Wine Ordering Etiquette

There are four “grades” of Beaujolais (regular Beaujolais, Beaujolais Superieur, Beaujolais-Villages and then those named after the nine growth areas such as Moulin-a-Vent, Chenas, Morgan, etc). The one they were being offered was two levels less than they ordered– Photo source, Pinterest 

Wine Ordering Etiquette

The scene: a dimly lit restaurant. In the corner sit three young people, each persuing a copy of the wine list. The waitress saunters over and one of them orders the 1977 Beaujolais-Villages ($10.50). The waitress disappears, then returns with the bottle. She shows it to the three. They nod and the cork is pulled. The first diner samples the wine, winces and says something about the fact the wine isn't very rich. The waitress calls the manager, but while she's gone for a moment, the three pour themselves a glass each. The manager arrives and asks the trouble. The wine, they say, isn’t very full it’s sort of thin and watery, they say. The manager shows them the label. It says Beaujolais. There is no “Villages” to be seen. “We’re not carrying the Beaujolais-Villages anymore, just Beaujolais,” he says. “But if you don’t like the wine, I'll be happy to replace it without charge. Just pick anything else on the list.” The three diners shake their heads. “No, that won't be necessary,” says one. But later when the bill comes, they refuse to pay for the wine (they have consumed the entire bottle, wincing frequently), and the manager demands they do pay for it. They finally relent and head for the disco. This is a true story. It happened a couple of weeks ago, and I witnessed the whole thing from across the aisle, taking notes. It is a good lesson on what not to do in a restaurant. 

First, let's examine what the diners did wrong. When the waitress showed them the bottle, at least one of them should have noted the lack of the word “Villages.” There are four “grades” of Beaujolais (regular Beaujolais, Beaujolais Superieur, Beaujolais-Villages and then those named after the nine growth areas such as Moulin-a-Vent, Chenas, Morgan, etc). The one they were being offered was two levels less than they ordered and probably not worth $10.50. Thus they should have rejected the wine on the spot and made another selection. And after tasting it and finding it poor quality, they should have taken the manager’s offer of another choice. (Although etiquette says you don’t reject a wine just because you don't happen to like it.) To his credit, the manager offered a solution after the bottle was opened. (I tried the wine later and it was sound thin and lifeless, but sound.) But then to refuse to pay for it is unconscionable.

I'm not going to repeat most of the hackneyed “rules” (red with meat, white with fish, etc.) but I feel a few general tocsins are necessary. Even the experts sometimes forget these simple steps. 

• After ordering the wine, try to remember exactly what it was you ordered. If you asked for a 1974 and they bring you a '75, don't take it unless you're positive the'7s would be OK. Lacking the '74, there might be another wine altogether that would suit better than the '75.
•  If you have ordered a red wine of slightly older vintage and the waiter comes skipping to your table waving the bottle over his head, suggest another bottle be obtained from the cellar and make sure the first bottle remains on your table, lest he try to foist off that one on you again (This happened to a friend.) 
• When the waiter uncorks the wine you have approved and pours you a sip, don't just glug it and nod. Seek out defects, that's why he poured it. Look for oxidation and maderization. (The former is a slightly burnt, slightly off-sweet aroma, the latter is a cooked flavor.) Either quality is good cause to reject the wine. Also, if it tastes like vinegar, reject. (That rarely happens these days, but it does happen.)
• If the wine served you is too cold to serve at the moment you accept the wine, tell the waiter not to pour immediately. If the wine is too warm, ask for an ice bucket and you regulate the temperature. 
• If you wish to do all the pouring at the table, tell the waiter so.
• I recommend that while the waiter is pouring the first glass, you watch him carefully. If he fills any glass above half-way, stop him. Glasses are not made for simple guzzling. They are made to help swirl the wine for proper bouquet. 
• When handed the cork, note if it is damp. If it is, this tells you one thing, the bottle was stored properly on its side. But the condition of the cork ALONE (even if it's as dry as the tablecloth) is no cause for sending a wine back. If the wine is spoiled, a dry cork may close your case. 
• And don't accept any wine you feel to be different than that which is on the wine list. But the decision there must be made before the cork is pulled, and that’s up to you unless, of course, the bottle is brought to your table with the cork already drawn. In that case, reject the bottle at once. Corks should be pulled in front of you –Period.–By Dan Berger, Special to The Desert Sun

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

French Wine Etiquette Decalogue

“Don’t heat red wine, but don’t ice it either. The room temperature should be attained naturally, not artificially.” 

