Does this situation sound familiar? You find yourself at an incredibly expensive restaurant - everything is draped in white linen and a professional sports team sits at the table next to you, ordering Chateaubriand. You take a peak at the wine list, and begin sweating.
Maybe it's a milestone birthday, anniversary or if you're in luck - a work meeting you can expense.
Either way, you don't want to look cheap ordering the $50 bottle, but you also don't want your boss (or partner) questioning that $300 charge on one bottle of wine on your credit card bill.
Unless you're a collector, or if money is meaningless to you - by all means, fill your boots and order that $300 bottle. It's likely not worth it, though: restaurants mark up their wines three times what they buy it for.
Sure, you may still be drinking an expensive wine, but the price accounts for far more than just the juice inside.
High end, other worldly wine is akin to haute couture: you're paying for a name, an echelon that's taken hundreds of years to reach. It's not that the wine is worth $50 a sip - it's that these iconic wineries date back hundreds of years, working tirelessly to achieve cult status.
If all you want is something that's going to taste great and will pair with your meal, your best bet is to speak with the sommelier. If you're dining at a restaurant with white linen, they'll most certainly have one on staff.
A sommelier's job should be to find several examples of wines that'll work within your parameters. State your budget - never feel guilty no matter what the number - what you generally drink, the flavours and "weight" of wine you prefer (light, medium or full), and throw in a few personal anecdotes - the type of music you like, or where you most recently travelled.
This will steer them in the right direction in providing a few choices to pick from.
While anyone can be a cherry picker - the hardest, and most fun part of a sommelier's job is finding those value deals - those wines that drink like they're worth a hell of a lot more.
While we'd all revel in drinking a bottle of Screaming Eagle - if you can even get your hands on some - most of us are just looking for crush worthy wines we can throw back on a Tuesday with friends.
Don't get caught up in the snobbery of wine and proudly order that bottle of $50 wine - your pocket book will thank you.
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