So you’ve read the books, the wine reviews, and you’ve learned the rankings of the experts, and now you’re in a restaurant ready to order wine for dinner. With luck, you may be asked if you want a drink as you‘re seated and handed a menu. In most cases that luck changes when the server brings the drink and asks for your food order. Why do I speak this way? Because I like to sip on a drink, most often a refreshing glass of dry white wine while I look at the menu. I also ask to see the wine list when I’m given the menu.

In most cases also, you’ll find that the average restaurant wine list is not user-friendly. Most often it has little similarity to what you’ve been reading in the wine reviews. And all too often the servers are not familiar with the wines on the list.

Many upscale restaurants have either a sommelier (wine steward) or a staff member dedicated to wine service. In those places, there is recognition that wine and food make for a happy marriage and it becomes fairly easy to get a wine you will like at a price you want to afford.

Watch the video to get some tips on ordering wine in a restaurant.

Be sure to watch the video at right featuring Dr. Allen Dale 'Ole' Olson »