Or... the 10 Commandments of Wine Etiquette

PARIS (UPI) The following “Thou shalt nots” of the book of wine etiquette should be carefully memorized by those interested in genteel drinking. This wine “Decalogue” has been prepared by the Paris Institute of Wine and Gastronomy, founded by Carl E. Ullern, a Frenchman, and Frank C. Nesbit, an American. The wine commandments are based on the best French practice; they contain a number of “Shalts” as well as “Shalt nots,” which are as follows: 

1. Never shake a wine. 
2. Never put ice in wine, red or white. 
3. Don't mix wine from two bottles in the same decanter, or in the same glass. 
4. Don’t heat red wine, but don’t ice it either. The room temperature should be attained naturally, not artificially. 
5. Use extreme care in decanting red wines. 
6. Serve all wine in sufficiently large glasses, about half full. 
7. White wines, which should be chilled or iced, are generally served with hors d’oeuvre, soup or fish. 
8. Red wines should be served with roast fowl or game—all red meats. 
9. Champagne should be chilled rather than iced, and can be served throughout the meal. 
10. Precedence: dry before sweet, in the white wines; light before heavy, as regards alcoholic content, for the red. – Paris, 1934

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Top 20 British Wine Faux Pas

Britain's worst breaches of wine etiquette were revealed in 2015...

From refrigerating red wine to pronouncing the 'T' in Pinot Noir, UK drinkers were “clueless about how to quaff vino, according to a study” - The Telegraph 

In a survey of over 2,000 UK adults by the International Wine Challenge (IWC), it was  found that, among other blunders like adding lemonade to red wine and pronouncing the 't' in Merlot and Pinot Noir, the top twenty wine-drinking faux pas were as follows:

• Using a corkscrew on a screw-cap 
• Putting red wine in the refrigerator 
• Drinking from the bottle
• Asking for ice in your wine 
• Serving in a wine glass with old lipstick stains 
• Chipped glasses 
• Trying to unscrew a cork 
• Taking a cheap bottle to a party 
• Gulping wine rather than sipping it 
• Not bringing a bottle but drinking everyone else's 
• Drinking it out of a tumbler 
• Pouring yourself a glass before pouring others on the table 
• Asking for a slice of lemon 
• Shaking the bottle before serving 
• Asking the waiter to pour you more when they were intending for you to taste it 
• Putting lemonade with red wine 
• Complaining the red wine isn't cold 
• Pronouncing the 't' in Pinot Noir 
• Taking a bottle home with you after it wasn't opened at the host's party
• Pronouncing the 't' in Merlot 

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia©️ Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Male Polish on Wine Etiquette

(Q.)“Must I toast EVERY time?” J. J. M., New Haven, Conn.
(A.) Yep, or risk insulting the guest of honor. But you don't have to down a glass with every toast (regardless of what boozehounds and traditionalists say). By sipping and fake sipping, you can toast till dawn on a single drink. – Did you know? “Gourmet” is old French for “wine taster” and the word is used properly in this 1957 etiquette advice column. A “gourmand” and not “gourmet” is the proper term for someone who loves food.

Don'ts Of Drinking Wine

Discovering that “Male Polish” today is all about wine etiquette, non-drinkers may be tempted to sashay elsewhere. But stick around, fellows. Wine etiquette reserves its most ticklish problem for people who never touch the stuff. 

