What Are the Biggest Restaurant Wine Red Service Flags?
What are the biggest restaurant wine service red flags?
Nine sommeliers are asked this question in a recent VinePair article.
Several common-sense red flags include unclean glasses, talking down to customers, incorrect glassware, and wines served too warm.
There are less commonly known red flags, such as skipping the bottle presentation (confirming with the customer that the bottle ordered is being provided), serving sparking wine in a flute glass (narrow and tall), pretentious wine flexes (showing off a wine’s pedigree rather than its varietal characteristics), pouring the entire bottle at once (small pours are preferred, allowing the wine to develop in the glass), and limiting who can sell wine to one team member (slows service and comes off as pretentious).
Rarely short for words, I’ll a few additional pet peeves.
Presenting a newly removed cork.
There is no reason to do this; it comes off as pretentious. It tells me the restaurant doesn’t know what they’re doing. The only situation I could imagine where this may make sense is if the bottle just opened is an old and rare wine, wherein the condition of the cork (and thereby the wine) is initially confirmed before pouring.
And I don’t mean a five year-old wine, it should be a decade or two (or three).
Another pet peeve, suggesting the more expensive wines on the list as the best choice with a meal selection. In my perfect world, I’d rather be presented with choices in a mid-price range with reasons why a wine pairs well with the meal. Then, more expensive options can be provided using terms such as “if feeling indulgent—or luxurious or in the mood to spoil yourself.”
Digging deeper into wine glassware, a continued growing trend (it’s been around for a while) of restaurants serving wine in “straight-up” glasses. Usually, small glasses, poured to the brim. I fully understand casual restaurants doing this. I don’t know why restaurants with table service are doing this.
Even for casual restaurants, investing in stemless wine glassware doesn’t take much. At least with stemless, you can smell and swirl and get a sensory feel of what you’re about to enjoy.
Taking the glassware discussion one step further, sparking wine should never be served in a “straight-up” glass, a large wine glass, or a coupe glass. A coupe is a broad, open, and shallow glass with a stem, much more common in my parent’s lifetimes when serving sparkling wine. Today, coupes are primarily used for wine punches and cocktails.
I don’t fully agree with the sommelier’s objection to using flutes for sparkling wines. Capturing the full sensory experience is challenging, but enjoying the sparkling bubbles is lovely.
And lastly, how about the generic red, white and rosé on the menu? Once again, in a casual restaurant, maybe okay. Full service, no way. A restaurant can promote daily wines by name and category whether on a board or with table presented printed or verbally communicated daily specials.
What are your wine service pet peeves?