Being the season of all things festive, chances are you’ve already consumed your fair share of wine from all price brackets, but mostly the stuff that would strip the paint off a weatherboard house. When vin is more vinaigrette than anything palatable, sometimes it’s time to find a new enabler with better taste. In the first of our Professional Help series, we had a chat with Chris Barnes of Wine Selectors about selecting wines for everyone from the connoisseur to the chump.

Chris, how should one select wines for different occasions?

Do your research—if you are buying wine for a dinner party try and find out what is being served. If you don’t know, a Chardonnay for a white or a Shiraz for a red is usually safe.

You can use price as a guide—as a gift I would aim for the $20-$50 price bracket for a bottle. There is usually a link between the cost of the wines and the input costs. Better quality in grapes means usually lower yields per hectare, so fewer grapes for the same work, so higher cost. Good winemaking often takes a hands on approach and is small batch and so needs more and better trained people, so more cost. And if you’re taking wine to a dinner party, a $20-$30 bottle should impress even the most discerning drinkers.

Read tasting notes. Wine Selectors publishes tasting notes on all of its wines, which will give you a guide to how it might taste and what you might serve it with.

Also ask yourself, “Are you buying to drink now or drink later?” Most winemakers make suggestions about the cellaring time, but remember that almost all wines in the $10-15 range are made to drink within a year of release.

The most important thing is to experiment and don’t be afraid of new flavours, words and names. Learning about wine is just like learning about new cuisine, get out there try, read a little and just get outside your comfort zone! 

In your opinion, is it more than just “red or white” for dinner parties these days?

It’s not always about red and white—texture is the most important thing to think about. For example, a salmon steak is a heavy fish which can go with a medium bodied red wine like a Pinot Noir, whereas a delicate piece of whiting calls for a lighter wine like a young Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc.

Factor in the condiments: A heavy sauce like a hollandaise or a rich red wine sauce can dramatically change a dish. Heavier condiments call for heavier wines—a hollandaise would be perfect with an oaked Chardonnay.

Reverse the order: Pick your wines first and design your menu to suit. Choose a new wine you’d like to try and try a new recipe.

Match every day; it’s not just about the special occasions. If you think about selecting the perfect wine to match your every day meals you’ll enjoy them a lot more. And it’s not about spending a lot of money—there’s nothing wrong with an affordable bottle of Shiraz with your sausages on a Monday night.

What do you do if guests or hosts are wine connoisseurs?

Wine connoisseurs generally like to try a range of different wines so will appreciate something different; try and find an unusual wine from a small independent producer. That means either a grape variety like Pinot Grigio that’s new to Australia or even one of the country’s newer regions such as the King Valley.

Don’t assume that your host will want to drink the wine that you bring on the night. If they are wine connoisseurs they probably have the wine selection all planned out, but whatever the case don’t ever be embarrassed to bring a wine.

If you are hosting, take the time to match the wines to the food you are serving as outlined in the guidelines above. They’ll appreciate the effort and it will make a difference to how your meal tastes.

Will my refined palate be wasted on these folks?

There aren’t many people out there who don’t want to know or learn more about wine so nothing will be wasted. Would you serve your guests poor food because they weren’t chefs of restaurant critics? If your guests don’t know much about wine, take the time to explain why you have chosen each wine for each course and they’ll appreciate it.

I do believe there’s more for you to read: