10/04/05 Wine styles

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and this week we are going to continue to answer a backlog of email questions. A listener wrote to ask "Often you refer to the style of a wine. Does it state on the label anywhere what the style of the wine is? How do I know what style I am getting?" When purchasing a wine for the first time we are often hesitant if we are not familiar with the producer. When it comes to determining what style the wine is made in there are usually very few or no clues on the label. This is one of the reasons that I regularly encourage you to make friends with a wine retailer. As they get to know you, and your tastes, they will guide you to wines made in the style that you most enjoy. Otherwise, you are on your own in the trial and error world of searching to find wines that suit your tastes. Not that this is such a bad thing  it can be fun! However, if you elect to go in this direction let me point a few things out. Look for a description of the wine on the back of the bottle, or a tag that hangs down from the shelf where the wine is being sold and you may get a clue as to what style the wine is made. However, there is no guarantee. I find that many of those descriptions are written by the marketing department and are often inaccurate. Therefore, unless you are familiar with the producer and have enjoyed their wines in the past I suggest you ask for a recommendation. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.