The 12 Mistakes You Make Buying, Ordering, and Drinking Wine

Wine gladdens the heart. Wine is part of the Greek tradition and an integral part of the Greek table. Known since Antiquity, we enjoy it in white, rosé or red, as an accompaniment to our dishes or as a rest after a hard day. But there are a few small wine tips you should pay attention to.

Among well-known drinks like whiskey, gin, rum and tequila, we make many mistakes when buying, ordering and drinking them. The same is true, and we probably make more mistakes when enjoying a humble glass of wine. Business Insider spoke with Sarah Abbott, official judge of the Master of Wine and the International Wine Challenge (IWC) who has worked in the industry for 15 years, and revealed the most common mistakes made by wine drinkers . “I work with all kinds of clients, I judge for IWC, I work with the ‘beautiful-weirds’ of wine and I work with unusual wines to bring them to market,” he said. There are 12 mistakes to avoid when it comes to buying it, ordering it, or even drinking it.

Common mistakes we make with wine

1. Is the screw cap ultimately cheap?

“The biggest mistake is that people think screw caps are only for cheap wines,” he said. “Those days are long gone, people need to let go of that old idea. “The screw cap is fantastic for aromatic wines as there is no risk of cork stains. Especially for New World and New Zealand wines, some of the best wines are bottled with screw caps. But he added that more traditional wine-producing countries and regions specializing in reds tend to put cork in because it’s “more durable when moved”, while when a screw cap is put on in place, it is more likely to break the seal.

2. You’re not spending enough

“People don’t realize that by spending 2 euros more you get a lot more for your money. If you are on a budget, try to buy a good bottle at 8 or 9 euros a week instead of two bottles €4. If you’re really on a budget, drink beer,” he joked. “Wine is quite expensive to produce and there are other options for casual drinks. Wine is a bit more of a treat.”

3. Buy grapes and brands you know

“If you’re looking for something really tasty and at a good price, lesser-known names, varietals and countries are a great way to find great wines.”

4. He shopped in the vineyards

“If you want to experience something new, it’s worth going to a winery instead of buying it at the neighborhood grocery store.”

5. Ignoring the winners

“Look for award-winning wines. If you see something has won a medal but you’ve never heard of it, it’s worth a try.”

6. Assuming Cheap Whites Are Worse Than Cheap Reds

It’s a myth that cheap whites are worse than cheap reds, according to Abbott. “If you are very sensitive to tannins, which are found in red wines, a medium quality red can be a little rustic in its tannins, maybe a little unbalanced. At least with white wine you don’t have to worry about tannins. »

7. You don’t ask when you’re at a bar or restaurant what selection of wines by the glass you have

“When I order wines by the glass, I always say, ‘What wines do you have by the glass?’ If you go to a place and say “I’d like a glass of white wine” normally they would answer A, B or C, if they just give you a glass of white wine it’s probably a sign that they don’t don’t take it’s serious.”

8. You say no when a waiter asks if you want to try the wine

“When they say ‘Do you want to taste the wine?’ you always have to say yes. The question is not whether you like it or not, but rather whether it is imperfect or not. You should always have the opportunity to taste the wine. What you are looking for, what are unpleasant aromas, as if they taste like paper or if the cap has a little mold.

9. You overfill your glass

“People tend to overfill their glass. If you have a wine glass, fill it about ⅓ full as this allows the aromas to develop in the glass. “White wine doesn’t heat up very quickly, and if it’s red, it lets the wine breathe.”

10. Drink hot red wine and cold white wine

“People tend to serve white wine too cold and red wine too hot,” Abbott said. “The colder we serve a white wine, the less we taste it, because it attenuates its aromas. With red, if you let it warm naturally to room temperature, it goes really well,” he said, adding that lighter reds like Tempranillo and Beaujolais are perfect.

11. Store it upright

“If you’re keeping a special bottle for more than a few weeks or months, store it flat, on its side, and try to keep it away from bright lights and high temperatures. You don’t want temperatures to get too hot or too cold: a wine rack in the kitchen, provided it’s not next to a fridge, is fine, for example. He added that for very good wines – five, 10 or 15 years old – it is worth looking for storage solutions that can better control humidity and temperatures. However, for typical wines, “a wine rack in a cool, stable, low-light location is ideal.”

12. Holding an open bottle too long

We may open a bottle and return to it several times over the course of a week or two. However, the maximum wine shelf life should be one week – and that only when it comes to a strong, sweet wine like port, medeira or sherry. “The more alcohol and sugar the wine contains, the longer it is preserved,” Abbott said. Of the sweet wines, he said: “Once opened they will last a week, just re-cork and refrigerate. For white wine, if a cork or cork is used and refrigerated, it will only last one to two days, or two to three for red – which also needs to be refrigerated to keep it “fresh and fresh”, a he declared.

“If you find that you’re not drinking all of your wine and want to drink more later in the week, you can get cheap corks that have a pump action and push the air out of the bottle,” he said. -he adds. “We can keep white wine for 3 to 4 days like that, red wine for 4 to 5 days.”