Mystery menu? Trying to impress a date? Look out for these wine styles.
The dinner party invite has landed. You can’t wait to sit around a big old table with your favourite people and discuss the rental crisis, question where the year is going and guess which songs are about Joe Alwyn on The Tortured Poets Department. But there’s this feeling you can’t quite shake. Is it nerves? Pressure? An underlying sense of dread? Sounds like a classic case of winexiety.
Official definition: the stress caused by needing to bring a bottle of wine to a dinner party when you don’t know what’s on the menu. Basically, you’re flying blind. But if you stick with us, all your wine woes will be a distant memory and you can rest assured you’ll bring a reliable drop that’s going to work with the food and win everyone over. Cue the applause.
The winexiety will be at an all-time high if you can’t get your hands on a list of who’s attending or a rundown on the menu. The key is to select wines that can be flexibly paired with almost any dish and are not overpoweringly dry or too weighty. How do you do that? We have a few pointers.
1. Never ignore bubbles or rosé
If you’re flying blind, one of the safest bets is to go for a bottle of bubbles. Something about it feels special and celebratory, even if you’re just popping it on a Thursday night before you dip into some pad Thai from your local. If your host is cooking up a storm, it’s a great drink to open and share the moment you arrive. It also works well for almost any cuisine that’s on the cards. If you don’t want to shell out for Champagne, look for similar dry or “brut” styles from around the world, and prosecco can prove a particularly group-friendly pick. A nice dry rosé is another winner, and it’s versatile enough to work with most dishes, so the law of averages is on your side with this style.
2. Consider pinot noir
Then you have the ever-reliable safe bet of pinot noir. This variety is a sort of catch-all for the entire food pyramid; it’s wonderfully complex, beautifully light and super approachable for a red wine. From a bowl of slow-cooked bolognese to a salmon steak with sauteed greens, there aren’t many foods pinot doesn’t play nicely with, which makes it a winner for your mystery dinner party menu.
3. Keep food-friendly reds top of mind
If you want to stick with a red wine but are keen for something a little bigger in body, sangiovese, cool-climate shiraz and grenache are solid choices – just be careful not to go too big or bold or your wine will detract from the main event (the meal your host has prepared). If a casual barbie is on the cards, then a fun red blend is a great way to keep things relaxed – no pressure!
Anything from the Med gets our dinner party vote here, while opting for a lesser-known grape offers an element of intrigue and keeps your fellow guests on their toes. This could mean choosing a wine made from a less familiar grape variety – think tempranillo or mencia – or a wine that people are likely to know but one that comes from a different country they might be used to. A shiraz from Chile, perhaps.
4. Look to dry whites with acidity
Onto whites, and a nice bottle of riesling can be a great pre-dinner drop. It’ll also work particularly well with spicy dishes and seafood. A good rule of thumb with white wine is to choose a bottle with a dry finish and higher acidity (like Chablis or pinot grigio). Why? Because that acidity acts as a mouth-watering component that prompts your next bite and refreshes your palate, which will do wonders for the meal. There are plenty of aromatic white wines that will do this job brilliantly – check out this round-up of styles that have a lot in common with riesling.
5. Sweet wines to finish are always a good idea
And last but not least is the often overlooked dessert wine. Who doesn’t love the opportunity to sip on something sweet at the end of the night? Your selection doesn’t necessarily need to pair perfectly with the dessert since so many dessert wines are pretty special on their own. Sipping a dessert wine prolongs the dining experience and encourages guests to settle in and continue chatting around the table/fire/game of Monopoly.
And if all else fails? Bring a bottle of something – anything! Like your mum always says, it’s the thought that counts.
