Tips to avoid wine list traps
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Imagine this, you are going to celebrate an anniversary with your beloved one. You are going to a decent restaurant in town, both dressed nicely. Everything shows that it would be a perfect night, until, a waiter asks which wine you would like.
You open the wine list, which, by the way, is probably more like a dictionary than a list. You leaf through it, page after page, palms sweating. Finally, the helpless you randomly selects a bottle of wine but later discovers miserably that the wine-food pairing experience is a complete disaster. Well, time to say good bye to your wonderful night.
In China, a wine list from a restaurant can be much different than the one in Western countries.
Traditionally, a wine list offers information no more than the name of the wine, its vintage and the price (by glass/bottle).
However, when reading a wine list in China, one will find out they are looking at something more like a catalogue — besides the information just mentioned above, there are pictures of a wine bottle, its tasting notes and wine-food pairing suggestions. Some of them even have a brief description of the winery’s history or the awards the wine has won.
If a client knows little about wine, such a wine list/catalogue should help them choose the right wine more easily. At least customers can determine whether the wine’s nose or palate should meet their taste by reading the tasting notes.
Don’t be so optimistic. The reality is much crueler. There are a few traps waiting for you in such lists. Above all, most of the tasting notes are provided by the supplier instead of the sommelier or wine director. It is sad that such a position is still little accounted for in the food and wine business in China. Most of them are outdated and seldom truly display the character of the wines. What’s worse, people who are writing the wine list have shallow and poor knowledge of wine-food pairing. As a result, customers are often receiving suggestions like a Pauillac goes well with pan-seared tiger prawns. Ridiculous.
Well, readers may feel desperate at the remote possibility of seeking the correct wines for their meal. Suffice to say, there is still hope.
No matter whether the wine list you are browsing is from a premium restaurant or not there are some universal patterns still there.
Most of the wine lists are divided by the drinking order — sparkling/Champagne, white wine, red wine, and dessert/fortified wine or spirit.
In each part, wines are listed by countries and regions. With such taxonomy, an experienced drinker can quickly and methodically hunt down the wines. For a newbie, at least it helps you avoid mistaking a Chablis as a red wine. Sometimes there are two prices for one wine, meaning you can either enjoy the wines by glass or by bottle.
Here are some basic rules in picking the correct wine(s).
Choose by your budget. If you just reaped a huge chunk of money from the recently thriving stock market, congratulations, you can freely pick any wine in the list without even a slightest glance at the price. If you have a limited budget, I suggest you have a closer look at the price tag. You really don’t want to scare half to death when you receive the bill.
Choose by your drinking capacity. For two to three people, it is safe to order one bottle of wine. It is completely meaningless and unsafe to drink yourself to unconsciousness even though you have just broken up with your girlfriend or won a lottery.
Choose by the dish you order. If the dishes are mainly fish or other seafood, a bottle of Chardonnay is a safe option. If you are a meat lover, Merlot or Pinot Noir may bring you a delightful experience.
Of course, there are shortcuts which help you pinpoint your target.
First of all, many restaurants offer house wines, usually one for red and one for white, some even have a sparkling house wine. They are carefully chosen so in most cases these house wines are good pairs with the dishes.
If you are a foodie curious enough to try out different possibilities of pairing one dish with more than one wine, you can look for the restaurant offering wines by glass. Since it is selling by glass, the price is lower and more importantly, you can taste two to three different kinds of wine in one single meal. Such a good deal, right?
But here’s another heads-up. Before you decide to order a glass of wine, take a good look around the dinning place. Observe how many people are also ordering wine by glass because nobody would like to drink a glass of wine which comes from a bottle opened for more than three days, especially a white one. Just imagine tasting a Pinot Grigio three days after the cork is pulled out. Trust me, there is no fun in it at all.
Here is another tip. Find out if there is any wine promotion in the restaurant. Lately the Wines of Germany has launched the German Riesling Weeks promotion. Wines of Germany works with restaurants from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. With a very reasonable price you can taste a three-course meal with one or two glasses of Riesling in a top-notch dining place.
For me, wine and food pairing is a lifelong adventure. I am open to every possibility, even if it ends up badly. Still it is a very precious memory — at least it teaches me to choose my wine more wisely with a vegetarian diet next time. But if you are not as audacious as me, the rules or tips mentioned in this article will help you avoid ruining your meal.
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