How to pick a good bottle of wine
Tips I learned while researching my latest story
This week I published my first story of 2020! It’s a nice long read about why wine is so complicated. I spent many a weekend over the last couple months researching, interviewing, and writing this, so I hope you’ll read it! (The illustration above, which is from the story, is by the wonderful Sarah Lawrence.)
I was inspired to write this piece because I love drinking wine, but I still felt intimidated — despite having access to great wine bars and stores in New York, I still didn’t know how to discern an average bottle from a really *good* bottle of wine in a store or restaurant when faced with an endless list of options.
While doing research for this story, I learned a lot — and now I feel a lot more confident about my wine selections than I used to. Here are a few of the tips I learned along the way about how to discover good wines to try that I didn’t include in my story — maybe these will be helpful to you, too!
Decide what you like and don’t feel bad about it. So much of wine is about personal taste — there is no objective standard of what is “good” — it should be about what you like. You don’t have to like super dry, tannic red wines if that’s not your thing. I like really light and drinkable wines! That’s totally fine! You don’t have to apologize for it! But it’s good to know what you like.
Check the back of the bottle to see who imported the wine: I interviewed some great wine importers for my story to better understand how wine distribution works. And I started to notice names of certain wine importers popping up a lot on bottles I liked. If you find a wine you like, check who imported it — it should always be on the label on the bottle — and then start looking for other wines they’ve imported. Importers like to curate a portfolio of wines based on their taste, so if you liked one of their wines, chances are you might like others. Two importers I interviewed for my story were Jenny Lefcourt of Jenny & Francois Selections, and Tess Bryant of Tess Bryant Selections. Now when I see Jenny & Francois or Tess Bryant’s name on the back of a bottle, I trust their taste and know I’ll like the wine. Some other importers I like: Zev Rovine Selections, Louis/Dressner Selections, Amy Atwood Selections.
Follow importers you like on Instagram: Here’s where it gets fun! Follow importers on Instagram! As I did research for this piece, I started following winemakers and importers on Instagram. Importers are particularly great because they are always sharing exciting bottles and new releases from the winemakers they work with, so importers’ Instagram accounts are a great way to learn about new wines that you might like. Jenny & Francois’s Instagram is a favorite of mine.
Find a good local wine shop + follow them on Instagram: another key part of wine Instagram: follow shops! Find a good wine store in your area and then follow them on Instagram. They constantly post about wines they’re excited about too, so this is another way to discover new wines to try. (If you’re in New York, I love Wine Therapy and Astor Wines in Manhattan and Fermented Grapes and Vanderbilt Wine Merchants in Brooklyn).
You can tell how sweet a wine is by looking at the % alcohol on the label: A great tip that Madeline Puckett of WineFolly told me when I interviewed her is that you can tell gauge how sweet or dry a wine will be by looking at the % alcohol. During the fermenting process, the yeast in wine converts sugar into alcohol until the winemaker stops the process. If the % alcohol is pretty low, that means the wine will be sweeter. If the % alcohol is high, that means more sugar was converted into alcohol — so it’s going to be a more dry wine.
You can also read my story here!!
What I’m reading
Women’s unpaid labor is worth $10,900,000,000,000, New York Times
Will the millennial aesthetic ever end?, The Cut. Why every apartment looks the same.
We are all irrational panic shoppers, The New Yorker.
The miracle of moving a piano in New York City, New York Times.
So 2148 was a bust. But next time a woman runs for president will be different!, Washington Post. If you’re feeling down about Elizabeth Warren dropping out, this satirical column from Alexandra Petri is for you.
How I Get It Done: Parul Sehgal, Book Critic, The Cut.
Three good reads on coronavirus, quarantine, and prepping:
When coronavirus quarantine is class warfare, New York Times. (I’m lucky to have the kind of job that allows me to work from home if I need to — but not every job is so flexible)
You already live in quarantine, The Atlantic.
Preparing for the coronavirus to strike the US, Scientific American. Hear me out — this is a very good read on why prepping for the coronavirus isn’t overreacting, and it often isn’t about protecting ourselves but protecting others around us.
What I’m cooking
As I write this newsletter I am making this one-pot gingery chicken and rice for dinner tonight and my apartment smells incredible. I’m also making Sam Sifton’s oven-roasted shawarma chicken, which I’m going to use for lunches this week — it’s extremely easy and so good!
Thanks for reading! If you like this newsletter, you can click the “heart” at the top of this post on Substack or share it on social media or forward to a friend — they can subscribe at nishachittal.substack.com. You can follow me on Twitter here and Instagram here. And if you have thoughts on this week’s newsletter or suggestions to include in the future, feel free to reply to this email and let me know.