7 Expert Tips for Ordering Wine at a Restaurant.

For many people when they go out and are thinking about ordering a bottle of wine can be a stressful situation, from the right type of wine, to the cost of wine and will everyone enjoy it, here are some useful tips, Cheers!

1. Try something New, Abandon your comfort zone.

The familiar can be very satisfying. You want a pizza, order a pizza; so what if there’s Ossobuco on the menu. But make your decision a conscious one. Be aware, when looking at a wine list, of the point at which you start to think, “I’m lost—I’ll just go back to something I’ve had before.”

And if you are lost in the vastness of wine, remember that you have a trained guide. Sommeliers want you to experience something cool and amazing. My advice is to follow the lead of the Somelier, you can always enjoy your favorite at home.

2. Be Yourself, Skip the wine words.

As a guest, is simply not to worry about the words. Explain what you like in your own language. Even a statement that pretty much makes no sense—like “a sweet, dry red wine that isn’t too bitter but still has a bold flavor,” So tell him the last wine you had that’s like that. All right then. Let me give you a couple of options.”

3.Ask questions.

“Just talk to your Sommelier,” or the serving staff that is knowlegeable in the menu. “That’s the whole idea. Most trained staff will take care of you, I would reply, no matter what, I’ll find you a wine that you’ll love. We have a lot of people come in who like Caymus, Jordan, Lliberty and so on these are all top vineyards and are top sellers.—that’s fine. I don’t have anything like that on my list. But I do have this and its from, it is very similiar to what you have described to me and I think that’s a fantastic option for someone who likes that wine.”

4. Your options.

So here’s my advice when dealing with a giant list. First, spend no more than five to seven minutes looking at it (unless you have a really tolerant spouse, or you’re obsessively into wine). Flip through. Find three bottles that intrigue you. Then ask for the sommelier and say, “I’m interested in these, but I’m curious what you think.” The sommelier will likely suggest a couple of other possibilities, and there you are: You’ve winnowed down several thousand selections to about five.

5. Don’t worry (too much) about food pairing.

Talk to the sommelier. It’s their job to spend time pondering which wine pairs best with which dish. They know the menu backward and forward, and the wine list with similar familiarity, and they want your meal to be as memorable as it possibly can be.

6. Your budget.

No matter where I was working, the most common things customers said to me about how much they wanted to spend on wine were statements like, “Oh, something about in the middle,” or “Let’s keep it sort of reasonable,” or “You know, kind of moderately priced.” This presents the sommelier, with a quandary, since “reasonable” for you is not necessarily “reasonable” for the person at the next table. Most Sommeliers will probably take you to something in the sweet spot for that restaurants wine list.

Do not be shy about mentioning a price range there is nothing wrong with that, if you are pressured into buying something beyond your price range, you will not enjoy your meal and your evening, and the Sommelier who pressured you into that range is not a professional.

7. Be polite and always remember the wait staff are profesionals.

Being a sommelier is a job. It’s hard work. For all the blind-tasting exploits and opportunities to taste pricey bottles, there are days of hauling cases of wine up staircases, inventory tasks that numb the brain, and the simple labor of being on your feet for eight or more hours straight.Try talking, in a truly engaged way, to 70 or 80 new people every night. No one who doesn’t like people could survive in the sommelier world very long.

Do not grab the sommelier by the arm to get his or her attention. Do not hit on the sommelier. Do not snap your fingers, wait staff are not dogs. Remember if you were at your workplace, would you want someone to yank you, poke you, make a pass at you, or insult you?

Wine is fermented grape juice, but it’s also a medium for connection—to the people you’re dining with, but also to the person who’s helping you decide on a bottle, who’s pouring you that first taste. Every sommelier I know is in the business because they love the stuff; wine really is their passion, not just their profession.

Pouring things for people—that’s what sommeliers do. But not alone. You’re part of the equation, too. So if you want a great bottle of wine with your meal, here’s my final advice: Be active, not passive; engage and ask questions; and rather than thinking of that wine list you’re holding as an impenetrable tome, look at it as an adventure, a travel guide for your senses, one that can take you, by means of a bottle, somewhere you’ve never been before.