Given a wide range of wine labels, it is possible to get lost along the way when trying to choose the most suitable wine for the occasion and it seems that only experts could determine it.

You stand in front of the shelf or in front of a wine cellar, and you don't know which one to decide on. Do we almost always wonder where to start? How to choose the wine in a supermarket? What should the label say to know what is good? Would it be better to taste the wine? How should I choose according to the year of the harvest? Do I take a chance and choose an unknown one? Young or old? Red or white? What goes with what dishes? What does the colour of the wine indicate? How many degrees of alcohol do I choose? These questions are extremely important when it comes to wine quality. Our specialists at South Coast Winery offer the answers to these questions for you to learn more about identifying a good quality wine.

Good wine is a personal matter

Generally, we all agree on whether the wine we are drinking is good or not. But when it comes to deciding to what extent it is discord, because this is a matter of personal taste.

We all recognize when a wine has been made with care, the result of careful viticulture and millimetre winemaking, which are finally reflected in a higher value of the bottle. Now, when it comes to fine-tuning, the instrument that measures the final quality of a wine is the palate and, since we are all different, we have different opinions on how good a wine is.

However, there is no guarantee that you will like the wine that experts agree to rate as very good. In short, the person who tastes it is the only one who can decide whether a particular wine is good or not.

Group wine tasting

There are many degrees between good and bad and, although it is very frustrating the lack of a scientific method or instruments to measure wine quality accurately, it is currently possible to establish quality standards, based on the palate, in order to approach as objectively as possible when establishing what a good wine is.

So, what is a good wine?

As we have just seen, good wine is, above all, a wine that we like, although the best expert on the planet says otherwise. Likewise, if a wine totally displeases us, nobody can say otherwise, even if they receive the highest score in the best wine guide in the world.

Beyond this, the quality of a wine depends on a series of patterns that respond to what extent they meet a set of established conditions and that most consumer palates consider positive. These are the five conditions that a good wine must meet:

1. Balance.

The first of the conditions that a good wine must meet is balance. The balance can be understood in simple terms as a relationship and balance between the four elements that are essential in wine. These include tannin, acidity, sweetness and alcohol. A wine is balanced when none of them predominates over another, that is to say, nothing stands out when tasting it, neither an aggressive tannin, nor an inadequate sweetness, nor an exaggerated acidity, nor an excessive alcoholic predominance. Most wines can seem balanced to many people, the secret to knowing if any element is keeping the wine with food. Balanced wine perfectly accompanies most dishes.

In the wine, there is a play of strength: tannin and acidity are the elements for hardening. On the other hand, sugar and alcohol can be considered as the elements used for softening. The balance in wine is, therefore, the interrelation between its hard and soft aspects, as well as a key indicator of its quality.

2. Length

Length is a term used to describe a wine along the entire palate. A wine of good length, or long, is the one that prints all its flavour on the tongue and oral cavity, it is intense, and its flavour endures after having swallowed it. A short wine is one that produces a great impression at the beginning but quickly loses intensity. Length is one of the safest and simplest elements to recognize the quality of a wine.

3. Depth

This is another subjective factor and an immeasurable attribute of high quality in wine. We say that a wine has depth when it is not flat in the mouth and one-dimensional on the palate but instead seems to have layers of flavour. A flat wine can never be a great wine.

A flat wine represents, graphically, the wine that "knows nothing", which reminds us more to drink water than to drink wine. If the balance is the relationship between the main elements of the wine, the depth is its presence.

As we have seen, acidity, tannin and alcohol must be in balance but must be found. A wine without acidity, without tannin or with low graduation will never be a great wine.

4. Complexity.

Nothing is wrong with a correct, simple and direct wine. But a wine that later reveals different things about itself will be much more interesting. A complex wine is always discovering a new impression or a new taste for each drink, and these wines are considered of better quality.

5. Character

A wine with character is one that, like people, reflects a personal characteristic, usually from the land. A wine with character reflects its marked typicity for its grape varieties, for its regions, for its aromas, for its minerality and other things.

What is good wine?

If a wine tastes good, then it is perceived as good. So, is the answer to the question of how to recognize a good wine explained? Not quite! Of course, a wine must taste good. But not every wine you like is, therefore, a good wine.

However, our taste is a subjective sensation and not a characteristic that is inherent in the wine. If you want to know how drinkable wine differs from good or excellent wine, you have to judge according to objective criteria and put your taste behind.

You don't recognize the quality of a wine by the label or the grape variety. You have to try it. The price also rarely says anything about wine quality. While the price increases, the likelihood of having something bad in the glass decreases, but there are already good wines for around $10.00. Here is a great review on the wine’s taste characteristics.

Conclusion

In conclusion, what we draw here is: taste is subjective. Quality must be measured against objective criteria. The price, the grape variety or a nice label gives no information about it -, especially for beginners.