Choosing a decent wine can be a nightmare, especially if you’re trying to impress someone. You’re having a dinner party you’ve planned the menu thoroughly, dusted off your best tableware and crystal glass, and got everything prepared except for the wine selection. There’s just so much to consider, and it always seems like everyone else knows so much more than you do about it. You stand there for what seems like forever looking at the seemingly endless shelves of bottles, and the more you wonder about it the harder it gets. That’s why we’ve put together a few tips of what to look for and how to choose the perfect wine.

Firstl, you should match the wine to the meal you will be eating. Everyone has different opinions of which wine will taste good with different foods, but there are a few basic guidelines that you can follow if you’re not sure. The easiest way is to simply match the colour of the wine to the food, you can’t go wrong. If you’re eating red meat choose a dark red Cabernet or Syrah. For lamb or pork a medium bodied red like a Merlot will be less heavy whilst still supplying a rich flavour. Chicken and fish dishes are often overpowered by reds so it’s best to go for a white instead, perhaps a Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. If it’s a special occasion or celebration, you might be better off with a sparkling wine, served in fancy Champagne flutes.

Once you’ve worked out what kind of wine you are looking for, check where it has come from. Wines from different regions will be very different in quality, so it’s best to do a bit of research into the best regions. If you’re not sure, France is always a safe bet and has been producing good quality wines for hundreds of years. Italy is another one, and Chilean wines are also very popular at the moment, particularly reds.

Something else worth checking is the vintage of the wine, or the year it was bottled. A real wine buff will already know which were the good years for each region, and will only buy vintages they know came from a particularly good crop. For the rest of us, it can seem like a lot of guesswork, but if you know the basics you’ll at least be on the right track. That all wines taste better as they get older is a common misconception. It’s true that most red wines improve with a little aging, but most wineries don’t distribute these wines for a couple of years after bottling to give them time to mature. This means by the time they become available they are ready to drink and will taste good. Most white or sparkling wines don’t need aging, and taste good if drunk straight away.