Wine list hell.

You are going out to dinner and the evening is going to be a fantastic night of lively chat and interesting people. You get there and get some drinks. Sit and talk, generally socialise in the company of like minded people. You order your food and then the waiter appears with the . He offers it to the people who book the table and invited you along and they take it and look at you and say the most dreaded words that you can hear. "You choose the wine."

All eyes are now on you what should you do. Choose the cheapest or the most expensive and it looks like you are just spending someones money. Choose the cheapest and it looks like you are just being mean. If they had wanted the house wine they could have asked for that. Then who had fish, chicken, game and steak. The whole thing is a mine field waiting to go of and you are in the middle of it all what should you do?

The best thing to do is if you are not sure is asking people what they like and go from there. But normally you will not go far wrong with a good middle of the road white wine. Some thing that you would recognizes in your local store. Most new world wines, in fact I am a big fan of them, do not have the hang ups of say France. Not bound but the convention or law of production. Most new world wines are full of flavour and depth. But how do you know what is good from the bad.

First there is no bad wine, apart from the stuff that has gone bad. You might like dry wine and not sweet. Or like wine that is complex in flavour so I do not mind the odd glass of sweet now and then. But how do you get to know this.

The first thing you should get is a good book. Or watch a few television programs or DVDs on the subject. This is the best thing to get you started in any thing. After reading and understanding a few of the terms then get to reading a few labels. See if what you have read sticks in your mind and makes sense to you. Wine shops and supermarkets are grate places for you to have a look and pick up the odd bottle and have a good look at the labels.

The second thing that you must do is drink some wine. You will not know what you like and get to know the difference between one and another till you actually drink some wine .Nothing to expensive to start with just the few bottles that will give you the beginnings of a tasting. Get to drink a dry next to a sweet wine. Hold them up to the light see what colour they are. Note the smell, the bouquet; what does it remind you of. And taste some of the wine. This is what you have to do if you want to know wine.

And thirdly you must enjoy it. Find a club or some like minded people who would like to start a wine club. Get a few bottles and make it a social event. See how much more you can get out of it. Soon you will know your Bordeaux form your burgundy, your Mosel-Saar-Ruwer from Rhein hessen, Chianti from Barolo and your Napa valley.