How to Order Wine Like a Pro

We love going out for a super-luxe meal with all the trimmings but, despite years of doing it, ordering the wine still stresses us out. We can sort of muddle our way through a local list of common varietals, but anything outside of that has us panicking and just pointing at the second-least expensive bottle on the menu (more on that later).

Never fear, here’s our guide to ordering wine and looking like you know exactly what you’re doing.

How to Order Wine at a Restaurant

The most useful thing you can do is to just ask for help. Don’t be embarrassed to admit you don’t know your shiraz from your sauvignon, just tell the sommelier what you want to drink and they’ll help you navigate the list—that’s quite literally their job.

A good sommelier will be able to listen to your requests (“I want something red, but not too red, and I like wines that taste like fruit but also like grass…”) and find you something that fits the bill. Or tell them what varietals you usually like, and they can point you to something similar on their list.

You can even pull out photos you’ve taken of bottles you’ve really enjoyed. The more you give them, the better a selection they can make for you.

But be honest with them—if you just like really sweet whites, say that. And if you don’t understand the way they’re describing a wine, that’s okay. And if you don’t want to spend $500 on a bottle of wine, you just need to communicate that—discreetly if you prefer.

They can’t help you if you don’t give them anything to go on. If you’re on a date or trying to impress someone, you can point to something in the price range you’re going for to give your sommelier a hint. Or you can straight up tell them, “I’m looking to spend about $100.” It’ll save you a lot of back and forth.

If you would rather play sommelier yourself, referring to body, acidity, and structure, it's easy enough to teach yourself the basics.

When you enjoy a bottle of wine, take a photo and look it up online later to see how other people have described it. You’ll begin to develop a vocabulary for ordering wine you enjoy in the industry language.

If all else fails, look for things you know to guide you. Most people know that the Barossa produces a great shiraz, Tasmania does a nice pinot noir and the Clare Valley makes a zesty Riesling, so use that knowledge to your advantage when choosing.

If you want to get more specific, narrow down your options to a shortlist of about three and Google their reviews. That’s what the internet was invented for.

Now, we all know that the restaurant marks up the price of the wine—it makes sense, it’s where they make a lot of their money—but here’s a sneaky tip: The cheaper the wine on the list, the higher its markup, and the more expensive a wine is, the lower its markup.

The one exception to that rule, which you’ll find in almost every restaurant, is the second-cheapest bottle on the menu (we told you we’d come back to that).

How many times have you ordered the second-cheapest bottle of wine, so it didn’t look like you were just being cheap? So many times.

And restaurant owners know that, so the markup on the second cheapest bottles of wine is higher than everything else. If you’re worried about price, just go for the cheapest bottle on the menu.

You probably already know this, but it’s cheaper to get a bottle than separate glasses. At a restaurant, a glass is generally about a fifth of a bottle, but significantly more than a fifth of the price. If you know you’ll be having at least four glasses of the same wine, go the bottle route. That said, if your dinner companions all want different wines, just take the hit and order separate glasses—at least you’ll get to try different things!

Even though most restaurants will ask you to order your wine first, it’s best if you can have a look at the food menu before you make your choice. Don’t get too caught up in pairings, but if you’re going for something with a big flavour or high acidity, you might want to mention that to the sommelier so they can consider it when helping you with beverages.

Finally, when the wine is brought to the table and the waiter or sommelier shows you the label, don’t forget to check that the vintage is right, as well as the type and winery. They’ll pour a little for you to check it’s not corked or otherwise spoiled—this is not an opportunity for you to change your mind about the wine!

Then just sit back and enjoy the fruits of your wine-ordering prowess. Cheers to that.

Love wine? You need to check out these wonderful boutique Sydney wine stores.