Wine

Wine at the restaurant

Tips

• The 2nd cheapest bottle is a trick on you as it's a common default choice. From experience, the cheapest is even usually "a lovely wine"
• By the glass is a premium. Go for it only if you drink less than 3 or really want to accomodate each plate, or each guest
• "House wine" is a no-go
• Try less-known varieties on the menu - there's probably a delicious reason the owners took the time to put them here

Ask the sommelier

It is absolutely in your best interest to utilize the server / sommelier for guidance. There is one caveat, though. You must provide the right information. Think of ordering wine in a restaurant like a trip to the doctor — you need to convey your symptoms in adequate detail to get the proper diagnosis.

You need to convey:

• Red or white
• Fruit-forward or Earthy
• The body of the wine (light-bodied (e.g., skim milk), medium-bodied (e.g., whole milk), and full-bodied (e.g., cream))
• Price point. But how can we communicate our price range to the server without revealing it to our companions? Open the wine list, point directly to a price that you’re comfortable with and say, “I‘m considering a bottle like this.” There’s an unspoken understanding in the restaurant business that this translates to “This is precisely how much I’d like to pay, but I don’t want to say it aloud.”

Sample the wine

Once presented with the bottle, check the vintage. You’d be amazed how often servers pull wines from a year that’s entirely different from what you ordered.

The server will then pull the cork and pour a tiny taste of the wine into your glass. Give the glass a few swirls, a deep sniff and a taste. Typically, corked wine will give off unpleasant aromas of moldy newspaper, wet cardboard or dank basement.

Resources

• How to order wine (Mike Peterson)
• From the Vintopia - The pursuit of Wine Enlightment