WITH GOURMETS: The problem is, in fact, how in this boozy world do you avoid touching the stuff gracefully? You're dining with gourmets. Wine is served. For reasons of conscience or constitution, you don't want any. So what do you do? Put your hand over the glass? Turn it upside down? Both smack of histrionics. Or do you go into a spiel about the “Evils of Drink,” or the “Virtuous Life,” or “Wine Gives Me Heartburn?” Spellbinding as these subjects may be, they aren't likely to inspire a dinner companion whose chablis glass is lipward bound. 

JUST SAY NO: The thing to do, of course, is say “No, thank you” without any fuss whatever. No person in the world has less need to explain or apologize than a teetotaler. A wine etiquette for non-wine drinkers obviously is not too complicated. What about men who do drink wine? The biggest goof is to guzzle. Wine is not beer. To swill it in large daughts is to miss the subtleties of bouquet and flavor. Apart from this, gluttony in any form is bad manners. 

The second biggest goof is to be a Connoisseur with a capital C. The “Wine Snob” doesn't drink much; he just talks. But his lectures on vintage and vintner, body and bouquet, are so rapt and endless, many guests wish he would drink up and shut up. 

Goof No. 3 is to know nothing at all about wines. This is not really the world-shaking goof Connoisseurs would have us believe. All the same, if you expect to do any fancy hosting, it's well to have a nodding acquaintance with Bacchus. 

ALMOST as important as the wine itself is the technique of serving it. Traditionally, the host pours a little in his glass before serving counter-clockwise around the table. This is to assure bits of cork will land in his glass, not in the guests’. Some hosts even sip the wine before pouring, though others feel this is carrying tradition too far. 

Wine bottles should not be swathed in a napkin. Highly sedimented wine should be decanted or at least served from a basket. Wine glasses should be filled only two-thirds full, giving the bouquet room to rise.

Traditionally white wine (chilled) goes with light meat and seafood; red wine (room temperature) with red meat and game; and rosé wine with nearly anything. Many people feel that, with respect to wine anyhow, palate and pocketbook count more than tradition. They're probably right.

Q & A ON P’S & Q’S (Q) “I went to a bachelor party the other night and everybody was toast-happy. There were a dozen toasts, so I had a dozen drinks. Felt awful the next day. Must I toast EVERY time?” J. J. M., New Haven, Conn. (A) Yep, or risk insulting the guest of honor. But you don't have to down a glass with every toast (regardless of what boozehounds and traditionalists say). By sipping and fake sipping, you can toast till dawn on a single drink. – Don Goodwin, Copyright 1957

 Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia 

Etiquette of Wine

 

 It has become the norm for at least three different wines to be served at a formal dinner, though the amount really depends on the hosts of the meal and the number of courses being served. Pairing foods with different types of wines is a relatively recent culinary art. It has developed and fostered a host of books and guidelines for the pairings of a variety of foods and particular wines to go with them. In restaurants which offer excellent wines, sommeliers are often on hand to make food pairing recommendations for those who may be unsure of their choices. The idea behind the pairing of foods with certain wines, is the belief that elements such as texture, aroma and flavor in both the food and the wine, will interact with one another, and finding the perfect balance of the two, will make one’s meal more enjoyable and memorable. But as taste is subjective from one palate to the next, there are those who feel wines should be enjoyed without advice from “experts” on the subject.

“Sip Your Wine  – Do Not Guzzle”

– Wine Institute Speaker

To enjoy the aroma or bouquet, the beauty of color and taste, wine should be sipped and not guzzled. This was the statement of H. F. Stoll of the Wine Institute of California in speaking to the Madera Rotary club today. Wine should be taken a bit at a time for greatest enjoyment, much as one eats bread with a meal. Wine was never intended to be used for its “kick.” The red table wines should be used with red meats and white wines with fish or fowl. Sweet wines are used as refreshers or appetizers. 

The talk of the intoxicating affect of champagne was declared bunk; and that the alcoholic content of champagne is low. Table wines, when once uncorked and only partly used, should be tightly corked and turned upside down to preserve them indefinitely, otherwise air will enter the bottle and it will sour. The speaker declared that the Wine Institute is doing much to debunk the foreign theories on use of wine and to educate people to the proper use and etiquette of serving wine. – Madera Tribune, 1942

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

The 8 Ps and Qs of BYOB Etiquette

It’s up to the patrons to reciprocate that courtesy by following some basic manners when participating in the BYOB practice.

    Have you carefully stored a special bottle of wine for an anniversary or birthday? And are you planning on popping its cork at your favorite dining spot? If you are, please do the restaurant a favor by minding your Ps and Qs while you BYOB.
    
    Most diners, myself among them, feel that the customer is usually right. If I want to eat my dessert first and appetizer last, that’s my business. The restaurant’s business is to serve me what I order, in any order I wish. But when it comes to bringing in a bottle of wine or champagne, the restaurant gets to call the shots as they are under no obligation to do so, and the laws vary wildly from place to place. 

    Generally, the restaurants in states, counties, provinces, or countries where it is legal, will usually allow their patrons to bring their own wine into a restaurant as a courtesy. And it’s up to the patrons to reciprocate that courtesy by following some basic manners when participating in the BYOB practice. The following is a list of etiquette to keep in mind: 

1. Call ahead of time to check with the manager regarding bringing your own bottle, or check online. Some restaurants may not allow BYOB, or may not have a license to serve alcohol of any kind, or may not have a permit to sell their own, but can serve you yours. This gets very tricky, so if you are traveling, always check ahead of time.
2. Don’t cause a scene or make a fuss if the restaurant doesn’t allow you to bring your own wine, even if their local ordinances allow the practice. Different insurance companies will advise establishments of possible liabilities and restaurants will take these in to consideration when making policies regarding alcohol, so if you’ve made a reservation and would like to go back to this particular restaurant, keep the reservation.
3. Ask  about any corkage fees so that there are no surprises when you are handed the bill. Fees in upscale restaurants can go as high as $25.00 or more, per bottle, and will vary from restaurant to restaurant. Some restaurants charge nothing at all. Fees can sometimes change with the time of day and with the day of the week with slower and less busy hours offering the best rates. Ask when you call ahead, to find out if this is a policy that they practice. 
4. Ask if the particular bottle of wine you would like to bring is already on the restaurant’s wine list. If it is something the establishment normally offers, then don't bring it or choose another wine to bring. It would be extremely gauche to bring something they offer just as it would be to bring your own burger to Mc Donald’s to enjoy, along with their fries and a shake. 

   

   BYOB if your wine is somehow unique. Don't BYOB just to pinch pennies.

5. Don’t BYOB simply to save money. BYOB because because you have a special bottle that you’ve always wanted to open, or maybe you have a bottle from your birth year and it you are celebrating your birthday, or you have a bottle that’s more interesting than anything the restaurant offers. BYOB if your wine is somehow unique. If you think the restaurant charges excessive markups on wine, skip that restaurant. 
6. Tip well, especially if you have made special requests regarding your bottle/s. This might include asking the staff to have the bottle uncorked prior to your arrival to allow time for your Cabernet to breathe, or keeping your White Burgundy chilled to a specific temperature an hour before serving.
7. Don’t be snobbish if the restaurant’s Cellar Master, Sommelier or Wine Steward wants to chat with you about your wine. If you thought it was special enough to bring in to drink, it will probably arouse curiosity or possibly be a conversation starter. The most gracious of patrons will offer him, or her, a taste.
8. This shouldn't need to be said, but I have to repeat it often: Please follow all basic dining etiquette while you dine out, especially if you have made special requests of an establishment. It is simply good manners!

Compiled by contributor Maura Graber, who has been teaching etiquette to children, teens and adults, and training new etiquette instructors, for 30 years, as founder and director of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette.  She is also a writer, has been featured in countless newspapers, magazines and television shows and was an on-air contributor to PBS in Southern California for 15 years. 

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is also the Site Editor for Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia