How to select the right wine
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Choosing a good wine can be a nightmare, especially if 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 too much to think about, and everyone else always seems to know so much more about it than you do. You stand there for what seems like forever looking at the seemingly 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 has different opinions of which wines 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 meat, you can’t go wrong. If you’re eating red meat select a dark red Cabernet or Syrah. For lamb or pork dishes a medium bodied red like a Merlot is 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 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, check where it was made. Wines from different regions will vary hugely 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 wines for hundreds of years. Italy is another one, and Chilean wines are very popular at the moment too, particularly the reds.
Something else worth checking 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 less knowledgable people, it can seem like a lot of guesswork, but if you know the basics you’ll at least be on the right track. That all wines get better the older they are is a common misconception. 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 to give them time to mature. This means they are ready to drink and will taste good from the minute they appear on the shelves. Most white or sparkling wines don’t need aging, and are good to drink right away.
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