Choosing a good wine can be a real nightmare, especially when you’ve got someone to impress. You’re having a dinner party – you’ve planned the menu thoroughly, dusted off your best tableware and crystal glass, and got everything prepared – except for the wine selection. There’s just too much to think about, and everyone else always seems to know so much more than you do about it. You stand there for ages looking at the endless shelves of bottles, and the more you wonder about it the harder it gets. That’s why we’ve put together a few tips for what to watch out for and how to choose the perfect wine to compliment your meal.
Firstly and most importantly, you need to match the wine to the meal you will be eating. Everyone’s opinion is different when it comes to which wine will taste good with different foods, but there are a few basic guidelines that you can follow if you’re not sure. The easiest way is to match the colour of the wine to the food, you can’t go wrong. So if you’re eating red meat go for a dark red Cabernet or Syrah. For lamb or pork dishes a medium bodied red like a Merlot will be less heavy but still has a rich flavour. Chicken and fish dishes can often be overpowered by reds so it’s best to go for a crisp white instead, such as a Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. If it’s a special occasion or celebration, you might be better off with a sparkling wine, served in fancy Champagne flutes.
Once you know what kind of wine you are looking for, check where it was made. Wines from different regions will vary hugely in quality, so it pays to do a bit of research into the best regions. If you’re not sure, France is always a good bet and has been producing fine wines for hundreds of years. Italy is another good choice, and Chilean wines are very popular at the moment too, particularly the reds.
Another thing you should check is the vintage of the wines you are choosing from, or the year they were bottled. A real wine buff will know which were the good years for each region, and will buy only vintages which they know came from a particularly good crop. For the rest of us, it can seem like a lot of guesswork, but if you know a few of the basics you’ll at least be on the right track. That all wines taste better the older they are is a common misconception. It’s true that most red wines do improve with a little aging, but most wineries don’t distribute these reds for a couple of years after bottling, which gives them time to mature. This means from the minute they appear in stores they are ready to drink and will taste good. Most white or sparkling wines don’t need aging, and are good to drink straight away.
