How to Pick Special Occasion Wine Like a Pro

There’s no better way to commemorate a big moment than opening a special bottle of wine. Maybe it’s a big birthday, a well-earned promotion, your first wedding anniversary, or maybe just then end to a really good day, enjoying an excellent bottle of wine is the best way to mark the occasion. Champagne is always a festive fit, but there are plenty of other wines from regions known for more everyday bottles like Australia and Hungary that are worth saving for a big day. 

First step to selecting the perfect bottle is to understand the people who will be enjoying it. Mark Oldman, a wine expert and author who has spent his career in search of high quality sips, recommends assessing the level of wine expertise of whoever is enjoying the bottle. “Consider the wine geekery of those with which you are celebrating. More casual drinkers might be delighted by a high-quality national brand that's a bit pricier while wine snobs might strive for rarity,” he says. Read on for five things to consider to pick the perfect wine for a celebration. 

Drink rare wine

For wine aficionados, turn to experts at high wine shops or call on a sommelier to guide you to more bespoke bottles. “Drinking juice that few others get to enjoy can be thrilling,” says Oldman. Look toward top-notch winemakers who might have limited production, the fewer bottles made, the more rare the wine. Rarity also often coincides with quality and ageability —  finding a wine with a special older vintage is always a treat but not all wines are made to age. “An older vintage is like a time machine, transporting you and your guests back to that year and your memories of it. Mature wine can also intrigue with unusual scents and tastes – hints of mushrooms or freshly-tilled soil or fragrant spices – that serve to heighten any special occasion,” Oldman says.” 

Pick a special vintage

For a more personal celebration bottle, maybe it’s a wedding gift or for a birthday, shopping for a particular vintage is a great way to add a personal touch. Oldman looks toward auctions, both online and in-person, to seek out wines bottled on a birth year or anniversary. “The English have long bestowed bottles of birth year vintage Port on a newborn, but any wine with serious longevity will do, such as the best vintages of a top red Bordeaux or Italian Barolo,” advises Oldman. 

Have a good story 

A wine might be delicious, but it will likely be finished within the course of an evening. Open something with a good story behind it that can be retold and retold. When gifting a bottle, it can even be your own story, says Oldman: “Those bottles you purchased on your first trip to Sonoma or the dessert wine you smuggled back from Portugal.” Learn a fun fact about the wine maker or the vineyard, maybe the grapes are all picked at night or grown on the slope of an active volcano. When in doubt, a bottle with a beautiful label goes a long way — someone might even hold onto it after all the delicious wine is gone. 

Drink interesting bubbly

There’s no way around it, bubbles signify a good time. When choosing the right bottle to serve, look toward grower Champagne made from smaller producers who grow and harvest their own grapes. They can be more terroir-driven than the larger houses with unique aspects. “The best grower Champagnes are prized for their individual personalities, often reflecting the quirky subtleties of the soil and the winemaker from which they derive,” says Oldman. To find grower Champagne, look for the initials RM before the licensing number on the bottom edge of a bottle. 

Go big, literally 

There’s nothing more fun than opening up a large bottle of wine, especially large-format bubbles. Whether it’s a magnum or even a Nebuchadnezzar (that’s 20 regular-sized bottles), larger than life wines are fit for any celebration. “They never fail to generate joy, it’s like they appear to contain even more than they actually do” says Oldman. “I love that large-format bottles give me a built-in excuse to get people together. And that highlights one of fine wine’s great powers: the ability to create a special occasion.”