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 tableware and crystal glass, and got everything prepared except for the wine selection. There’s just so much to consider, 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 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 look for and how to choose the perfect wine to compliment your meal.
Firstly, you need to match the wine to the meal you are going to eat. Everyone’s opinion is different when it comes to 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 meat, 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 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 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 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 choice 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.
Another thingit’s a good idea to check 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 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 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 be. It’s true that most red wines improve with a little aging, but most wineries won’t distribute these wines 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 any aging, and taste good if drunk right away.
