Choosing a bottle of wine in a restaurant is a simple enough concept: you pick something that will go with the food you’re ordering and which fits your budget, and you’re done, right? As someone who cares as much about the wine as I do the food and service, it rarely ends there. For a start, unless you’re dining solo, the odds are there’s a variety of foods coming, and that bottle of cabernet you are ordering to go with your steak is not going to do a salmon dish any favours. Restaurants with extensive wine lists will often have a sommelier on hand to assist you in this task, and a good sommelier will rarely steer you wrong. My only advice is not to be embarrassed to give them a budget to work with. Restaurants in Canada tend to mark wine up heavily, typically at least twice as much as you would spend on that bottle in a shop, and somms are aware of this. Read More
Choosing a bottle of wine in a restaurant is a simple enough concept: you pick something that will go with the food you’re ordering and which fits your budget, and you’re done, right? As someone who cares as much about the wine as I do the food and service, it rarely ends there. For a
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Choosing a bottle of wine in a restaurant is a simple enough concept: you pick something that will go with the food you’re ordering and which fits your budget, and you’re done, right? As someone who cares as much about the wine as I do the food and service, it rarely ends there. For a start, unless you’re dining solo, the odds are there’s a variety of foods coming, and that bottle of cabernet you are ordering to go with your steak is not going to do a salmon dish any favours. Restaurants with extensive wine lists will often have a sommelier on hand to assist you in this task, and a good sommelier will rarely steer you wrong. My only advice is not to be embarrassed to give them a budget to work with. Restaurants in Canada tend to mark wine up heavily, typically at least twice as much as you would spend on that bottle in a shop, and somms are aware of this.
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Although I’m comfortable with just about any wine list, I still like to engage the services of the sommelier; they know their lists intimately and can often come up with a great bottle I haven’t tried or considered.
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The reality is that there are a relatively small number of restaurants that have extensive enough wine lists to warrant a full-time sommelier, which means you must rely on your server (many of whom will have some wine training) or some sort of app, such as Vivino, for advice. I’m not a fan of wine and food apps like Vivino and Yelp. If I want advice in almost any field, I prefer a professional opinion.
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I have friends who like to text me with the wine lists in the restaurants they are dining in, which is not annoying at all, but it makes me wonder if a “somm on demand” app might be a lucrative sideline for someone. There’s a site called Somm Demand that is currently testing a one-on-one consultation service, which could come in handy if you’re planning a dinner party but is not practical in a restaurant application.
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Some basic rules apply to food and wine pairings that can come in handy, and this is from Le Cordon Bleu London’s website:
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1. Taste in wine is subjective. Before even reading about the best food and wine pairings, you should consider your taste. If a combination pleases you, then it is a good choice for you.
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2. Always keep the intensity of flavours in balance. Match mild foods with mild wines or pair rich foods with rich wine. Try at home: the sweet and sour flavour of citrus is complemented by an off-dry riesling of a similar nature, or a dish with a creamy sauce will be enhanced by the similar flavour found in rich, buttery chardonnay.
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3. Acids go with acids. If you’re eating a dish with a strong acidic content (such as baked goat cheese and baby leaf salad), pair it with an acidic wine that can keep up with the acids in the food, such as a New Zealand sauvignon blanc.
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4. Pair with the most dominant flavours of the dish. It is common to think that we need to pair the wine with the meat or with the fish. However, in some cases, the sauce or cooking method has more influence on the taste of the dish. For instance, when you serve duck with a fruit-based sauce such as cherry or orange, choose a gutsy, low-tannin wine such as a red from Rhône.
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