Our guidelines extend from Light Intensity Whites to Full Intensity Reds, and include Sparkling and Sweet wines as well.

Do's and Dont's of Buying Wine
Anyone who wants to enjoy vintage wine has a problem: well-stored and well-maintained older wines are particularly difficult to come by, and often very expensive. After all, it's not in a wine merchant's interest to buy stock and then leave it in storage for years. If you're serious about wine, start a cellar. You'll be rewarded in years to come by having vintage wines available, when you want them.

• Do always buy what you like, but educate your palate by getting out to as many tastings as you can.
• Do take special offers on wine very seriously. The wine market is too competitive for wine merchants to want to sell you bad wine. Those offers are there to convince you to try good wines and then buy more of them.
• Do look out for sudden favorites, like Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy winners.
• Don't assume that rare or aged wines will be expensive. If a large amount of a particular wine comes on to the market at one time, you might be able to snap up a bargain.
• Do check the ullage on aged wines, which is the gap between the wine and the cork.
• Don't buy bottles with signs of wine having seeped through the cork. Seepage usually shows as crystals deposited on the seal, or red snail trails on the glass.
• Do look for undamaged labels. In particular, stay away from faded labels, as they're an indication the bottle has been exposed to light.
• Don't assume that just because you like a wine that it will age well.
• Do ask questions about how aged wines have been cellared, whether you're buying at auction or from a wine shop. If you're in a shop and see a bargain bottle of red, ask how much heat the wine has been exposed to. If it's straight from a professional cellar, buy it. If it's been on the shelf for a while, let it go.

   

Wine & Food Myth #1:
You can't pair wine with a salad because of the vinegar in the dressing
Au contraire. The acidity will accentuate the fruitiness of the wine.

Wine as an Investment
Wine is a commodity with its own boom and bust cycles. It has not generally reaped the returns that you might expect from an ordinary investment portfolio. Having said that, some lucky collectors have hit gold, as the reasonably priced wines that they bought way back when wines have suddenly come into great demand. As a general rule, beware of starting a cellar simply for investment purposes. That's not to say that there will not be good returns made on your wine; however, to ensure you get the best return on your wines, there are a number of issues to take into consideration.

Wine & Food Myth #2:
Red wine and fish don't go together.
Not true! Pinot Noir and grilled Salmon are a match made in heaven. Smoky, rich and delicious, these two compliment each other very well.

Rules for investing in wine:

• Store your wines in perfect conditions and keep good your cellar records up to date
• Only buy high-quality wines from good to great years
• Buy from reputable dealers
• Invest in magnums (when you can)
• Don't expect an overnight windfall
• Think before you sell your wine - that's a lot of drinking pleasure you're denying yourself.

   

Wine & Food Myth #3:
Cabernet and chocolate are a match.
Depends on the chocolate. remember that sweetness in food will accentuate tannin and bitterness in wine. So try semi-sweet or bitter sweet chocolates.

A crucial investment decision: cellaring
Buying aged wine can be a gamble. Until you open the bottle, you have no idea whether the wine is corked or even whether it's still drinkable. By knowing its cellaring history, however, some of the guesswork involved is reduced. This is because the cellaring history will account for bottle variation. Even minor variations in cellaring will produce marked variations in wines from the same vintage and winery. It's been proven again and again that average quality wines stored perfectly will beat badly stored premiums, and perfectly cellared premiums will outclass anything else. For this reason, unbroken cases direct from the winery will command top prices at auction. The more evidence you can give of proper cellaring, the more likely it is that buyers will be interested in your wines.

There's no doubt about it: invest in quality cellaring and the drinking and monetary value of your wine will reach full potential.

Where to find information on wine investing
For the serious investor, the world's classic wines offer a minimum investment risk - provided the wines are cellared properly. Keep an eye on what's selling by reading magazines such as “Wine Spectator" and "Decanter". Both have regular reports on wine auction prices from the major dealers in London and New York.