Choice of a Lifetime

Perhaps the most nerve-wracking moment of the entire first date is when the waiter presents the wine list. The menu itself isn’t nearly as bad even if it’s in Restaurant French – there is usually the odd phrase or syllable one can recognise, even if it’s only a tomato sauce or steak and chips. But the wine list presents particular problems, for there is always that unavoidable air of anticipation and performance over the selection of what beverage you choose to perfectly match both your bleeding rump and her trout meuniere.

Able to sense the tension, and perfectly capable of making your life easier with a trusted word of advice or a polite suggestion of an appropriate ‘special’, the waiter of course chooses neither, instead preferring to stare you fixedly in the eye while your mind wrestles with the meaningless names and expensive prices down the right-hand side.

Your date also begins to stare, obviously reading your every thought and in all likelihood perfectly able to do the whole thing very nicely thank you, on her own.

Decision time, you think as you confidently slam the wine-list closed and proclaim loudly to the waiter “I’ll have the Wolf Blass.” When in doubt do what everyone else does.

“Which Wolf Blass would you like”, asks the waiter, as you flush scarlet with embarrassment.

Out comes a stutter, “The white, please.”

“The Rhine Riesling, The Classic Dry White or else the Green Label?”

Time for fast thinking. Everyone drinks Rhine Riesling, the Green Label sounds positively vile and the Classic Dry White has a certain appropriateness, you think, even at this desperate stage.

You feebly croak that a Classic Dry White would be very nice and get on with the job of trying to look your date in the eye, relieved by the thought that the evening can only get better.

All entirely forgettable. On reflection, you consider, it’s easy to understand why BYO’ are so popular. Take your own and bypass the whole ritual.

What a cop-out. It takes a great deal more skill and judgement to drive a car on city streets, pick a winner at Randwick or complete a cryptic crossword in the Melbourne Age than choose a wine you will be happy with.


Finding Your Way Around

Many restaurant wine lists don’t help themselves. Restaurateurs tend to forget too easily that their wine list is meant to be a positive selling-aid, rather than a slow and painful torture. It is true to say that many restaurants would sell a lot more wine if their lists were presented in a clean, simple manner with simple explanations of the basic wine types. Too often the snobbery that goes hand-in-hand with the restaurant trade leaves even the best-intentioned guests completely mystified; so, with their fashionable and utterly expensive spatchcock al pesto they’re too scared to choose anything other than the reliable Brown Brothers Shiraz they drink every other day of the week.

A well-ordered wine list will begin with a range of aperitifs – possibly some Champagnes and Australian sparkling wines, some lager beers and perhaps a dry sherry or two. That way, when you settle down, it’s simple to choose an appropriate first drink, which should be light, flavoursome, refreshing and dry. Many restaurants will also present their range of cocktails at this stage, also a good idea. My only advice to you is not to choose a sweet or creamy cocktail before your meal unless you want to eat out on the cheap – they’re a sure way to lose an appetite.

Next the list should go through the wines in the same order you might be expected to choose from them during the meal. It should begin with the white wines, the light reds and then the fuller-bodied reds, finishing with the sweet dessert wines and fortified wines.

Many wine lists do exactly that; however, many do not. So, to make life easier, let’s run through the the basic wine types – how to recognise then and what to choose them with.

Generic and Varietal Wines

The first thing to realise is that a wine is labelled either with the name or names of grapes it was made with, or with the name of a style it is intended to represent, usually a European place or wine region.

These are the ‘generic’ names, like Chablis, Champagne, White Burgundy and Sauternes. They are supposed to indicate whether the wine is full-on or light-bodied, dry or sweet, soft or aggressive. Precisely the same sort of naming happens with cheese. An Australian ‘Brie’ does have similar characteristics to a French Brie, but it isn’t identical. The same again for Australian Cheddar. But if only our wines had as much in common with their European role models as our cheese now does!

