How To Order The Right Wine At A Restaurant

If you aren’t a very experienced wine drinker, it can be a little intimidating to select a wine that is right for your meal. Secretly, you want to look classy like James Bond would. But, in reality, you aren’t exactly sure how to pull it off without making a fool of yourself. Does your date know anything about wine? Will the waiter or the people around you roll their eyes over your selection? Don’t worry. You’re about to learn a few tips that will keep you covered in just about any situation.

Tips for ordering wine:

Learn these two popular kinds of wine and apply the red wine, white wine rule I just mentioned. Order a chardonnay (shar – dun – nay) if you guys are eating pasta of some kind. If you guys are eating any kind of red meat, order a Cabernet Sauvignon (cab –err – nay – so – veen – yone). If you are each eating something different, you can compromise on the wine by ordering a Pinot Noir (pee – know – know – are). The Pinot Noir is typically a lighter red wine that could be served with a pasta meal, a juicy steak or anything in between.

Should you order dry or sweet wines? Most restaurants will not have many sweet wines on their wine list. Experienced wine drinkers as a rule tend to prefer the dryer wines. Usually they prefer bone dry wines with zero percent residual sugar. If you aren’t experienced wine drinkers then see if they offer anything that is very light like a Pinot Gris or a Rose.

You can always ask the waiter or waitress. These people are professionals. IF it is a half way decent restaurant they should be able to recommend the perfect wine to accompany your meal.

It is alright to let your date decide on the wine. However, she will appreciate a man who is cultured enough to be able to make the right choice on his own. Ask her if she has any preference. Then say “Okay, how about we try the ………?”

You can’t go wrong with a wine from Sonoma or Napa California. You just can’t. Every single time I have ordered a bottle from either of those two places while dining at a restaurant, the wine has been good if not great. Usually, the wines from this region offer the best bang for the buck. There are some terrific cabernets and chardonnays from those regions.

Here is the sneaky way in which to go about ordering it:

Picture this. The two of you sit down with menus in front of you. When being seated, ask the hostess right away “Could I please see a wine list?” She will either tell you there is one in the menu or else she will get you one right away. Ask your date what kind of meal she is in the mood for, pasta, juicy steak or something lighter. When she answers, tell her that you will check the wine list for something nice to go along with it. That will give you a few minutes to choose one while your date is distracted with the menu. When in doubt, ask the waiter to select one for you.

Jim makes a good point here about falling back on Pinot Noir or a dry Reisling. I agree 100%. Both of those wines will go with most anything. As far as white wines go, Reislings are some of the lightest and most widely approved of varieties of grapes. As a general rule, people like them. Both picky people and people with a wide variety of tastes seem to like them.