ordering food...

[Rover_KE]

There's no shame attached to ordering the house wine.

It's always the cheapest, and in my experience is always at least drinkable and occasionally surprisingly good.

Rover

[emsr2d2]

Well, of course I'm the newbie here, so I don't know yet if maybe you always answer in this sarcastic way, but I would like to point out that if smk (or others here) took the same attitude to learning English that you have taken to learning about wine, then he/she would just give up and look for a Phillipine food restaurant instead of trying to broaden their horizon(s).

Ordering wine is generally not too difficult- it takes practice, same as any skill, like a second language. You don't mind a little practice drinking wine, do you?

I'm no expert, so I stick with a few types that I like. If I find a wine list with nothing familiar, then I simply tell the waiter that I don't know any of the wines on the list, but that I generally like (in my case) the Spanish or Italian types, and he/she should know what to recommend from that.

All that said, I, too, tend toward the cheaper end of the list, and yes, wines are almost always overpriced in restaurants, but I would be too embarassed to just blurt out, "bring whatever is cheapest" and look like a cheapskate and a boob. If the wine tastes bad, send it back or get a second opinion.

Oh, and thanks to Hedwig for pointing out my oversight...

My attitude to "learning about wine" has been the same my entire adult life! I try lots of different ones and now I know which I like and which I don't (as a general rule). I've been to several wine tastings and enjoyed every one of them - in one case, enjoyed it a bit too much!

So, yes, my previous answer was, of course, fairly sarcastic but based on a lot of truth. In UK restaurants, I will generally have a quick squint at the wine list but invariably I do just order the cheapest. Needless to say, I rarely actually say "Bring me the cheapest bottle you have" but I've certainly simply pointed to the one at the top of the list before now and said "We'll have that, thanks".

I've only ever sent one bottle of wine back in my entire life - not because it was off or bad or corked, but because they were dozens of little flies floating in it.

As a general rule though, on holiday, especially in France, Spain, Greece or Italy, I will always simply order a carafe of the house wine with my meal. As yet, I've never been horribly disappointed. I always find that even if it tastes a bit nasty with the first glass, it will improve no end after the first three or four glasses!

I should probably also add that I only rarely go out to eat in the kind of restaurant where the waiters know anything about the wine other than the fact that it comes in bottles and in 3 different colours!