You find generic names on all sorts of containers; bottles, flagons, casks, and some firms have even tried stubbies, so you should expect a huge variation in quality. Whereas some grape varieties such as ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’, can generally imply a certain quality, the generic names, like ‘Claret’ can not. They can be made from nearly any grape variety, of good or poor quality. It’s only natural that a fifteen dollar bottle will be a better wine than a five dollar cask, but don’t let these names ever imply a standard of quality to you; they only indicate the wine’s style.

Champagnes and Sparkling Wines

Let’s take a look at the sparkling wines. Although the standard of the locally-made product continues to improve, there is no doubt that the best are still the French – by a considerable margin. However, most are very much more expensive, and on a value for money basis the better Australian sparkling wines make an attractive proposition.

Most of the best Australian sparkling wines are made by the same traditional process as the French, the ‘Methode Champenoise’, and most are made with the same grapes – pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay. The pinots are actually red grapes, although like the vast majority of red grapes, their juice is clear. You make a clear wine by quickly separating the juice from the skins, which contain the colour that stains a wine red.

The Methode Champenoise is the process by which a sparkling wine becomes naturally carbonated thanks to a second fermentation inside the same bottle that you buy, courtesy of a yeast added especially for that purpose. The quality of a Champagne style is almost invariably affected by the time the wine spends in contact with the deposit of decaying yeast cells inside the bottle, before the yeast is removed. The longer this period, the more yeast character in the wine, up to a point. Yeastiness is often likened to Vegemite and bready, doughy flavours. In spite of this it is extremely pleasant and is the hallmark of a great Champagne.

For an Australian wine to be labelled as ‘Methode Champenoise’, it must have spent at least six months maturing on lees, although this really should be extended by the authorities to an entire year. French Vintage Champagnes spend a minimum of three years before disgorgement, the Non-Vintage Champagnes blends of several years one year.

Don’t confuse this Methode Champenoise technique with Australian terms like ‘Bottle Fermented’, ‘Naturally Fermented’ or ‘Naturally Sparkling’. The French technique is the best in this case, at least and these others are fundamentally short-cuts to save on cost and invariably reduce quality.

The very cheapest sparkling wines – and we all know what they’re called – are little more than carbonated wines and the end result is little better than the standard of wine used to begin with. Don’t expect much in the way of yeast character and if you can detect Vegemite check the label to see if it wasn’t an ingredient!

If you’re selecting a sparkling wine, remember that those based around chardonnay are likely to be elegant and supple and more suited to drinking as an aperitif, while those made predominantly with pinot noir are richer, fuller and more austere. These are the sparkling wines to drink with your meal, with hors d’oeuvres, salads, cold dishes, ices and sorbet desserts.

The Crisp, Fruity Whites

Now for the dry whites. We’ll begin with the crisp, fruity dry whites. To choose a wine like this, select a rhine riesling, sauvignon blanc or a young semillon. Generic wines which fit this bill are those simply labelled as ‘riesling’ or ‘chablis’.

Rhine riesling typically has an attractive floral nose or smell; not a botanical peculiarity, citric lemon/lime characters on the nose and palate and full depth of green apple-like fruitiness. It should finish clean and dry, without any sugary taste. Rhine Riesling goes extremely well with lighter seafoods, scallops, salads, chicken and cold meats.

Those wines just called ‘Riesling’ are, if you like, impostors of the rhine riesling grape, except the occasional rare and expensive example made from 100% rhine riesling. The Rieslings have similar depth and style, in that they are fruity and finish dry, but lack the quality of flavour of the actual rhine rieslings themselves. Fork out the extra few bucks for the real McCoy – it’s worth it.

Sauvignon blanc has achieved respect as a wine of rare character and difference, and as a fine accompaniment to many otherwise troublesome foods. It is quite adept with salads, vegetable soups, stronger seafoods, poached fish, quiches and terrines.

The best examples taste of passionfruit, gooseberries and lichees, and several come with an unusual and distinctive grassy or vegetative character. This grassiness is sometimes taken to extremes, as is occasionally seen in some New Zealand examples, which taste and smell of asparagus. If you hear someone describe the taste of a wine as “cats’ pee”, this is not entirely unrelated, and I’d put my fiver on it being a sauvignon blanc from the land of the long white Cloudy Bay.

