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Why you should not choose a wine for its price
El sumiller is the key figure when it comes to helping you choose a good wine with which to pair your lunch or dinner in a restaurant. A key figure in achieving the success of the gastronomic event and that, however, is not always appreciated or taken into account enough.
How do you know how to get the wine right? What is your secret? What steps do you follow to recommend the best one? Custodian Zamarra, sommelier of the prestigious Zalacaín restaurant in Madrid For more than 40 years, it gives us the keys to succeed when it comes to choose the best wine.
1. Trust the sommelier
The sommelier, among his functions in hospitality, is in charge of making the selection of wines to offer, making the purchase of bottles, of their perfect conservation and, above all, of advising the client in their final choice. In addition, he is also an expert in pairing, so he will be the person who best advises on which broth to choose according to the option of dishes selected by the diner, in order to get the most out of the flavor of the food.
Therefore, to succeed it is necessary for the client to place all their trust in the sommelier. “Once the sommelier has the trust of the diner, it is impossible for him to recommend him badly”says Custodio. For this, these professionals use psychology and are able to discover what type of client they are simply talking to.
2. How much do we want to spend
“It is important that diners talk to the sommelier and explain what tastes they have but, above all, what price range they contemplate. You have to lose your fear to say how much we are willing to spend on a bottle of wine ”, explains the sommelier. Obviously, it is important not to forget what characteristics are sought in the wine.
Furthermore, according to Zamarra: “The most common mistake it is to order the wine based on the price, thinking that the most expensive are the best wines because that is not always the case ”. It is necessary to seek a quality-price balance without forgetting that “the best wine is the one you like”. During years of experience, Custodio Zamarra claims to have seen a very expensive wine mixed with a soft drink, to which he reacts by saying: “if the client is happy like this, I am no one to tell you not to! “
3. Go from less to more
For those who are entering the world of oenology, Custodio recommends starting “from less to more”. Mild wines, with a light touch of aging or fruity are ideal to start enjoying wine, since they are always liked. Once the diner already has some experience, little by little he opens up to other sensations and can try wines with more body.
On the sommelier’s part, he has to stay away from technicalities as the customer rejects them. It is necessary to present the wine with simple concepts with which to make people understand that this drink is not so complicated. In turn, diners who are not experts, must also claim that simplicity from their sommelier.
4. Cup, temperature and color
When tasting the wine, the pedestal is the part where the diner has to hold the glass, never by the chalice where the wine is deposited. The reason is none other than prevent the wine from heating up with our hand. The next step is to give it a spin and, from there, smell and taste. All this ritual is advisable since the wine always appreciates being a little oxygenated and stopping for a few seconds to assess if it is what we expected but, both the way to take the glass, and the decision to taste it or go directly to drink it is always up to the customer and All the options are correct.
La wine temperature It is a fundamental aspect to take into account and it has to be noticed on the palate. Red wine also has to be pleasant, never hot and also has to convey a sensation of freshness. Zamarra advises that “when ordering rosé or white wine, you should always claim an ice bucket, since the ideal temperature must remain stable throughout the duration of lunch or dinner.”
In addition, some aspects that the diner must know about color is that, if when moving the wine in the glass, the edges have purple tones, it means that the wine is young. If instead, these tones are brown, it is an older one.
5. Find the perfect balance
There are common situations where for the entire meal, only a single bottle of wine will be ordered. To triumph in the election, according to Custodian Zamarra “necessary find a balance. In other words, look at what type of food predominates and base the choice of wine on that ”.
Therefore, if the majority of dishes are made up of meat, it would be best to order a red wine and if, on the contrary, fish predominates, pairing the food with white wine would be the ideal option.
6 Use common sense
On the contrary, if you are willing to order several wines during the same meal, the sommelier recommends “taking a different wine every other course, without forgetting to seek harmony ”.
Zamarra also urges to appeal to common sense regarding the order of choice of wines. Thus, “in the same way that dishes go from less to more, the same thing happens with wine. The pairing it works through common sense, ”says Zamarra.
Therefore, when you are faced with a pairing of several dishes, it is necessary to start with the lightest wines and then move on to those with more body. This translates into opting for young wines first, during the aperitif, then moving on to the more powerful reds along with the main course and finishing with a muscatel or any other sweet wine. He concludes by saying that “You always have to finish with the most complex” because for many, wine is the best dessert of a meal.
In the case in which the diner is in a tasting menu, the general recommendation that is made is to drink wine by the glass and in small quantities.
Finally, Custodian ZamarraAs a sommelier with more than 40 years of experience, he affirms “my main advice is to try the wine of the area of Spain where you are visiting”, remembering how lucky we are to live in one of the countries with the most wine production in the world.
La Interprofessional Wine Organization of Spain (OIVE) was created to promote the sector and as an instrument to improve the value of products in all links of the value chain: production, transformation, marketing and distribution.