As a rule of thumb, if something 'grows' together, it probably goes together. This means Italian wines work well with Italian dishes, and so on. Any wine heavy in tannins will work well with nice fatty food, but for items such as oily fish you're better off with a low-tannin option such as a pinot noir. Also known as Shiraz, Syrah is a bold and rich red wine that’s grown throughout the world. It offers dark fruit flavors like sweet blueberry and peppery spices and is responsible for some of the most full-bodied wines on the market. It’s an almost meaty red wine with plenty of depth and character. Zinfandel: No time to read through our entire list? We’ve chosen the Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard River Stones Malbec 2016 as the overall best wine and the Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay 2016 as the best value wine. The 15 best wines of the year Rank Appellation: A legally defined and protected geographical area used to identify where grapes for a wine were grown. There’s no substitute for trying out wines and keeping a note of those you liked and didn’t like. But in the meantime, you can use our guide to the most common varieties to get you started:

Blind tasting: This allows for an unbiased evaluation of the wine and is when the identity of the wine is hidden from the taster. We’ve focused on affordable and mid-range bottles for this roundup, all of which offer good value for money while being completely delicious. Malbec goes well with meat, especially beef. Taste varies depending on where the grapes are grown, but plums, berries and spices are common flavours. It’s sometimes blended with other varieties, but is often a soloist in Argentina.

Find your perfect glass of vino with our pick of the best red wines from across the world

Then, taste the wine in small sips. Hold it in your mouth for five to 10 seconds and roll it across your tastebuds. Make sure to pay attention to the aftertaste, too: a good quality wine will linger. The top five best wine brands Masseto

Every barbecue requires a solid red wine to stand up to all that flame-grilling. Enter the 2016 Rioja Reserva, a deliciously affordable red that’s ideal with your summer BBQ. CVNE is a family-run wine company established in 1879 and specialises in the wines of Northern Spain. The family pioneered the oak-ageing process for Rioja, thus transforming thin, young wine into the powerhouse of warmth and richness that good Rioja is known for today. Indeed, this bottle has all those qualities and more. All wines on this list have been tasted and reviewed by VinePair’s tasting panel. We compiled an exhaustive list of our favorite wines this year, then whittled it down to 50 based on quality, value, and availability in the U.S.From the Casablanca Valley, Chile’s original cool-climate coastal wine region. This lively and fresh sauvignon blanc combines grapefruity and limey citrus with elderflower and peapoddy greenness. It’s tighter and dryer than many New Zealand examples, but all the better for it. Some of the best wineries to take a tour around include Paso Robles Wine Country, home to award-winning wines, a historic downtown, and breathtaking views, Nalle Winery, part of the Historic Vineyard Society, preserving California’s oldest vines, and Finger Lakes, known for their expertise and great experience for wine lovers wanting a closer look. Pour 30 to 60 ml (one to two ounces) of wine into a glass to taste it before serving. Swirl the wine in the glass, holding the stem, to expose it to a larger surface area. Smell the wine as you swirl it to release the flavors and varied aromas. A higher quality wine will offer different aromas the more it’s swirled.