Wine is an attractive drink as well as bringing many health benefits. However, to fully enjoy the taste of wine, you need to understand the basic principles of serving. Let’s learn the notes when serving wine with Le Vista through the article below.
Some basic principles
White and rosé wines have a standard drinking temperature of 8 – 12 degrees Celsius. So when serving white and rosé wines, you need to chill them before and after pouring the wine, and continue to soak the bottles in ice buckets the whole meal.
For red wine, the standard temperature is from 16 – 18 degrees Celsius. In summer in Vietnam, red wine only needs to be chilled for about 5 – 10 minutes, but in winter, you don’t need to soak it, you can serve red wine directly. You should note that if the red wine is soaked too cold, it will spoil the aroma of the wine and definitely do not serve red wine with vinegar-oil dressed salads.
In particular, you should open the lid of red wine 20 to 30 minutes before enjoying, not only to let wild yeast escape, but also to help the wine come into contact with the air. The taste of red wine will develop better, especially the acrid taste when the chemical reaction between wine and oxygen occurs.
Arrange wine glasses in the right position
The arrangement of wine glasses must meet the criteria of ease of service and easy cleaning. As a rule, the red wine glass is always placed to the left of the white wine glass.
If only one type of wine is used during the party, the wine glass must be placed to the right of the normal drinking glass. Except for special cases, you should not have more than 4 glasses on a party table.
Prepare all the tools
To make a party with wine perfect, you not only need to check the temperature of the wine before serving, but also need to prepare all the necessary tools below:
- Service towel
- Wine opener
- Wine bucket with ⅔ filled with ice cubes and ⅓ filled with cold water if using white or sparkling wine
- The right wine glass
- Wine table
- Small plate
Introduce wine to diners
Remember to rotate the main label of the bottle towards the diner when recommending any wine. The information you need to introduce is the production area, producer, grape variety, year of production as well as characteristics of the wine bottle such as taste, ingredients …
You also need to get the user’s permission to open the wine. If the user picked up a bottle of wine without having to hear about it, you would bring the bottle and rotate the main label and ask for permission to open it right in front of the guest.
A note for the waiter is to always open the wine in front of the customer and pour it in the glass right after, as well as keep the bottle in the sight of the customer.
How to open a cork properly
For tin corks, you need to cut a circle with a knife and gently remove it, and for normal cork, you have to give the cork to the guest to check after opening the cork as well as placing it on a small plate on the table. After opening the cork, use a clean cloth to wipe both inside and outside of the bottle and then start pouring the wine into the glass.
Pouring wine the right way
Bear in mind that the first glass is for the host or the person ordering the wine. If you don’t know who the host is, ask who the taster is.
Then you pour just enough wine for guests to taste. If the guest agrees, you continue to ask for permission to pour the wine for the rest of the party in the order of ladies first and then gentlemen.
For red wines, the standard pour is about ½ glass and for white or rosé wines, it is ⅓ glass. If large glasses are used, the standard amount is 30ml.
Note that when pouring wine, do not put the neck of the bottle on the side of the glass, but keep the mouth of the bottle a distance away from the mouth of the glass. For sparkling wines, pour the wine twice with the first time, let the foam to dissolve and the second time to pour immediately after.
In addition, absolutely do not pour wine until the bottle is empty because this will help you prevent residue in the bottle.
Rules for serving wine
You have to automatically pour wine for guests when you see their glasses are almost empty. Only when requested by the customer will you stop serving. If the guest orders another bottle of the same wine, you do not need to change the glasses, otherwise, if the wine is different, you must change all the glasses on the table for the guest.
The above article has shared some notes when serving wine. Hopefully with this information, you will know how to make the party as well as the wine more attractive and delicious. If you need advice or support, do not hesitate to contact Le Vista’s consulting team.
