With a major shift to online shopping over the last decade, it is increasingly difficult for a single wine to stand out among a sea of bottle shots and tasting notes. Asking an AI chatbot on a website is not nearly as engaging and knowledgeable as the cellar manager at your local liquor store, but there are some indicators you can work with to decide if a wine is of suitable quality or not.
Of course where the opportunity arises, visiting wineries for tastings, or noting down a bottle of wine that you enjoyed at a restaurant are wonderful ways to try new wines before committing to a whole bottle purchase. Yet where this is not possible, I have outlined a few items that I recommend considering when purchasing a bottle of wine online.
Provenance
The first step is to decide if you wish to purchase a bottle from a wine region you know of or if you wish to diversify your palate. If you are a Burgundy fiend and know exactly which appellations you do and do not enjoy, then the field narrows significantly! But if open to some new options whereby you have a grape type in mind, the best thing to do is to research where that specific grape is known best.
For example, if you are eager to try a Riesling, the surest way to secure a quality bottle would be to narrow your search to Alsace in France, or more locally the Clare Valley in South Australia. Once you have a region and selected a bottle or two, you can move down the next few items to decide if it is of suitable quality.
Vintage
For those well versed in the Bordeaux or Burgundy realm will already know that a wine's vintage can make all the difference. While most wine regions across the world tend to focus on the latest vintage in bottle, it is always worth taking those extra few seconds to research what the impact the vintage had on a wine. For some abundant years wines may be a little more fleshy and fruity, for years of reduced production due to harsh weather, the wines may be more dense and concentrated, bringing out the depths of the premium grapes that made it to harvest.
The Wine's Journey
If you find yourself spending a decent budget on a wine that has been cellared for a few years, the most important question to ask is how was it stored? If you happen across a birthyear bottle that you are excited to have as a centrepiece at your next birthday, the last thing you want is to open a completely ruined wine. Checking in with the seller as to how it has been stored, how many hands it has passed through and how it will be transported to you is important.
Getting confirmation that the wines come directly from the wineries with no middlemen, or that they are stored in temperature controlled warehouses and shipping containers on their journey to Australia is the best way to ensure a wine is of sound quality. Questioning the delivery style also assists here, with Australia being a very warm country, all top quality wines should be delivered via temperature controlled couriers where possible. While it does not guarantee that a wine remains untainted, it heavily reduces the possibility.
Critic reviews and ratings
A great tool many online wine stores offer is critic ratings and reviews on all their wines. For those less versed in the wine world, reviews are a great way to get an insight into a wine before having tasted it. Yet what you may discover with time is that every critic has their own way of tasting and style of writing, there is no way to be completely objective when sampling a wine so the palate of the critic can influence ratings. What I recommend here is to look up ratings and reviews of previous wines you have enjoyed, read through these reviews and decide which aligns best with your thoughts on the wine. Then when looking for new wines, you may weight that specific critic's reviews more heavily than that of other critics.
Recommendations from friends and family
One element I love to lean on when looking for a qualitative wine to try, is the recommendations from those I know. Often the people you enjoy drinking wine with develop a similar palate to your own over time, understanding what one another enjoys and dislikes. Hearing a friend rave about a particular bottle or producer instantly excites me into trying the wine. Plus, if in the end you do not like it, you know who you can offer the rest of the bottle to!
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At the end of the day buying a wine online can be difficult but if going into it with an open mind and running through the general checks before clicking pay now you will end up with an enjoyable experience. Budget does not determine quality, it is your own palate and how it plays off the flavours, structure and overall feel of the wine as you enjoy it. Of course any time you wish to purchase something really special, conversing with a professional is the best way to go. Giving us a call at Clos Cachet to secure a Grand Cru Burgundy, or a Magnum of Champagne, or even just a six pack for your next gathering, we will always be happy to discuss options and provide input.