wine handy for special occasions, the storage possibilities are endless. You just need to get out and look for the ones you want, and that will best keep the quality of your wine.
In this video called Wine Storage for Beginners, there are 7 easy tips from a professional called Marc Supsic, will show you the best way to store your wines, in any living space, on any budget.