Many wood-aged sauvignon blancs are given the title ‘Fume Blanc’, in which case the wine’s flavour and depth has been enhanced by at least a short period of maturation in oak casks, if only for three weeks or so. This adds depth and richness to the wine, suiting it more to stronger than delicate foods.

Many semillons from cooler wine areas towards the south of the continent are today blended with small proportion of sauvignon blanc, creating fresh, fruity and slightly greenish wines that finish fresh and dry, with attractive grapey flavours. These wines, several of which come from Western Australia, are suited to similar foods as the un-wooded sauvignon blancs.

Chablis wines are really a particular style of white burgundy, which I get around to later. The wines are typically crisp, delicate but full in flavour; usually drier, lighter and more acidic than other white burgundies. While the French wines with this name can be something really special, the Australian examples rarely are. Nevertheless, if it’s something ultra-dry you’re after, try one.

Full, Soft White Wines

The next whites are full, soft and dry. Grape varieties to watch for are chardonnay, verdelho and older semillons and, cheaper wines named ‘White Burgundy’.

Chardonnay is still the most fashionable wine to buy and the choice today is endless. It’s elegant flavour conjures exotic images of apricots, peaches, figs and almonds. Chardonnay is one of the white varieties whose flavour is often enhanced by a period of maturation and/or fermentation in wooden casks. The extra complexity and depth given this way adds interest and drinkability. Chardonnay varies immensely from wine region to region. Those from cooler areas are lighter and more elegant, while those from warmer areas are richer and rounder, with softness, depth, and a greater weight of fruit. These wines often rely more on oak maturation for their complexity, but the results can be equally as stunning as any of the examples from cooler regions.

A versatile wine, chardonnay is often ideal with chicken, grilled fish, soft cheeses, veal, pork, lobster and seafood chowders.

Older semillons, especially those from the Hunter River, are marvellous food wines. Their richness and depth of flavour is usually reflected in their deep yellow colour. After a few years theyr become toasty and honeyed, very full but as smooth as silk. Thanks to their richness of flavour, they are next to perfect with veal, pork, richly-flavoured seafoods and cheeses.


Verdelho makes full-bodied and full-flavoured dry white burgundy styles with elegance and distinction. Its has rich smoothness and a slightly flinty, greenish character. When young it can be quite spicy and aromatic, which helps it match Chinese and other Asian cuisines.

Traminer is the spiciest and most pungent of the white varieties and is frequently blended with rhine riesling. The best examples are fresh, aromatic and have an intense floral, musky and lychee-like flavours. It is superb with spicy Oriental dishes, and makes a different accompaniment for poached fish and stronger-flavoured seafoods.

Lighter Shades of Red

As I suggested earlier, restaurants will frequently divide their red wines into light-bodied reds – which may include the roses, the Beaujolais-like wines and pinot noirs – and the fuller-bodied reds. Let’s glance at the light reds first, which I suggest you try with game birds like duck and quail, warm salads, veal and pork.

Contrary to popular belief, rose is not always a haphazard blend of red and white slops or tank-ends left over from the harvest, but more often a light-coloured, light-bodied and low–alcohol red wine, usually around 8-11 percent by volume. Good rose is crisp and clean, and often tastes of apricots and surprisingly grapes. As in France, the better Australian wines are made from either cabernet sauvignon or grenache. Often at their best served outdoors with a salad or picnic, the drier roses can also restore some sensitivity to the jaded palate if served before dessert.

Should Australian wines be able to call themselves ‘Beaujolais’? We’ll know shortly, when the results of the long and exhaustive legal wrangle between the producers of Australian Beaujolais and their French equivalents come to hand. But for the moment, there’s nothing to stop Australians from using yet another French name for their wine.

The ‘Beaujolais styles’ are light, fresh and red. If you close your eyes, sometimes you could kid yourself you were drinking white instead. Some of these wines are made with the technique of fermenting whole bunches of grapes, which makes a light, fresh and jammy wine, used in the French region itself. Some even bear a close resemblance to the French Beaujolais, although most fail to approach even a feeble apology for the same.

