A few years ago, if you wanted a decent glass of wine in a restaurant, you had to buy a whole bottle, or choose between the house white or house red, which generally meant something plain and unenjoyable.
Thank goodness most good eateries now offer an interesting range of wines by the glass.
Diners are more savvy these days, and restaurants and cafés that care about their wine list and service offer wines by the glass that complement their food, and a choice of varieties, producers and regions.
The waiters will hopefully have some good suggestions about which wines will go with each dish and some will even offer you a tiny taste first.
It's a great opportunity to taste something new without the risk of buying a whole bottle - or perhaps you might be tempted to try something special you couldn't afford by the bottle. After all, $10 or $12 for a glass of wine is less risky than spending $50 or $60 on the bottle.
Eating out can become a culinary adventure in which you can compare and contrast different tastes matched with different wines, especially with the trend towards smaller plates where you might order two or three small dishes instead of an entrée and main.
And, wine by the glass is ideal at lunch time when you probably don't want to drink a full bottle.
Ordering wine by the glass also means you don't have to put up with something that clashes with the food because four or five of you are sharing a bottle and have not been able to find something that suits everybody's food.
If you find yourself in this predicament, where the wine and food have nothing to say to each other, the best option is to drink water with the food, and the wine by itself between courses.
The best restaurants will pour wine by the glass at the table, but most bring you a ready-poured glass, perhaps because they measure it - good wine lists state the size of the pour.
The trend now is to serve wine in large glasses, so 100ml or 150ml of wine may look rather small in the bottom. However, a large glass allows you to swirl the wine and the aromas to gather so you can get the most out of each sniff and sip.
If there is a group just sharing a platter or two, then it may be more economical to buy a bottle, but if there are only two of you and you only want a glass or two each, then it's usually cheaper to buy wine by the glass.
Expect to pay between $7 and $12 or more for a glass, depending on the quality of the wine and the style of the restaurant.
The one down-side for the customer to ordering wine by the glass is that sometimes you may find a stale wine if the café has too many bottles open or not enough turnover - or doesn't really care about its wine.
This can work the other way, too, because some full-bodied tannic young reds are definitely better after being open a day or two. A fresh young sauvignon blanc or riesling will keep satisfactorily in the fridge overnight but not much longer.
Good cafés will keep track of when bottles were opened and some may even have gas systems for keeping opened bottles fresh for a few days.
