So I'm looking to begin cooking with wine more often. The thing is, I've never really developed a proper 'taste' for wine, if you would.
Most wine recipes state to use a wine that you would drink. I can drink cheap wine that costs like, $10 a bottle. I can TRULY appreciate wine that costs $40 a bottle, but that's kind of expensive.
What constitutes 'good' wine, and how much am I looking to pay for each bottle?
Well I can only give you my opinion and with wine, like food there's an abundance of them so keep that in mind.
First of all if someone is new to wine and that 10.00 bottle tastes good, then it is good, full stop.
So in my opinion the "balance" is important enough to make this aspect the #1 indicator that a wine in "good" and a good wine shouldn't ever feel lopsided so basically we're looking for harmony among the acidity, which represents freshness along with sweetness, if any, and reds will have tannins, which is bitter and of course alcohol which indicates the intensity or heat of a wine and when these aspects are in harmony and no one thing sticks out and feels harsh the wine can be considered in balance and a quality wine. A good wine will never feel lopsided.
Also there's a thing called "length" which basically indicates how long the flavor lingers in your mouth. If the wine balance is basically gone after a few seconds I would consider that a good and simple everyday wine. If the wine lasts for up to and around 7 seconds, then dissipates, that is generally considered a better wine and anything longer is of a higher quality.
The next characteristic I want is referred to as "complexity" A lot of times I'll try a new wine and it's taste pretty good but all I can taste is say "cherry" well that's ok but if a wine has other characteristic along with the main one like the faint taste of spice as in pepper or vanilla, and earth tones like wet stone, or grass and then herbs like thyme and sage for example, that more complex and for most people more enjoyable, it is for me and indicates a better wine.
Also the "body" of a wine is very important and generally an immediate indicator of quality, and without going into the required details of what I would say is, once you take a sip of wine and allow it to sit on your tongue it should feel voluptuous, silky and creamy and mouth filling as opposed to collapsing and falling off the tongue like a cliff, you'll understand once you see it in action.
I think this is a good starting place and remember there's really fabulous 12.00 wines and really disappointing 60.00 wines, so understanding these simple and introductory rules will help most people. Reading about wine or me telling you anything about wine is like learning to cook, you have to get involved and taste and trust your instincts. Cheer's
. A bit more in the Merlot as it lasts a lot longer. I use it for recipes and drink what left, once in a while is OK and I'm talking perhaps once a month.
