How to Choose a White Wine

Imagine you are at a dinner and you are asked to choose a white wine but you have no clue how. There are a few things you need to know that will make the process less painful.

Want to be able to impress your date, boss or even yourself at dinner when choosing a white wine. Most of us don't have time to read about the history of wine making or confer many hours on how a grape becomes a wine. For many of us "time is of the essence" here are a few suggestions that will make you feel more confident. This article is like the cliff notes of white wine. If this wets your appetite think about taking a wine class, or reading a book about the subject.

Price

A word of advice don't choose a white wine that is too expensive for you. Look at price ranges and the wines that fall into what you can afford.

Types of wines

There are types of wines like there are types of grapes. White wine falls into about six different varieties. Light, dry wines are rarely aged and you drink when it is young. White wines that falls into this category should be chilled and can be drunk with food. Yes, there are certain white wines that you should not drink with food!

Next are dry white wines which are kind of sweet. When describing the sweetness think of plump, ripe fruit. How is this possible? It is all in the grape, different kinds of grapes can create different scented wines.

Then there are the medium sweet wines. You know how I mentioned some wines can not be drunk with food, this is the type of white wine I was talking about. A white wine like this is extremely sugary (not a word one uses a lot when talking about wine). Why? Before all the grape's sugar changes to alcohol it is put into a bottle.

Styles of white wine

White wines can be made more then one style. Orvieto refers to a style of dry white wine. Abboccato refers to a style of medium-sweet wine.

Fermented or aged

White and red wines are either fermented or aged. White wines are categorized by this fact, a white wine can be fermented or aged in wood while others are not.

To sum it all up choose a white wine that is in your price range. There a various types, different styles and categories for white wine. Take a deep breath, think about all you have learn and order.