How to Choose Wine Like a Pro

If you have studied wine for any amount of time, you start to collect names of reputable wines in your head. Thus, you know that if you purchase a bottle of Château d'Yquem, it will probably be delicious. This entry, however, is to help the person with little or no knowledge to pick a bottle of good wine.
Labels: One of the foremost rules of purchasing wine is never buy a wine because of its label. I also believe it is just as true that a wine should not be rejected because of its label. That being said, I believe a label is important. It is the first impression we have about a wine, unless we previously read reviews about it. The label can tell a lot about how the vintner sees his wine. Photo credit.

Bottles: This is the real secret. It is not really a "secret", in fact, some think this method is a hoax. One person claims to have scientifically and mathematically proven the method is not a hoax. With the method I am going to impart to you, I believe you can choose a good bottle of wine 90% of the time: In general, the method is this: the bottom of the bottle tells you the quality of the wine. Flat bottomed bottle= less quality, the greater the punt (a.k.a. dimple), the greater the quality. Here are some photos to illustrate what I mean.



Bottle # 1: This bottle flat-bottomed. Photo credit.

Bottle # 2: This bottle has a very small punt. Photo credit.

It goes without saying, if you put the contents of bottle # 1 into the largest punted bottle manufactured, it will not be transformed into a fine wine. However, for the most part you can be assured a deep punt means good wine.

So why is this? It is simple economics. Flat bottomed bottles are the least expensive to produce. It is my understanding that all bottles start off as flat bottomed. When bottle makers create punts by pushing the glass up from the bottom, it makes the bottle appear heavier, larger, and more luxurious to the touch. The higher the punt, the greater the chance of breakage during manufacture, and thus the higher the indention, the greater the cost per bottle.

So how does this relate to the wine in the bottle? A vintner of a $3 table wine does not want to spend $1.50 for the bottle, as that would eat his profits. A vintner of a $30 wine would do well to spend the extra money because when the customer picks up the bottle, she can feel the bottle is distinctive. So, the secret is this: hold the bottle around the neck with the left hand. Insert finger into the punt to gauge the deepness of the indention. If it is very deep, the probability is that you are holding a good wine, or at least a wine the vintner thinks is worthy of a good bottle.

Disclaimer: The only claimed scientific data backing for this method is linked, above. As for me, it is just my observation, and I cannot guarantee you will like the wine you purchase just because there is a deep punt....