Wine service – how to serve wine properly (well)
To serve a wine properly, there are a few basic rules to follow. And, what some people might not expect, there are also two or three aspects that should be considered before a proper wine service:
- You serve a drink to and for third parties, and you come into contact with its container, usually the glass bottle. For the sake of courtesy alone, your hands should be clean and well-groomed.
- It is advisable to prepare all the necessary equipment for the wine service in advance, also known as mise en place. This naturally includes the wine bottle itself, the waiter’s knife, a clean cloth, a pouring knife if necessary, a coaster for the bottle, the wine glass(es), a cooling container for rosé and white wines and possibly also a decanter with a candle and a lighter.
- Then you should make sure that the wine is served at the right temperature. Rosé and white wines should never be served too cold, as otherwise the volatile aromas in the glass cannot develop properly. Red wines, on the other hand, should never be served too warm. The term room temperature no longer has much to do with our modern-day habits and dates back to the days when people still lived in castles and palaces, where the room temperature was usually around 18 degrees. Wine was taken from the cellar and warmed up in the pantry, where the temperature was between 12 and 16 degrees. Of course, the right temperature for red wine also depends on the quality of the wine, but if you stick to 12 to 14 degrees for young red wines to 18 degrees for heavy, tannin-rich wines, you are on the safe side. This is also shown by the fact that the temperature of wine increases by around 2° every 15 minutes.
- Not only should you choose the right wine glasses for your wine service, it is also worth investing in good quality wine glasses. And of course it goes without saying that the glasses should be in perfect condition, i.e. clean, streak-free, free of fingerprints and undamaged. Red wines belong in glasses with large openings and a bulbous shape. Such glasses allow the wine to come into contact with more oxygen during service so that its aroma can develop properly. As a rule, the more complex the aromas and the greater the fullness of flavor in red wine, the larger the diameter of the glass you should choose. For white wine, on the other hand, you are better off choosing smaller and less bulbous glasses. White wine is also poured in smaller quantities to prevent it from warming up too quickly. And of course, white wine also needs less oxygen, i.e. it requires less aeration, which is why a glass with a shallower belly is the right choice.
- You can now turn your attention to the actual opening of the wine bottle. The tin foil or metal cap is usually cut off below the first groove on the neck of the bottle with the waiter’s knife in one go, without moving the bottle from its place. The label on the bottle should always face your guests.
- Then place the tip of the corkscrew at a slight angle but centered on the cork and carefully twist it into the cork. Then set the corkscrew upright for the rest of the wine service and twist it straight into the cork.
- If your waiter’s knife has a shorter and a longer lever, you can remove the cork in two steps. Set the first lever accordingly and pull the cork out of the bottle a little. Then you can turn the corkscrew a little deeper into the cork and repeat the procedure with the second lever until you have pulled the cork out of the bottle completely and, very importantly, without “popping”.
- Take an initial, subtle sniff of the cork to ensure that the wine is free from defects. You may also need a clean cloth to remove any impurities from the bottle opening.
- To pour the first sip as part of the wine service, you can lift the glass slightly. It is important that you only hold the glass by the stem and never by the belly of the glass. Not only would the glass be contaminated by your fingerprints and handprints, but the temperature of the glass and the wine would inevitably rise, which must be prevented.
- While the selected person is tasting the wine, the bottle is virtually resting on their forearm, while the other hand can hold the neck of the bottle with its fingers. The label continues to face the person tasting the wine.
- As soon as the wine has been approved, you can continue with the wine service. If you have a jubilarian among your guests, this person will be poured first. Otherwise, the ladies should always be poured before the gentlemen and the older ones before the younger ones. When pouring the wine, you should also make sure that the wine is poured up to the widest part of the glass. The rule is: better too little than too much.
