What are the best red wines?
Which grape varieties produce the best red wines? Merlot, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon? We probably all have our own views, but the answer must surely be one of choice.
Many of these grapes are grown in various parts of the world and are used, both on their own and within blends, to create quite a range of wines. So how do we go about finding out the very best ones?
Taste must be the most important thing of all and that's certainly very personal. Many of us have different tastes when it comes to food and it's natural that those differing tastes should also emerge when we talk about wine. One person may absolutely love a wine, while someone else may really dislike the same bottle of wine.
Similarly, different people often pick up differing flavours when tasting wine.
So how should you select the best red wine for any occasion? It certainly helps if you've tasted plenty before and hopefully made some very basic notes.
Making notes
When you're thinking about the taste of a particular wine, you might want to make a few notes to act as a reminder. As a basic example, you could look to record:
The name of the wine
The grape(s)
What food you accompanied it with (if any)
A rating (maybe out of 10?)
Further comments
That way, you'll be able to build up a list of wines that you like. You may find that some wines go particularly well with certain meals, or that you like one grape variety more than others. This should help you when you come to make choices then next time that you're about to buy a bottle of red wine.
Information on wines
What are the best red wines?
Finding good red wines
Buying wines direct
Tracking down wine suppliers
Are British wines any good?
Heard of British wines?
About Burgundy wines
Should you buy sparkling wine?
Wine presents online