Wine list: how to create one

Whenever you have your own a restaurant, a shop or any kind of activity, or you simply want to offer a nice exposition of quality wines at home, it is essential to create your own wine list, from which the guests can choose their favorite, but also be helped in the process, according to pairing and many other elements. However, making a wine list is no joke, as it takes a lot of hard work and knowledge, so before diving into this experience, you should take into account this clarification.

In fact, nice Italian wines or even different kinds of wines deserve to be paired and presented in the proper way, in order to provide the perfect exposition of wines and elevate your guests’ experience. As soon as you will have learned the secrets and all the tips of making a perfect wine list, you could shock and stupefy your guests.

Wine list: which wines to choose

The first and most important thing that you should take into account, whenever you are creating a wine list, other than the graphic details, is of course which wine you should choose, in order to create the better balance and exposition of wines in your cupboards or wine cellar. Of course, there is no right answer to this question, since there are many variables that might change the response, but most of all you should ask yourself something: what do you want from your wine list and what is it the main theme of it?

Firstly, you should not include too many wines, especially if you are at the beginning of your career in the wine world, but take into account the target that you’re aiming at: it is better to have a well-chosen selection of a few wines, than to include too much and not even know how to serve it. You should also take into consideration other elements, such as the disponibility of the wine, the geography that you want to achieve and, more generally speaking, have a common theme that should revolve around the selection of the wines.

List of wines: sparkling, whites or reds

One of the most important and efficient elements on a wine list is the order in which you should put your varieties of wines, because it is a characteristic that firstly elevates the level of the request, but also shows the professionality of the wine list itself. In fact, at the top of your page you should put the sparkling wines: for example, a nice Spumante Brut at the top of your list could help you make quite the impression on your list. After this, it is usually the white wines that take the leads, such as the Bianco dei leoni that could help you make quite the entrance.

After that, it is essential to introduce your rosè wines, and at the end the reds, such as the  Amarone della valpolicella classico or even the Corvina Veronese. It is also an excellent advice to divide your wines, according to the use that the clients or the guests should make: for example, it is useful to divide the wines that they should use for desserts, for fish dishes or meats. Another excellent tip could be to divide them also by corposity and structure, such as creating a new part of the wine list for fortified wines or liquors.

Wine lists: vintages and prices

If you still don’t feel satisfied by these examples, there are many other ways in which you should order your wines on the wine list, and determing factors that could make a difference. For example, it is considered very tasteful to divide your wines by the age of the wines, such as putting your freshest and less aged wines at the top and, in a crescendo, put the most aged and vintage wines at the end of the list. This is connected to the fact that less aged wines are the first to be consumed, while older wines are reserved to the end of the night.

Another very important element to take into consideration, when ordering your wines on the list, is to also use the price as a factor. In fact, usually wines are ordered from the cheapest to the priciest, in an excalation. This is done not also as a tasteful element, but also as a psycological effect, that might be done on the guests. It is thought that the impact on a easier wine on the wallet at the beginning is more reassuring on the client.