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By TastingSpace

I’m not a wine connoisseur. I don’t even own a decanter. (Some of my married friends own several.)

But I like wine, especially trying different kinds. There are tons of resources out there to help you learn about wine. But I don’t have time to read them. So I learn by doing, or . . . by drinking.

My only problem is knowing which bottle to pick. If you put me in a wine store with over a thousand bottles, I either need a sommelier or a psychiatrist.

I usually start by studying the notes that hang by the bottles. The ones with names attached to them like Wine Spectator or Robert Parker or Bill, the stocker. I contemplate the pictures and colors of the label. I analyze the pricing structure and weigh costs and benefits. Then after an hour or so, when I’m completely frustrated, I make a completely arbitrary decision.

So I’ve come to this conclusion. I need help. And, since my shrink has his limits, I need to find a wine store with people who can help me through the process of buying a good bottle.

All wine stores are not created equal. Here are some of the factors to think about when choosing a wine store:

1) Selection

Don’t be fooled. Having thousands of bottles is not the same as having a good selection. Many large liquor stores stockpile wine with labels that are heavily advertised and sold with the largest discount. You may walk into a store and think you’ve got thousands of choices, but all you really have is same bottles repeated over and over.

What makes a good selection? Look for a store: (1) with a knowledgeable wine buyer and (2) with a variety of tastes, regions, and prices. A good selection will offer both wines that are familiar and unique. Why is selection important? Think of it as playing the odds. You’re much better off choosing from a few hundred wines tasted by a knowledgeable buyer than from several thousand that were trucked en masse.

2) Storage

If you walk into a store and start to sweat, turn around. Wine should not be stored at temperatures over 80 degrees, or it will lose its flavor. That’s why wine is usually made and stored underground. Avoid large warehouses where the temperature may be hard to control. Seek out a wine store where the workers are happy wearing sweaters in the summer. It’s likely that the wine will be well-cooled and happy too.

3) Information

A good wine store is a good source of information. Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions and seek out staff recommendations. Many stores in Kansas City offer wine tastings, which are a great opportunity to try before you buy.

4) Price

Of course, wine prices vary widely, and I’ve never found one store that’s consistently cheaper. Even the big discount shops are not always money savers. After you’ve found a store that you like based on the other three factors, you can save money by subscribing to that store’s newsletters or joining its tasting club. Often, stores send out special deals and offerings to these customers first.

A special fifth category is convenience. This matters especially when you’re buying in bulk, or if you are looking for a quick pick-up on the way home from work. It’s good to know where several good stores are in town, so that you’ll know which one to hit whenever the feeling strikes.

Here are my picks (in no particular order) for great wine stores in Kansas City:

1. Cellar and Loft. Located in Brookside, this little shop is much more than meets the eye. The upstairs is the “Loft,” a showplace of new and antique home furnishings and décor. Downstairs, you can wind your way around “Cellar,” a labyrinth of sorts with a good variety of wines, beers, gourmet foods, kitchen items, and more. 112 W 63rd St, Kansas City, MO, (816) 444-2444.

2. Cellar Rat. This unique boutique in the Crossroads is the anti-superstore of wine. Cellar Rat prides itself on offering a hand-picked selection with personalized service. Cellar Rat’s restored building is impressive itself. The 5,000-square-foot shop at also carries artisan beers, gourmet meats, cheeses, spirits, cigars and chocolates. 1701 Baltimore Ave., Kansas City, MO (816) 221 9463.

3. Vino 100. If you are in South KC, you should check out Vino 100. Vino 100’s concept is to offer over 100 bottles of wine for $25 or less. The store is well-organized and the also offers a unique selection of cigars, single-malt scotch, cognacs, port, smoking accessories and wine gifts. 13135 State Line Road, Kansas City, MO, 64145 (816) 941-VINO (8466).

4. Lukas Liquor / The Wine Bar. If size matters to you, Lukas Liquor bills itself as the midwest’s largest merchant of fine wines, spirits, and malt beverages. It has recently expanded by adding the Wine Bar, which offers cooking classes, event space for corporate teambuilding or meetings, and regular wine and liquor tastings. 13657 Washington Street, Kansas City, MO 64145, (816) 942-8707.

5. Rimann Liquors. No matter where you are in Kansas City, there is likely a Rimann Liquor nearby. Stores are located in Lenexa, Prairie Village, and most recently, in Briarcliff. For three years in a row, Food & Wine Magazine named Rimann in its list of “Top Wine Shops in America” based on selection, service and advice. Briarcliff: 4155 North Mulberry, Kansas City, MO 64116, (816) 587-3399; Prairie Village: 3917 Prairie Lane, Prairie Village, KS 66208 (913) 236-5311; Lenexa: 15117 W. 87th St. Parkway Lenexa, KS 66219 (913) 492-1604.

6. Ensimnger Liquors. Ensimnger offers a variety of wine personally selected by its proprietress, Judy Ensminger. It’s Judy’s belief that “there are no bad wines, just different wines for different events.” 11052 Quivira Road, Overland Park, KS 66210 (913) 469-9006.

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About the Author: For more information about Kansas City restaurants, dining and entertainment, visit TastingSpace.com: Kansas City’s local, comprehensive and interactive restaurant guide, TastingSpace.com!

Source: www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=165450&ca=Food+and+Drinks

Author: Louise Truswell

No matter what you may have heard elsewhere, buying good wines cheaply is easy. Simply follow these useful tips and you’ll be well on the way to finding great value wines without compromising quality.

Firstly, always “back the little guy”. By this, we mean hunting down small, boutique wineries, which don’t have large advertising budgets to convince you to buy their wines, or cash to buy space on supermarket shelves. Instead, the only way that they can get their wines noticed is to ensure that the quality is of a very high standard. Wines of this type can be bought from retailers who support small producers.

When looking for a decent, cheap wine, a good tip is to seek out less fashionable regions. The wine trade is obsessed with fashion and the result of this can be a compromise in quality. Wine estates in Bordeaux and California for example, are often more known for their investments by millionaires, rather than the wine itself. So to enjoy good wines without the fashion tag, you should search out the retailers who source their wines from places that make similar wines. Chilean Cabernet Merlot is a good alternative to Bordeaux, while Grenache/Syrah blends are a perfect substitute to Chateauneuf du Pape and Chilean Chardonnay is to Chablis. And don’t forget New World fizz if you are looking for a cheaper alternative to Champagne.

Another useful hint is to avoid wine brands and heavily advertised wines. Why? Well, large brand wines are produced in significant volumes, using mass production techniques, and as winemakers look to achieve consistency, they compromise quality by using artificial processes such as adding sugars and adding citric acid to their wines. In addition, they heavily promote and market their wines, meaning that significant mark ups are likely.

Similarly, big name bargains are a definite no no. Although, through their buying power, supermarkets and large wine retailers can force producers to sell wines at incredibly low prices, they can only do this at the expense of the quality of the wine. To make ends meet, producers will be forced to plant on land that isn’t good enough to bear the region’s name or worse, they will increase yields and dilute the wines. So while a bottle of Chablis for a fiver may sound great, we guarantee that it will leave you feeling disappointed!

