What Wine to Bring when Invited to a Dinner

If you want to buy a wine at modest price to bring to a dinner, call the host and ask what wine they like. It also helps to know what is being served for dinner for the occasion. It’s always better to buy for the style and taste of the host, rather than try to “educate” the host to your own preferences and discoveris. If you can’t ask the host — and you are not familiar with wines, there are these labels that are designed to be reliable. They won’t be masterpieces of wine but you generally can’t go wrong with them — here are some: Mouton-Cadet; Cavit, Gallo Family Classics; Robert Mondavi; La Vielle Ferme. Generally, any wine carried in wholesale by Vizcaya Wine Imports is reliable. That is the advantage of small importers, who are selective about what they sell wholesale. Find out what retail stores carry a particular wine you are interested in.

In buying a gift, try to avoid expensive wines in stores known for cheap products — that wine has probably been sitting (more likely, standing) on the shelf for a while. Of course, all the rules for buying good wine for yourself also apply for gifts: It helps to know what is being served for dinner — white wines for white meat, reds for red meat — or bring a bottle of each; avoid seasonal wines, such as Beaujolais Nouveau; don’t pick up a wine close to the front door of the store; avoid corked wines that are standing up; same for wines that are chilled. Bringing a pre-chilled wine to your party may sound convenient, but you have no idea how long that wine has been in the store cooler — better off chilling the wine in your home fridge while you are getting dressed to go out.

Pre-chilling is most convenient when bringing a Champagne or sparkling wine. They are always a safe bet for dinner parties. Again, it helps to know your host. Does your host usually start the evening with a sparkling wine? Some people like to serve a Cava throughout the dinner. In that case, bring several pre-chilled bottles. You are guaranteed to be the toast of the evening.

Try to attend wine tastings (even those like mine in retail stores) and keep notes to be familiar with what’s good and available when you need it. Better yet, when you find a really good wine, buy a few bottles and store them in a dry, relatively cool place lying down — and get some gift bags sold at the liquor stores, if it’s a special occasion, such as a birthday, that calls for wrapping gifts. But the great thing about wine gifting is you don’t have to wrap it — a good wine to go with any meal is always appreciated as is.