good food, fine wine

on monday we dined at a ritzy, but very authentic italian restaurant Merlo's on Maple. it was a "thank you" dinner for a completed work project and it went really well. excellent food and the pres ordered some great wine for the table. one thing i did notice though is that no matter how much i try to "get into" and appreciate good wine, i'm still so clueless about it all. i know what i like - i have general ideas about what types of wines i find palatable, but despite my best efforts, i cannot recognize a single name off of a wine list at a decent restaurant. if any of you have suggestions out there to get a handle on this or simply have a personal favorite, please share. i'll start with a widely available dinner wine that you can nab for like 9 bucks called "red bicyclette - syrah". 2003 in particular was a good year.