Pinot noir makes a lighter-bodied red wine that the traditional Australian wine drinker is used to, some of which are in reality only marginally out of the ‘rose’ category. Unless they’re exceptionally slow to develop, it’s wise to drink them before their age reaches double figures.

Pinot’s classic varietal flavours are strawberries, cherries and plums. Occasionally they taste of beetroot and tobacco, and some show a unique ‘gamey’ character.

The Reds With Muscle

Finally, the full-bodied reds, the wines to accompany the richer red meat dishes, casseroles and roasts, some spicy dishes and hard cheeses. These are largely made with cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and, of late, merlot. Most often the best examples of these are labelled as varietal wines, in which case the wine takes the name of the grapes it was made from. Occasionally, however, the generic names of ‘Claret’ and ‘Burgundy are found, which, as ever, relate to the style of the wine rather than the actual grapes it was made from.

‘Burgundy’ is intended to imply a full to medium-bodied, yet softer style of red, without the depth of colour, tannin and firmness of clarets. They’re generally ready to drink when younger, and don’t last quite as long as some of the more robust claret wines. Most Australian wines called ‘Burgundy’ are made with shiraz.

Clarets are generally light to medium-bodied, and quite firm on the palate. They are often very astringent when young. Their more specific features depend on the grape varieties used in their making, and the proportions in which these are found in the final blend. The best are usually blends of cabernet sauvignon and shiraz, or straight shiraz. Cheaper clarets contain a proportion of the lesser grenache, usually blended with shiraz.

Young cabernet sauvignon is typically blackcurrant-like, although it can also resemble green peppers and olives, or else can smell grassy like sauvignon blanc, to which cabernet sauvignon is related.

Cabernet fruit flavour is found at the front of the mouth. The grape itself is small, large-stoned and thick-skinned, which means that cabernet often makes quite an aggressive, tannic young drop. Varieties such as merlot and shiraz are frequently blended with cabernet sauvignon to contribute their different flavours and to occasionally ‘fill out’ the palate of some lighter cabernet wines.

Australian wine labels appear to offer the consumer two choices – Shiraz or Hermitage, when in actual fact they’re one and the same grape. Hermitage is the name of the wine region on the slopes above the small town of Tain, in the northern end of the Rhone Valley in France. The major red variety there is the same as the shiraz found in Australia, and consequently some of the more marketing-conscious wine producers of yesteryear began to call their wine ‘Hermitage’ as an alternative. The practice has continued – for undoubtedly the name sounds far more distinguished – although the majority of people call the grape by the more correct of the two names, Shiraz.

Its classic varietal flavours are of pepper and spice, although they may show a delightful fruitiness of fresh raspberries. Its qualities also include a soft, yet firm body. Shiraz is responsible for some of the rich, old classics from the Hunter Valley, some of the great reds of Coonawarra, central Victoria and Western Australia and many of the best light ‘Beaujolais-like’ styles in Australia.

An earlier-ripening grape than cabernet sauvignon, merlot’s main role is to fill out cabernet sauvignon wines, although it occasionally makes a straight varietal wine. Merlot’s wine is typically soft and fleshy, frequently early-maturing. Its great attribute is a richness around the middle palate which complements the qualities of cabernet so well. Merlot’s flavour is often fruitcake-like – rich, complex and spicy with a delicious red berry flavour.

So ends the tour of the wine-list. A future article will discuss the dessert wines, such as Sauternes and port, which you may find handy at the end of the meal. Don’t expect to immediately begin selecting wine as easy as you choose a shirt or tie – some serious practice needs to be completed first. To help you with this, I have two final suggestions. Talk to the wine retailer about what you buy and compare your opinion to his or hers. You will become more familiar and knowledgable the more you can discuss the same wines together, and good retailers don’t mind at all – it’s good for their business.

Last of all – when in complete doubt, there has never been and never will be anything wrong with asking the wine-waiter for an explanation or for his selection with the meal you order. Please login to post comment