How to Order Wine to Find a Bottle You Love

Sam Stone

Fri, September 27, 2024 at 2:48 PM UTC

6 min read

Bon Appétit / Getty

Glancing down at a lengthy wine list can be intimidating. Sometimes the thought of trying to speak to a sommelier about one of those wines can be even scarier. You’d be forgiven for tripping over your words as the besuited, all-knowing wine maestro shimmies up to your table. Suddenly you’re mixing up your Rh?nes with your Riojas and fumbling between Pinot Gris and Petit Verdot. It happens to the best of us—even self-described wine nerds can get a bit tongue-tied when it comes to speaking with a somm.

For Yannick Benjamin, a New York somm who won Michelin’s prestigious Sommelier Award in 2023, silly-feeling questions are an important part of the somm-diner relationship. “I always tell people that the dumbest question you're going to possibly ask is probably the most important one,” he says.

Both he and Zwann Grays, a sommelier with more than 10 years of experience in the wine industry, say a common misconception is that sommeliers are buttoned-up wine geeks eager to condescend. “We’re regular people. We drink like everybody else,” Grays says. “We just happen to like it and maybe study it a little bit more, but the goal is to get you what you want.” Here’s how you can take advantage of a somm's deep wine knowledge to get a bottle you’ll absolutely love.

Go deep on flavor

Even if you don’t know what grapes, regions, or styles you prefer, a sommelier will be able to recommend a wine you’ll love—first, though, they’ll need to get a sense of your palate.

“You want to let the sommelier know what you typically like,” Benjamin says, but the more specific you can be, the more exact your sommelier’s recommendations. Asking for a wine with notes of apple helps, Benjamin says, but asking for one with “green apple, yellow apple, bruised apple,” or any other kind of apple that suits your fancy—candied, even—will get you a bottle attuned to your taste.

If getting granular about apples isn’t your thing, sharing some of your favorite foods or flavors can be helpful signposts. Benjamin asks questions like “How do you drink your coffee in the morning? Do you drink three sodas a day? Are you a vegetarian or do you eat meat?”—information that can help your sommelier understand your palate and offer up a bottle you’ll love.

For Grays, sharing what you and your guests plan to order is the most valuable information. “That’s what’s important: What are you eating?” she says. Since sommeliers know both the wine list and restaurant menu like the back of their hand, understanding what the table has ordered allows them craft pairings. “We want you to have an experience,” Grays says.

Know when to order a glass and when to order a bottle

“Going by the glass is a great way to help shape, define, and cultivate your palate,” Benjamin says. Use a restaurant’s by-the-glass list to dip a toe into unfamiliar wines, regions, and grapes without having to commit to a whole bottle. Then, if and when you’re ready to order a bottle later in your meal, you have a jumping-off point from which you and your sommelier can discuss what you liked and what you didn’t.

Grays says ordering by the glass can help you and your sommelier get on the same page in terms of flavor descriptors. She says if the flavor notes your sommelier spouts off just aren’t making sense, ask for a glass—or even better, a taste. “Words are words, but your palate is a different thing,” she says. “Sometimes you need to taste it.”

Ask what your sommelier is excited about

One thing about sommeliers? They often get excited by a great bottle of wine. Lightly tapping into that wine nerdery puts you on the fast track to an exceptional bottle of wine that you might have otherwise overlooked. Sometimes, Benjamin says, it gets you bottles that haven’t even officially made the wine list. “When you ask and show interest,” he says, “your somm might just bring it up as a courtesy.”

If you’re really hoping to get a sip of an exclusive bottle, Benjamin adds, you’re welcome to ask if the somm has any bottles not listed that they think are worth tasting. “A lot of restaurants will do that,” he says. “Sometimes I may have the wines already [in the wine cellar], and then it may just happen spontaneously.” As is the case with most questions, it never hurts to ask a sommelier.

Price and region aren’t everything

The most expensive wine on the list is not necessarily the best wine you can order. “Price is dictated by demand, but it's not an indication of quality,” Benjamin says. What’s better than a good bottle of $100 wine? A stupendous bottle of $75 wine. As a sommelier, Benjamin says, “I'm here to provide you with anyone that you want. If it’s a $60 bottle, it's going to be the best $60 bottle that you’ve had.”

Similarly, Grays says, don’t get reeled into ordering a bottle solely based on its vintage or region. “It may be something you don’t want,” says Grays. Prestige, name recognition, and familiar regions on the label don’t always equate to a wine you’ll love. “We're still talking about what it is that you want to be drinking,” she says. “And that might be a pinot from Oregon, as opposed to some high-priced thing.”

Don’t be afraid to send your wine back

The somm-diner relationship, Benjamin says, is about openness and honesty. If your first taste of a new bottle reveals that the wine might be corked or otherwise flawed, it’s always appropriate to raise that issue with your sommelier.

The fact is, Benjamin says, whether the wine is in perfect condition or not, it doesn’t taste good to you—and that’s the whole point of this process. “Even if I know for a fact that the wine’s in perfect condition,” he says, “if the table is alluding to the fact that they don’t like the wine—I mean let’s just move on.”

Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit

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