Choosing a good wine can be a real nightmare, especially when you’re trying to impress someone. 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 seemingly endless shelves of different bottles, and the more you think about it the harder it gets. That’s why we’ve put together a few tips of 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 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 really 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 like Cabernet or Syrah. For lamb or pork a medium bodied red like a Merlot will be less heavy whilst still giving a rich flavour. Chicken and fish dishes can often be overpowered by reds so it’s best to go for a crisp 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’ve worked out what kind of wine you are looking for, look at where it has come from. Wines from different regions are hugely different in quality, so it pays to do a bit of research into the best regions. If you’re not sure, France is always a safe choice and has been producing fine wines for hundreds of years. Italy is another good choice, and Chilean wines are also very popular at the moment, particularly the reds.
Another thing it’s a good idea to check is the vintage of the wines you are choosing from, or the year they were bottled. A real wine buff will already 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 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. A common misconception is that the older a wine is, the better it will taste. 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 they are ready to drink and will taste good as soon as they become available. Most white and sparkling wines don’t need any aging, and taste good if drunk straight away.
