In a restaurant I rely on a suggestion from the sommelier. In a cafe I choose one of the featured wines. The clerk in Nicolas always has some great tips.
However, when I go into a supermarket I don't know the years or specific vinyards for the regions to make an intelligent choice. I resort to that shopping fallacy - the higher the price, the better the wine.
Do you have some tips when faced with that wall of unfamiliar bottles?

I pick the pretty labels just as I do here in the US at Super Target. How sad is that?

I have developed the 6euro rule for the Lawchick family house wine. For mosre expensive wines and for a special occasion I tend to do a bit of research.

So nothing over six euros for daily consumption. I have found some great ones.

For some I did some resuarch - like in the larousse guide - but for others I took a gamble (high stakes - 6 euros!) - choosing the highest volume of alcohol in the price range coupled with some knowledge of what I like and don't like.

At the moment the Lawchick family and friends are being treated to a cellar full of cases of Bordeaux (5.69 per bottle) and cases of a Corsican while (dare I say - under 4 euros) and they are both ghreat.

This will probably not help you but assuming you are vaguely familiar with different regions, I would just experiment. I don't subscribe to that more expensive is better, though, since it is all personal taste. I often pick up wines from areas I know nothing about..in Italy recently I bought my first bottle of a Muller Thurgau..how else could I learn if not by tasting?

Trial and error! Set yourself a price range (Lawchick's 6 euros is fair) and buy whatever catches your eye! Best way to discover new wines

Choose pretty labels, more bang for the buck (higher alcohol percentage), experimentation...
I guess I use equally scientific methods - no screw caps, avoid cute names ("Goats Do Roam" or "Fat Bastard&quot, look for numbered bottles, no Mommesin, choose a bottle with a signature on it, find a bottle with the word "chateau" on it, shun any bottle with 2007 on the label (at least till next year), no "vin du pays", avoid Chateau Neuf du Pape in a mis-shapen bottle, look for the words "controlee" or "cru"...
Not that these techniques work, they just narrow down the choice.

I agree with all of the above and I also read the little bits of information supplied by the supermarket.
I've also had free wine and champagne tasting at a Monoprix!

For 3 euros, I find anything with the word Macon on it... or, in France only - anything "pink" from the East of Paris.

Works for me.
Actually, I was patronizing a very "hoity-toity" snobby wine shop (where the others used words like piquant, blackberry jam, etc., residual chocolate and tabacco - sheesh!) here at home and the owner and I agreed he'd set me up with great wines for less than $10...and he did.

My wife's grandfather was from Spain. He loved wine and he taught me this trick. If you are debating between two wines, choose the one with the higher alcohol percentage. Grapes with the highest sugar content (and therefore best flavor) produce more alcohol when they ferment.

Compare a $5 bottle of wine with a $30 bottle of wine. Almost always, the more expensive wine will have a higher alcohol content. So if you are choosing between two bottles with the same price, more often than not the better wine of those two will have more alcohol.

P.S. Please drink and travel responsibly!

Very good tips for me as I will be in Paris next week and probably buying a lot of Monoprix wine for the apartment.

So now the next question is - can anyone recommend a specific wine that they've purchased in a grocery store? Like for example, if I say I like a non-oaky chardonnay, can someone recommend something along those lines that I would find on the shelves of Monoprix? For 10 euros or less?

I'm not sure if you can find the same wines repeatedly there like you can here - like how I could tell someone here to get "Cakebread Chardonnay" or Kendall-Jackson and know that our stores would always have it.

well I know names of grapes for the types of white wines i like. and/or region names where they are grown. i buy partly by price, but not the most expensive, aiming for the 7-10 euro. since i often drink white tables wines produced in france at home from a local european wine shop, paris is not all that different for me.

White wines from Macon (Burgundy) are usually chardonnays or pinot blanc. In Paris, I found them OFTEN and very inexpensive. No oak either. "Macon Villages" is one label.
While you're there and its a wee tad more expensive, try a real Chablis as will (if you enjoy un-oaked whites).

caniac,

The higher the alcohol content is not a good judge of wine. Here in the U.S. vintners are making red wine fruit bombs that are 15-17% alcohol. Waayy to sweet for my taste.

Two simple tricks; 1) learn what kind of fruit is, usually, in one of the two bottle shapes. 2) get a simple vintage chart. This allows you to at least make a slightly better choice.

The difference is the French don't tend to produce those alcohol bombs so the higher alcohol content does work for wines in the cheaper realms.

For more expensive French wines, alcohol content is not an indication.

jenblase - to amplify what Suzie said and as you probably already know, wines in France are not sold by variety of grape (Chardonnay) but by geographic region - though it is usual to find similar grape varieties in a particular region.
So it is helpful to know that Cahors wine is made from Malbec grapes if you like that sort of black, inky red (which I do!)
suze - are you able to find the same producers for sale in France and US? My experience is that the larger companies tend to export and I am always fearful of overlooking the great smaller vinyards when in France.

Try some of the better Muscadets, esp. the Muscadets with the Hermine d'Or classification. They're usually well under 10€ and there are a lot of small, quality producers now. We're planning a Brittany trip with visits to several Muscadet producers, we like it as an everyday white. I've never been in a Monoprix that didn't have a decent selection of Muscadets.
http://www.kysela.com/loire/ecu.htm

Heading further east in the Loire Valley, the Bourgeuil, Saumur Champigny, and Chinon wines are usually light pleasant reds with low prices. If you want something sparkly, try a Cremant de Loire AC instead of champagne.

Hi rob,

Even at the monoprix, there is a person to ask.

However, if you follow the lawchick method, the worst thing that can happen is that your wine will be merely OK.

>.. the Lawchick family and friends are being treated to a cellar full of cases of Bordeaux (5.69 per bottle) and cases of a Corsican white (dare I say - under 4 euros) and they are both ghreat.<

Go ahead, rub it in.

Ira, I didn't mention my new stock of Rose for this summer - 4 euros - or my ever decreasing stash of Champagne for 15.50.

At least there are some benefits to living in Belgium - the roads out of here towards Reims are good!

ttt

My neighbor just brought me back three bottles of champagne from a small vinyard near her country house. I don't think it's even sold in the stores. I only bought three bottles, and now (just starting the second) I'm kicking myself that I didn't buy a case.