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Mike Supple discusses some tricks so you can feel more confident ordering wine at a restaurant while impressing your date at the same time!
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Assistant: Dear Mike, I'm on a date in a fancy French restaurant, and I don't know what to do. I'd like to impress him, but I've never heard of any of these wines and I'm afraid I'll make the wrong choice. I'd close my eyes and just pick one, but they're all so expensive.

Mike: Restaurants make their money on wine and alcohol, not on food. The bottles you're looking at are all marked up at least 100% over what the restaurant paid for them, so try something you wouldn't normally buy.

Mike (cont'd): A good way to start is by matching the wine with the food that you're eating. Chicken and fish generally go best with whites or rosés. Red meat and rich tomato sauces go better with heavy reds like Syrah or Cabernet [Sauvignon]. Medium bodied dishes, like pork, tend to go better with lighter bodied reds, such as Grenache or Pinot Noir. The safe choice is always to think of something you've liked in the past, then find something on the list that's similar. If you're not looking to drink much, ordering something by the glass is a great way to explore things you've never heard of. You might not want to spend forty dollars on a bottle of wine from Croatia, but ten dollars for a glass of something none of your friends have ever had isn't a bad deal.

Mike (cont'd): But keep in mind that the general rule of thumb for restaurants when it comes to pricing wines by the glass is to take the cost of the bottle and then add a little. That way if only one person orders a glass all night they can throw the rest of the bottle away and still make money. The average restaurant pour gets about four glasses per bottle, so we're talking a markup of 400% or more, which all of a sudden makes that bottle price you were looking at much more attractive.

Mike (cont'd): We've already gone over most of the basics, but there are a few more. Avoid the cheapest bottle on the list; it's generally one of the worst wines, and it's marked up considerably more. Narrow down to a few bottles on the list that are in your price range and then just choose one that has things you like. There's really no wrong way to do it. The key is to act confident. Then your date, and the server, will assume you know what you're doing, and that makes everyone happy. But you're not done yet!

Mike (cont'd): You don't need to sniff the cork. It makes you look a bit silly and it won't tell you much about the wine. But you can look at the cork. Spin it around and make sure the cork is solid. Check for staining. If wine got out, that means air could have gotten in, and if air got in, the wine might be spoiled. It's much more effective to smell the wine itself. Give it a good whirl; let it mix with the air. This will intensify the aromas, and if the wine has any problems you'll be able to smell them better. If the wine smells like vinegar, point it out to the waiter and send it back. If the wine smells like stale wet cardboard send it back; it's contaminated with a chemical known as TCA, or, in laymen's terms, the wine is corked. Studies have shown that one in twelve bottles of wine contain TCA. It's not harmful to you, but too much TCA makes your wine smell and taste bad. Some bottles are worse than others and some people are more sensitive to TCA, so this doesn't mean that one in twelve of YOUR bottles will be ruined. What matters is how it smells and tastes to you.

Mike (cont'd): Remember, wine costs a lot of money in a restaurant, so if there's something wrong with your bottle, send it back. It's important to know that this doesn't hurt the restaurant. They can just return the bottle to their distributor and get a full refund. If your wine smells fine, or if you're not quite sure yet, go ahead and take a sip. Swish it around in your mouth. Taste all the flavors and make sure you like it. If you like it, let your waiter know so he can pour glasses for you and for your date.

Mike: Enjoy!