In some ways, beer is more complicated that wine.
Food provided by Montrachet, TriBeCa Grill, Nobu and Heartbeat complicated the wine sampling: only the most skillful cocktail partygoers could juggle plate and glass and still get through to the most popular wines.
Like all things complicated about wine, you can thank the French.
Here's a rule of thumb: The more complicated the wine list, the more someone, maybe everyone, on the wait staff is dying to be asked questions.
"We wanted to break the image of Gamay as an easy wine, very light wine…we wanted to prove that you are able to get complicated more interesting wines," she told me as we sat tasting her wines on the sun-drenched terrace of her beautiful 17th-century Chateau Briante.
I couldn't agree more with Frank Prial regarding his statement that the wine industry has made wine complicated for consumers ("To Enjoy a Glass, Lessons Are Not Needed," May 3).
Like the whites, they are earnest rather than complicated, straightforward, meaty wines that would go well with peppery grilled lamb or a hearty stew.
"To most people, it's just overwhelming," said Patrick Cappiello, the wine director at Gilt, a restaurant on the East Side of Manhattan with a complicated yet superb wine list.
Meanwhile Sadie's waitressing career hits an entirely expected stumbling block, as editor Lauren drops by, and Lexy's casual fling with Bea is complicated by a wine-tasting date with Sam.
Warre's Otima 10-Year-Old Tawny Port (£11.99, 50cl, Waitrose) Like sherry, but unlike vintage port, tawny port is all about the fiendishly complicated job of combining wines that have been ageing for various periods in barrel.
