Pouring wine at the table has long been considered the purview of high class and expensive restaurants. While you do need a bit of knowledge and a fairly well-stocked wine selection to justify performing the wine serving ritual, bringing the wine pouring routine out to the table will help to add a bit of interactivity and a touch of class to any restaurant. Here is a quick run-down of the process for anyone interested in serving wine at their customers’ tables.
Get to know your customer’s taste
The first and most important step in wine serving is getting to know your customers’ interests. Find out as much as possible about what sort of wine that they want. Ask about particular flavors, whether they are looking for dry or sweet, and a variety of other wine-related questions to help develop a strong concept of what it is that they are looking for from their wine. If the customer is not especially familiar with wine, ask questions about their wine history: what wines they’ve had, what they have liked or didn’t like, and what sort of other beverages and flavors that they enjoy.
Be familiar with food pairings
It is not uncommon for customers to order their meal first, and then ask for suggestions for wine pairings from the server. This can be an enjoyable and engaging interaction for both the customer and the server, but the server must be familiar with food pairing standards, as well as with the taste and pairing elements of the majority of the wines on offer. Hiring a certified sommelier is the easiest way to stay on top of your wine selection, but if that is not an option, at least one person on duty should always be prepared to have “the wine conversation” with curious customers.
Presenting the wine
Once you have selected a wine with your customer, arrange your serving equipment on a serving cart or the edge of the table before you begin preparing the bottle. Present the wine to the table by holding the bottle out over the table, framed by a clean serviette or napkin, and announce the vineyard, name of the wine, year, and type of wine. Once the host has confirmed that this is the wine that was ordered, you are ready to begin serving.
Preparing the bottle
Place the bottle on the cart/table with the label facing the customers at the table. Use the foil cutting knife of your wine opener to score and lift off the “capsule,” or top portion of the foil cover. Professional convention suggests that you always rotate the knife around the neck of the bottle, always keeping the label facing the table, rather than holding the knife still and rotating the bottle. Once you have removed the foil capsule, screw the worm of the corkscrew directly into the center of the cork, and use the lever to extract the corkscrew most of the way from the neck of the bottle. Gently finish extracting the cork with your hand, so as to avoid any intrusive popping noises or wine spray from accumulated air vacuums within the bottle.
Serving the wine
Remove the cork from the corkscrew and place it on a coaster to present to your guests (some restaurants only do this upon request, others do it by default). Wipe the lip of the bottle with a clean part of your serviette and pour a small taste for the host. Be sure to catch any drips on the bottle with your serviette. Once the host has tasted and approved the wine, continue on to pour for the rest of the guests. Leave the remainder of the bottle on the table for the host to pour as he or she sees fit. White or chilled wines should be left in an ice bucket or cooler to be kept cold over the duration of the customers’ meal.
Decanting
Mature wines may need to be decanted to remove sediment from the wine. The bottle should be transported from the cellar and opened very carefully, being sure to disturb the bottle’s original orientation (if the bottle is stored on its side, keep it held in that position with a decanting cradle until it has been poured) as little as possible throughout the process. Once opened, carefully pour the wine into a decanter, using a candle to illuminate the neck of the bottle from behind. Immediately stop pouring once you see sediment begin to collect at the shoulder of the bottle.
Repeat as necessary
Be sure to occasionally check on your customers throughout the meal. Offer to bring them another bottle once they have begun to run low. If your party orders another bottle of the same wine, skip the presentation step and simply begin the ritual by preparing the bottle.
