Hit and miss

Going out for a meal shouldn’t be an occasion for stress; other than first dates or tricky business lunches of course. Yet often, simply being handed the wine list can cause your palms to sweat and pulse to race — and not in a good way.

The problem is two-fold. Those of us with limited wine knowledge feel overwhelmed by the range of options on even the shortest of lists. As a result, the temptation is either to opt for the second-cheapest wine on offer — you wouldn’t want to look stingy, after all — or to buy something flash and spend the rest of the meal wondering whether you’ve paid over the odds. On the other hand, if you have even a limited wine education you’ll find yourself burdened by your co-diners’ expectations that you’ll choose a wine to please everyone’s palate.

So just how do you negotiate a wine list? Your best bet is to follow a few rules. First, remember that you’ll rarely find a bargain at the very bottom end of a wine list. Even restaurants that soft-pedal their profits at the top end will apply the full financial whack to their cheapest wines. By the time you’ve factored in a profit margin, taxes, the middleman’s cut and shipping costs, the chances are that the liquid in a bottle listed at £20 will be worth less than a quid. Broadly speaking, the best value-for-money ratio on most lists is to be found in wines selling for £30 to £45. Competition in this price bracket is intense, so the chances are you’ll end up with an interesting bottle of well-made wine.

As ever, there’s a caveat. In order to net a bargain, you need to steer clear of prestigious wine regions such as Chablis, Bordeaux or Rioja; after all, you wouldn’t go to Cartier to buy a cheap watch.