Choosing a decent 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 crockery and wine glasses, and got everything prepared – except for the wine selection. There’s just so much to think about, and it always seems like everyone else knows so much more about it than you do. You stand there for what seems like forever 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 that will compliment your meal.
Firstly and most importantly, you should match the wine to the meal you have chosen. Everyone has different opinions of which wine will taste good with different foods, but there are a few basic rules that you can follow if you’re not sure. The easiest way is to simply match the colour of the wine to the meat, you can’t go wrong. So if you’re eating red meat choose a dark red like Cabernet or Syrah. For lamb or pork a medium bodied red like a Merlot will be less heavy whilst still having a rich flavour. Chicken and fish dishes are often overpowered by reds so it’s best to go for a white instead, perhaps 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 has come from. Wines from different regions will be hugely different in quality, so it’s best 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 good quality fine wines for hundreds of years. Italy is another one, and Chilean wines are also very popular at the moment, particularly reds.
Something else worth checking is the vintage of the wine, or the year it was bottled. A true wine buff will already know which were the good years for each region, and will only buy vintages they know came from a particularly good crop. For the rest of us less knowledgable people, it can seem like a lot of guesswork, but if you know a few of the basics you’ll be on the right track at least. That all wines taste better as they get older is a common misconception. It’s true that most red wines improve with a little aging, but most wineries won’t distribute these reds for a couple of years after bottling to give them time to mature. This means by the time they become available 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.
