3 Tips for Picking Wine at the Supermarket

Three tips for Picking Wine at the Supermarket

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As you are doing your weekly grocery market trek, you probably want to snag a bottle of vino to have on hand. Well, we know if we wish for superior, high-quality wine, one would search for an enoteca to avoid buying “acqua sporcà.” If you purchase wine at your local supermarket, use these three tips as your guide for buying the best bottle. 

Wines from the Tuscany Region

Fortunately, we live in one of the best winemaking regions so be sure you get something from the Chianti, Montalcino, and Montepulciano areas. Sangiovese, Brunello, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, and super-Tuscans should be sought after when browsing supermarket shelves. 

Wine’s Vintage

As a rule of thumb, you should avoid wines with anything three years before the purchase date for reds, two years for whites, and a disgorgement date no more than 18 months before the sparkling wines’ purchase date.

Wine Classification  

Remember in this order: DOGC, DOG, then IGT. DOGC (Denominazioni di Origini Controllate e Garantita) is the highest quality requiring manual harvesting from restricted areas. However, DOG (Denominazioni di Origini Controllate) still come from a designated geographical region and are subjected to standards and quality tests. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) does not have to conform to strict production standards. Wines without one of these three designations should be avoided altogether. 

In addition to the three tips above, avoid cheap plastic stickers, cardboard, and sparkling wines should be bottled in relatively thick glass for pressurization purposes. Considering the prices of water, electricity, operation costs, and the transportation that goes into a bottle of wine, it will cost more than five euro for a decent product sans hangover.