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Ordering Wine with Confidence

Even knowledgeable wine drinkers sometimes find themselves panicking when confronted with a wine list that runs into tens of pages and a supercilious looking sommelier hovering, pen poised. Immediately the host or diner entrusted with the wine selection feels the pressure.

If that is your lot, don't be put off by all this flummery. Ask to be left alone with the wine list for a few minutes and refuse to be rushed. Bear in mind that often, the average wine waiter knows even less about wine than the average wine drinker. A skilled sommelier will offer advice in a leisurely and unobtrusive manner. Otherwise, the wine waiter is probably masking his ignorance beneath that apparent smirk!

As so many wine lists are infuriatingly short on information, don't hesitate to call the wine waiter back for clarification. Discuss options with your dining companions and above all, take your time. Choosing wine to accompany your meal should be a pleasurable experience.

As a general rule of thumb, the more you pay for wine in a restaurant, the worse bargain you're getting. It is common practice, in the catering trade, to add a fixed percentage (often somewhere between 100% and 150%) to the original cost of the bottle of wine. Therefore, it stands to reason that the cheaper the purchase price of the wine, the better the deal from the diner's point of view. Most wine buyers put a lot of thought and consideration into selecting the cheaper wines on their lists in order to avoid jeopardizing their restaurant's reputation.

If in doubt, or you have no strong preferences, you would be well advised to select the house wine. It is usually a very safe bet and can offer excellent value for money. Restaurateurs choose their house wines with particular care, as they want them to reflect well upon their establishments.

Ultimately, there are only a few general guidelines worth following when presented with that sometimes daunting wine list. First and foremost, be guided by your own and your fellow diners' preferences. Other considerations have more to do with the sequence of the food courses that you have already selected. Consider:

• Lighter wines taste better before heavier wines.
• Dry wines should be served before sweet wines.
• White wines should precede red wines.

When you have finally selected your wines and you are confronted with the tasting ritual, stay cool! Don't feel embarrassed about nosing a wine. Smell can tell us so much about a wine's flavor and quality. Begin nosing by swirling the glass to aerate the wine. This intensifies the fruity aroma and the bouquet. Some wine tasters base their decision on nosing alone; others prefer to take a sip and actually taste the wine. The choice is yours. You may even decide to dispense with the whole ritual of wine tasting if it is presented to you at an inopportune moment when lively conversation is in full flow!