Whether on a hot first date or trying to impress the bigwigs at a business meeting, ordering a bottle of wine at a restaurant can be quite intimidating for a wine neophyte. A successful attempt requires balance: ordering with confidence, not looking like a cheapskate, and above all else selecting a wine that actually tastes good. With all the stuffy jargon and wine lists that include dozens, if not hundreds, of varieties, wine is often seen as a complex beverage only enjoyed by snooty oenophiles. If you don't even know what an oenophile is, this article is for you, my friend.
The easiest way to select a good bottle of wine is to ask the sommelier (the in-house wine expert, pronounced "soh-mell-YAY") for recommendations. Don't be shy—let him or her know what you like and don't like, how much you're looking to spend, and what you plan to order for your meal.
If the restaurant is lacking a sommelier or if you'd simply prefer to navigate the options on your own, it's helpful to first understand the information presented on the list. Wine lists are most commonly arranged by country of origin or by wine type. Other than red and white, the most common types of wine you'll encounter are rosé, sparkling, dessert, and fortified. Within these categories, you'll see the wines are generally named based on their grape variety (for example, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Chardonnay, etc.). Wine menus, and wine labels for that matter, will also list the wine vintage, which is a fancy term for the year the grapes were harvested.
Once you've got the basics nailed down, you'll need to settle on a specific wine variety, which are differentiated using four key criteria:
- Sweetness (or dryness)
- Acidity
- Body (how full or watery the wine feels in the mouth)
- Tannins (found in red wines, they create a dry, mouth-puckering sensation similar to strong tea)
This visual guide to wine types from Primer Magazine is an excellent resource for gauging different wine varieties.
In addition to taking all of this information into account, it's also advisable to consider what you intend to order for your meal. Hearty dishes like prime rib and beef stew pair well with full-bodied red wines, while lighter dishes like grilled fish or pasta with a cream sauce pair well with high-acid white wines. If all these "rules" have your head spinning, there's no shame in falling back on the beginner wine drinker's tenet: red wine with red meat and white wine with white meat.
When you've (finally!) selected a bottle of wine, there's one last potentially awkward moment left. The server will present you with the bottle of wine, at which time you are expected to verify it is in fact the bottle you ordered. A simple nod of the head will suffice. The server will uncork the bottle and place the cork near your wine glass. Some serious wine drinkers will sniff the cork, swirl the glass to aerate the liquid, and then hold the wine up to the light to check for clarity. For a casual wine drinker, these formalities are not required and best avoided. The purpose of the taste pour is to verify that the wine is not corked, which is caused by a faulty bottle cork. (This can only happen with a real cork, not a synthetic cork or screwtop.) You'll know a wine is corked if it smells like mold or wet cardboard. If the wine smells like wine, give the server a smile and nod then sit back and savor a job well done, boss.
Written for Urbanspoon by Mary Cowx from Fervent Foodie.
Source: http://www.urbanspoon.com/blog/103/How-to-Order-Wine-Like-a-Boss.html
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