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

Etiquette and Gilded Age Pressures

The present custom of serving a number of fine wines with dinner, makes away with a very large amount of money. Giving

 four or five dinners a week, means an outlay easily of $1000.00!

Dining One’s Way to the Poor House in the Gilded Age

“Nothing is more expensive than modern dinner giving. The viands that go in to making up a modern dinner are all costly, the decorations demand a considerable expentiture and the present custom of serving a number of fine wines makes away with a very large amount of money. 

Four or five dinners a week means an outlay easily of $1000.00 and this sort of thing, taken in connection with the maintenance of an establishment at Newport and the other legitimate expenditures of a family in society, to carry it through the year, knocks very large holes in $60,000.00 and soon sweeps it away. The case here referred to is valuable as illustrating the extravagant tendencies of the times and the legitimate outcome.” – N. Y. World, 1890

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