Finally, make sure that you buy your wine from an online wine retailer. Online wine retailers will offer you far better value for money compared to supermarkets and ordinary merchants, as they don’t incur many of the building costs, which are then passed on to you, the customer. Also, as online retailers aren’t restricted by shelf space, they can offer an unlimited range of wines that ordinary merchants don’t necessarily have space for.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/wines-and-spirits-articles/how-to-buy-good-wines-cheaply-264502.html

About the Author:

Louise Truswell has been working in and writing about the wine business for years.
Buying good wines cheaply is that simple. To choose from Virgin Wine’s new Cheap Wines range, visit www.virginwines.com

By Jean Bolton

These days it is not that hard to find a gift for someone. The internet made it possible for anyone with a connection to be an arm chair consumer. Back in the old days you would have to get out of your chair, go out the house onto the street and towards your local store. Even then you wouldn’t be sure to find a gift because the store could be out of stock or not carry that specific item at all. The internet lets you browse around until you find what you are looking for, compare with other online stores and when your satisfied with the offer you just pay for it and it will be send to your home. This way of shopping works just as well for gift certificates. When you want to give a wine gift certificate from an online shop it is so easy, you only need to click your mouse a few times.

More options then ever

Now that we can order our wine gift certificates online a whole new world or other options open up for us. First, like we said before, you can compare different stores with each other to determine which one is best. The gift certificate receiver can browse the website of the shop and choose exactly that type of win he or she would like. Or if the receiver of the gift would rather like some wine accessories then that is possible as well.

One of the other advantages of a gift certificate from an online wine store is the gift customisation. Most online wine stores have the option of creating a gift basket that is totally customised to the wishes of the buyer. The person who received the online gift certificate can create a special and unique wine gift basket by choosing from a wide range of wines, accessories and all kinds of cheeses and chocolates. In the end you could say that because of the online wine shops and their gift certificates everybody is happy the gift giver and the gift receiver and, of course, the web shop.

A world of opportunities

Purchasing wine online is not the only use of a wine gift certificate. There are other good uses for these certificates. You could arrange a wine tasting, which is getting more and more popular these days, and you can arrange it all online. You can also purchase restaurant gift certificates online. With all these different types of gift certificates that you can buy online these days, the receiver will not only enjoy the wonderful product that wine is but will see it as an experience as well.

It’s better to get what you want

You might think that giving a certificate is an easy way out and given by people who don’t know what to give but that’s often not the case. The perfect thing about a wine gift certificate is that the receiver will get what he or she really wants to have and with an online one the choosing just got a little bit more relaxing.

About the Author: Jean Bolton loves to give gifts and wine is her favorite. She shows at Wine Gift Site what you can do with wine when it comes to giving. Visit her site if you want to make your own wine bottle gift bags from fabric.

Source: www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=247032&ca=Food+and+Drinks

Author: Andrew Roberts

E-commerce websites have made the lives of people easy with their ability to connect the buyers and sellers of various products and services. Purchasing your favourite wine through online sources is quite an easy task. The only thing you need to buy wine online is an Internet connection with which you can browse through the different websites offering wine online. Websites are vying with each other to grab the majority of those customers who are buying wine online, and a lot of money is spent on promotion of their products to get great return. But how do you know where to go to get the best price for wine online?

To buy wine online you need to be sure about your tastes (or that of a friend, if you are buying a gift) and the budget you would want to spend on the purchase. When you buy wine online you can get a lot of options to choose from and at the same time you will spend only a very small amount on the purchase. The customer reviews available in the websites make it easier for you to choose the right wine that would suit your taste and budget, and often reputable online wine merchants will provide tasting notes. In an effort to beat the competition, a lot of online wine shops offer concessions and discounts for their loyal customers. However, don’t be afraid to shop around for the cheapest price.

You can choose your favourite wines either by tracking down the online shops that sell a particular type of wine or by selecting the shops that sell wines from a particular region. An easy way to do this is do a search in the Internet using the search engines.

Customers have to be quite cautious while they buy wine online as there are a lot of low quality factory produced wines available in the poor quality online wine shops. So it is always rational to make sure that the website from which you are purchasing the wine is a reliable and trustworthy source.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/wines-and-spirits-articles/buy-wine-online-the-smart-approach-455704.html

About the Author:

A content writer by profession.

