WINE BUYING TIPS: Buy Good Wine WITHOUT Reviews! Reading the Wine Label...
Channel: ZIGGING by Mark Sigg
Date: 2021-07-22

As a sequel to my beginner's guide to buying wine, I'm sharing another set of tips so that you can buy wine with confidence. In my first video, we covered some basics on how to buy wine as a beginner: red wine or white wine, wine & food pairing, ideal price points as we seek to find great value with the best cheap wine in the Philippines; and best supermarket wine brands. Here we're taking this beginner's wine guide to the next level yet still keeping it fairly easy so that we all know what to look for when buying wine. Sure, we're now probably users of the Vivino Wine App where we can easily check wine reviews as rated by wine drinkers across the world! But, it just so happens sometimes that we don't have access to Vivino. Whether it's a connection problem or you're running low on battery, it does happen every so often that we're not able to use Vivino as readily as we'd like. In this video, what I'm sharing is how to buy good wine without reviews. Buying wine without Vivino is a purer experience: you get to buy wine based on your own judgment. Vivino can also take your wine tasting objectivity away, it's hard to disagree with thousands of people when they've already formed a popular opinion. But there have been many times that I've disagreed with the Vivino rating so I do encourage people to buy wine with confidence and without checking reviews by simply looking at what labels say about wine. I know that wine labels and buying wine altogether can be an intimidating feat. There is a lot of tradition and reverence that goes into wine so this is understandable. But, buying wine doesn't have to be a mystical experience. There are a few easy tips when checking wine labels to make this experience easier so that you can enjoy your next bottle soon! Here are 3 tips on reading wine labels so that you can buy your wine without having to depend on recommendations, reviews, and Vivino:

1st, look for wines that are more specific with their origin. Supermarkets, wine stores, and online stores already categorize their wines according to their country of origin. This is a start, but it certainly isn't enough. Aside from the country of origin, wines also reflect the State wherein the wine was grown (this is more applicable to wines from Australia, Canada and the U.S.A.). While a State provides some specificity, this unfortunately still is not specific enough. It's typically ideal to select wine that is specific in terms of the town or the province wherein the bottle came from. The more specificity in terms of location, the better! In the same way that in coffee, we put value in single origin beans, the same principle holds true for wine. Wine that is not a blend from different regions tend to be better. So a "California Wine" label is not specific enough, just as "Southeastern Australia". South Australia is a state, but "Southeastern Australia" is not, as it actually references 5 different Australian states: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, & South Australia.  

2nd, for Old World wines, look for the regulatory marks such as the DOC, the DOCG, the IGP, the IGT, and the AOC.These are regulatory seals imposed by governing bodies, some specific to the country while some are imposed across different countries. While a full discussion on this and its different tiers on wine quality would merit an entirely separate wine video in itself, it helps to know that the wine that you're buying has passed the standards of these regulatory bodies, assuring a level of quality. The IGP and the AOC are regulatory bodies in rance while the IGT, the DOC, and the DOCG are regulatroy bodies in Italy and Spain.

Lastly, while we may think that wines that boast of awards may be a good thing, I'm actually critical of such "credentials", especially for value price points. I am skepitcal of wines that try to overly impress. Awards and praises are not easily verifiable so seeing these medals and plaques printed on the wine label makes me less confident about the quality. of the wine.

These aren't hard and fast rules, as there would be of course exceptions. But these are general guidelines in hopefully helping you pick wine better.

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Missed the prequel to this video? Watch my Beginner's Guide to Buying Wine here:
https://youtu.be/_02HB2l5jjs

Can I distinguish between wines in a BLIND TASTING? Watch this video:
https://youtu.be/AgUkffYBvH8

Curious if Filipino food can pair with wine? Watch Jonessa and I take on Andok's new litson baka and find the perfect pairing:
https://youtu.be/HRBanGAMEto

Want to buy wine? Check-out a few of my favorite online stores below:

1. S&R
Buy wine from S&R even if you're not a member:
For P250 off on PICKAROO, use promo code: MARK7188. Download the app via http://bit.ly/zigpqaroo

Get P200 off on MetroMart:
http://bit.ly/zigmm

2. Thirst PH
https://bit.ly/ziggthirstph

3. Wine Depot
https://bit.ly/ziggthirstph