When we go wine tasting, we are almost always tasting wines we’ve never tasted before. Even if we’re at a familiar winery, we’re going to sample a new vintage. Often, the tasting room will put some bottlings on their menu for the day that we’ve never heard of, much less tasted. If we’re visiting a winery we’ve never been to before, especially when we travel abroad, we’re in the dark.
This is all great preparation for ordering wine off a restaurant’s list, where we know nothing (or almost nothing). What to choose? This is where our experience with wine tasting trips comes to our aid. A few tips might help you, too.
- You could ask your waiter. These days, your waiter may not be old enough to drink, much less to develop expertise in wine! The best you can hope for is that he or she can tell you what’s the most popular. In fairness, the type of establishment that has inexperienced wait staff often has a less-than-inspiring wine list, sometimes consisting of two choices: red or white.
Photo courtesy of Sommeliers Choice Awards
- Or a sommelier. At the other extreme, restaurants that do have quality wine lists may also have someone trained to help you choose, i.e., a sommelier. But there are problems here as well. The sommelier is an employee of the house and has an incentive to direct you to the more expensive items on the list. A good one will ask you what types of wine you like and the characteristics you prefer, such as robustness, acidity or intensity. And definitely what your price range is. Even then, you’re going to be offered what he or she thinks meets your tastes, which may or may not work out.
- Go with a wine that’s from a familiar region. If we’re dealing with wines from California, France or Italy, for example, we know enough to say “We don’t know these wines, but we know that a Bordeaux usually pleases us”. But if we’re at a Hungarian or an Argentine restaurant, for instance, that’s not going to help. And when we’re overseas, our best hope is to try our luck.
- Choose on the basis of price. Think about your overall restaurant experience with wine. How much do you usually pay for wine as a percentage of the overall meal. A third? A half? More? Less? Use that as your guide.
Or go at it the other way round. How much do you want to spend on a bottle that night? Probably less on a random Tuesday, more on a weekend and even more for a special occasion. Let’s say you’re ready to spend $75. Look for a number in the $65 to $85 range on the right side of the list. If the restaurant is knowledgeable and honest, you’ll get a bottle that satisfies you. This isn’t a perfect rule, but it has worked out pretty well for us.