By: Daniel Finch

One of the most daunting things in the world is simply trying to select a glass or bottle of wine. When confronted by a wine list for most, it brings out nerves and possibly a cold sweat. You don’t want to make a fool of yourself in front of your friends and, oddly enough, also in front of a server you’ll never see again. The questions swirl like the very wine you’re about to consume.  

“What sort of wine goes with the food I’m eating? How do I pronounce the grape? What country is it from? Is it red or white? Sweet or dry? Does it have a high tannin concentration? Is the wine aged in oak? Is it old enough to come to maturity? Will I like it?”

All of these questions are valid, and despite being a huge industry, the wine remains one of those relatively unknown quantities. Here are wine regions and grapes to help you with your next restaurant visit.

France: Big austere reds that are often aged in oak. They produce rich and heavier reds with a heavy depth of character that will stand up to pretty much any meat.

Classic French grapes are produced around the world to make a variety of different wine types, but in France itself, they produce smooth, big, bodied, full-fruit wines.

On the other hand, their whites tend to be lighter and with a touch more acidity than their world counterparts. A French white wine will rely on the grapes to give all the flavor, and they usually eschew oak in the aging process.

Italy: The biggest mystery of them all in my mind. The Reds are a combination of light, easy-drinking, slightly spicy wines and lighter grapes that have been emboldened by their aging process. Italians love to age light grapes in oak to add heft (Barolo being the perfect example of this) or to add French grapes to their own local varieties in order to make the wines heftier. 

 The whites range in styles from lighter to heavier, but for the most part, they share one thing in common: they aren’t sweet. Italian whites have a nice dryness or minerality to them, and they steer away from sweeter wines. A good Italian white wine goes well with sweeter seafood along the lines of Lobster and Crab.

USA: The reds are big or full of flavor. A California Cabernet is going to be bigger than a French Cabernet by a good amount, and this has a tendency to overpower basic food. As for the Pinot Noirs, they range from a juice bomb, which will be easy to drink, to a bigger, inky version of Pinot Noir that will stand up to some red meats. They are an acquired taste for long-time wine drinkers and should be built up to.

The same thing is true for the white wines in America. They are bigger grapes that have been aged in oak, which leads to big, buttery, creamy wines that should not even be drunk with seafood. A California Chardonnay will stand up to most pork dishes and could even pair with lighter, red meat.

France, Italy, and the USA are the three big boys in the wine world right now and will most likely remain as such for the foreseeable future. Despite “New World” countries like Argentina, Chile, South Africa, and New Zealand producing some top-notch wines, it will be hard to dethrone the current leaders. 

This article should have provided a basic outline of what to expect when ordering wine. Start with a country that you really enjoy, and work from there! Next time you go out. Hopefully, you won’t be having the same panicky thoughts upon being handed the wine list.