Author: Andrew Roberts

E-commerce websites have made the lives of people easy with their ability to connect the buyers and sellers of various products and services. Purchasing your favourite wine through online sources is quite an easy task. The only thing you need to buy wine online is an Internet connection with which you can browse through the different websites offering wine online. Websites are vying with each other to grab the majority of those customers who are buying wine online, and a lot of money is spent on promotion of their products to get great return. But how do you know where to go to get the best price for wine online?

To buy wine online you need to be sure about your tastes (or that of a friend, if you are buying a gift) and the budget you would want to spend on the purchase. When you buy wine online you can get a lot of options to choose from and at the same time you will spend only a very small amount on the purchase. The customer reviews available in the websites make it easier for you to choose the right wine that would suit your taste and budget, and often reputable online wine merchants will provide tasting notes. In an effort to beat the competition, a lot of online wine shops offer concessions and discounts for their loyal customers. However, don’t be afraid to shop around for the cheapest price.

You can choose your favourite wines either by tracking down the online shops that sell a particular type of wine or by selecting the shops that sell wines from a particular region. An easy way to do this is do a search in the Internet using the search engines.

Customers have to be quite cautious while they buy wine online as there are a lot of low quality factory produced wines available in the poor quality online wine shops. So it is always rational to make sure that the website from which you are purchasing the wine is a reliable and trustworthy source.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/wines-and-spirits-articles/buy-wine-online-the-smart-approach-455704.html

About the Author:

A content writer by profession.

Author: Caroline Silverstone

Wine is such a wonderful luxury, that it can be and is enjoyed by multitudes of people throughout the world. Most of these people never experience a one hundred-dollar bottle of wine. Yet there are so many different affordable wines on the market that are absolutely wonderful, that you need not break the bank in order to enjoy wine and trying new wines. You just need to know insider tips on finding the best wine at the best price.

Wine Tasting

One way is through wine store or liquor store sponsored wine tastings. Such events tend to generally be very low priced or even free. The free wine tastings tend to offer only a very few selections to try, usually around five or fewer. They often only have one wine of each type. However, many stores will do much bigger tastings, with thirty or more wines to taste and will typically charge between five or ten dollars per person. There are usually tables representing countries, wine regions or even wine producers, with a variety of different wines to sample before moving on to the next table. Usually staffed by “wine specialists”, these employees are armed with information to teach you about the wines you are tasting and give you advice about which selections to make. Quite often these types of wine tastings showcase wines from a variety of price ranges, depending of the income demographics of the area where the store is located.

Wine Bars

Wine bars are another route to go when looking for affordable wines. A general rule of thumb is that if you double the price of your glass of wine that you order in such places, you will have more than paid for a bottle of it. Therefore, if you try something that is $6 or less a glass, then you know that it will definitely be an affordable wine for you to buy for home. More and more wine bars also offer taste prices, as opposed to glass prices, which open up your possibility of testing out a couple of different types before committing to one.

Ratings

Familiarize yourself with the ratings systems for wines. Anything rated above 86 points is usually deemed to be very good. There are several different rating groups, which provide independent ratings and reviews of wines from any and all price ranges. Obviously, you make the final decision, but ratings are very useful if you are looking to buy good wines that are affordable too, without having first tasted them.

Wine Specialists

When you shop for wines, ask to speak with a wine specialist in the store to see if he or she has any recommendations. Often they are a good source of information. Apart from formal wine education, they can often advise you based on comments from other customers and from their knowledge of the volume of specific wines sold. If you happen upon a wine that a store usually “can’t keep on their shelves”, you may want to try it. It may be a much better bet than the bottle next to it that is the same price but covered in dust.

By putting these tips to work and doing a little extra reading on affordable wines too, you should be able to fill your wine shelves with great bargains in no time.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/how-to-find-affordable-wines-that-are-good-331657.html

About the Author:
Wine Gifts. Fine quality wine gifts and wine accessories at this unique wine gift store. Also find fine wine glasses from Riedel to Waterford.