Weâve all been there: youâre in a restaurant, starring cluelessly at the wine list while the waiter stands expectantly waiting to hear your selection.
You choose the second from cheapest and hope no one notices, especially if youâre on a first date.
Just when you think youâve survived the ordeal, your waiter is back asking who would like to âsample the wineâ. Cue rabbit-in-headlights eyes from everyone at the table.
While thereâs no shame in being a wine novice, there are certain situations where weâd all rather not expose ourselves as amateurs.
With that in mind, we spoke to two wine experts to find out how to fake it âtil you make it.
1) What should you do if a wine list is boggling your mind?
If you look down at a wine list in a restaurant or bar and donât recognise a single name, donât panic, there are ways to navigate the list without admitting you donât know what youâre doing.
Katie Smith, national account executive at Bibendum Wine, says you shouldnât just go for the second cheapest bottle.
âA good restaurant will have their wine list separated by style. This can often help you more than flowery tasting notes,â she tells HuffPost UK.
You should also consider asking the waiter, waitress or sommelier for a recommendation based on your tastes.
âTelling staff what style of wine you normally like helps, for example, âlight-bodied and dryâ, ârich and spicyâ,â Katie adds.
âThere are also some brilliant apps out there like Plonk or Vivino, which allow you to scan or search for a bottle of wine and give you a description and ratings.â
Alternatively CafĂ© Rougeâs resident wine expert Richard Pryor recommends working out how much you want to spend, then adding 10%.
âTowards the bottom of the list, quality improves dramatically with only small increases in price due to the fact that all the fix costs are the same (transport, bottling, duty etc.)â he tells HuffPost UK.
2) What are you meant to do when asked if youâd like to âsample the wineâ before pouring?
When a restaurant asks you if youâd like to sample the wine before they pour you should go for it, because this is your chance to see if itâs corked.
Richard explains: âThis is not bits of cork floating about in the glass, but a chemical compound called trichloroanisole which can be found in about 5% of wines bottled under cork and results in a mouldy, wet cardboard sort of a smell.â
Katie agrees that this process âis not just for wine snobsâ and says you should start by looking at the wine to see if it is nice and bright in colour.
âIf itâs cloudy or hazy that could be signs of a fault. If there is sediment in your glass, the restaurant should have decanted this out as it can be unpleasant to drink,â she says.
âIf you see crystals have formed in your glass that look like shards of glass, donât panic. These are completely harmless and often happen when a wine hasnât been overly filtered, which is the case with some organic or natural wines.â
The next thing to do is swirl the wine around in your glass using the stem to âallow oxygen in the air into the wine, which enhances the aromasâ.
âNext give it a good sniff,â Katie continues. âThis is important for checking if there are any faults. If there is a cork taint then the wine can smell musty.â
She added that faults can also happen with screw-cap wines.
âIf you smell rotten eggs or nail varnish remover, send it back straight away,â she says.
âYou can also check for faults by having a taste. Practice drawing the wine around in your mouth so your taste buds get the full impact. If the wine doesnât taste quite right, donât be afraid to query it with staff.â
Unfortunately if you simply donât like the wine youâve chosen at this stage thereâs very little you can do about it. Richard explains that in this case, the customer isnât always right.
âIâm afraid itâs your fault. The best way round this is to ask whether you could have a quick taste at the point of ordering it,â he says.
âAny restaurant that refuses you this perfectly reasonable request doesnât deserve your patronage.â
3) Whatâs a go-to safe order for red, white and rosĂ© wine?
For Katie, wine choices really depend on personal taste.
âIf you are in a big group and want some crowd-pleasing options, then a merlot - a medium-bodied, easy-drinking red - is a safe bet,â she says.
âFor white wine, Sauvignon Blanc is a popular choice. Itâs crisp and dry and versatile with lots of different dishes.â
She says rosĂ© is a tricky one because preferences often depend on whether or not you have a sweet tooth. If you do, thereâs nothing wrong with Zinfandel.
âTry Provence rosĂ© from the South of France if you are looking for something drier and food-friendly,â Katie adds.
Meanwhile Richard recommends picking âa nice bottle of Burgundyâ if in doubt.
âThe reds are almost all Pinot Noir and the whites Chardonnay, so will please the vast majority,â he says.
Where rosĂ© is concerned, Richard advises looking for the âpalest pink hueâ to ensure âa crisp, mouth-watering glassâ.
Katie points out that drinking red wine with chocolate or white wine with steak isnât usually recommended, but âyou should never feel like an amateur whatever you orderâ because âexploring different varieties is one of the most fun things about the wine worldâ.
4) What wine should you bring if youâre going to a dinner party?
If you want to be a real wine geek, Katie says you should check what food your host is serving before selecting your wine.
âAgain there are some great apps out there like Pocket Wine which gives you a food and wine pairing guide with specific dishes and food types,â she says.
âMalbec is a good choice if red meat is being served and an off-dry Riesling is fabulous with Asian-inspired spices.â
Most importantly donât get stressed about presenting your host with the âright wineâ - you can always suggest they save it for another day if theyâve already purchased a perfect pairing.
5) Cork or screw-top? Does it really make a difference?
A recent study by Oxford University reportedly found that seeing and hearing a cork popping can psychologically make us believe that the wine is better quality. But according to Katie, while we may have positive associations with corked wine, it isnât always better.
âItâs a complete myth that screw-cap wines are lower quality. Screw caps are brilliant for preserving the freshness in wine and are less likely to be faulty than wines with a cork closure,â she says.
âCork is better for wines intended to age, as it is a natural material that allows the wine to âbreatheâ a little over time.â
Perhaps surprisingly, Richard says he actually prefers screw-top wine over corked.
âPut simply, we Brits are far too polite or lacking in confidence when it comes to making a fuss when a wineâs corked, meaning far too many people are buying and drinking corked wines,â he says.
âThe screw-top solves this problem. Fortunately, the glorious snobbery inherent in the wine trade means the cork and the theatre that goes with it will be with us for a while.â