Chapter 10

Wine Service

1. Chapter Objectives

After discussing this chapter, you should be able to: .

 Identify the tools needed for preparing and serving wines and other beverages;
 Properly store wines and proper preparation before serving wines;
 Execute proper wine list preparation and order taking; and
 Execute proper wine presentation, opening and pouring.

II. The Wine Service Steps

The following are the steps in serving wines:

1. Wine preparation before service

2 Wine list presentation and order taking

3. Setting up the table

4. Wine presentation, opening, pouring and serving

5. Clearing up of glasses

Wine preparation before service

Before the restaurant open or an event starts the wine server should make sure that there is
enough supply of wine needed on that particular operation or event. Wine that are served chilled must
be chilled properly and in enough numbers to avoid running out of wines. Glasses must be in ample
supply and the best condition for serving the wines, free from dirt and smudges and must be clean and
sparkling. Tools and serving trays for setting up glasses must be ready and properly cleaned also, Wine
list must always be in a good condition as it is the primary tool in selling the wine to the guests.

Tools and glassware needed for preparing and serving wine

1. Corkscrew
2. Decanter glass and decanter tool

3. Note pad and pen

4. Side towel

5. Tray

6. Under liner plate

7. Wine basket

8. Wine bucket

9. Wine glasses

10. Wine list

A. Wine storage

 Red wines 55F or 13 C

 White/Rose/Sparkling 49 F or 5 C

Wine with cork should be stored at their sides.

B. Wine preparation

Wine preparation is putting the wine in its proper temperature before serving.

Wine temperature before serving

Red-room temperature, guest may also asked that their wine will be chilled. If the guest asked for it, try
to explain that red is best served at room temperature. But if the guest/s insists then follow the guest's
request. The guest/s may not be right but still they are the guests, we need to make sure that the guests
are happy or satisfied by satisfying their requests if possible.

White-40 F to 50 For 4-13 C ( chilled)

Rose-cool temperature (chilled)

Sparkling-40-45 For 4-7 C

Handling mature red wines

Decanting - the process of pouring the wine gently over the light to the other container/decanter or
glass to remove the sediments. Some matured wine are decanted to remove the sediments some are
not since the lees or sediments provide more flavors to the wine.
Wine list presentation and order taking

Wine list presentation and order taking can be done at once or depends on preference of the
guest. As the wine server, before approaching the table you must already have the idea on what food
are being ordered by the guests and who is the host of the party or group. It's important to know the
host since wine list will only be presented to the host. The food ordered must be determined by the
wine server so that he will have an idea what wine to suggest if they ask for suggestion of wine. A note
pad and pen must be ready to take down the order of the guest staggered, it

Steps:

1. Greet the guest and introduce yourself and your purpose. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I'm
Lorenzo, your wine steward/server, I'm here to present to you our wine list for you to choose the wine
to accompany your food."

2. Verify or confirm who is the host of the group. "May I know who is the host of the party?" 3. Present
the wine list at the right side of the host. "Sir/ma'am here's the wine list." Present the list open.

4. Take the order, do suggestive selling and up selling. "Sir, since you've ordered shrimp cocktail as your
appetizer I would like to recommend Listel Chardonnay, a Chilean white wine with notes of vanilla and
lemon which really matches the taste of your appetizer. Would you like to have that wine, sir?"

5. Write down the order.

6. Repeat the order.

"Sir, I will repeat your order, for your appetizer wine you take Listel Chardonnay, anything else sir?".

"Sir, for your main course you take Calvet Cabernet Sauvignon. Anything else, sir?"

"Sir, for your dessert wine you take Sandeman Port wine. Anything else, sir?
7. Excuse yourself before leaving for preparation. "Ladies and gentlemen for a while, I'm just going to
prepare your wine and your glasses."

Table set up

Setting up the table must be immediately done after the order taking and preparation of the
wine. If the wine is being ordered before every food is served then setting up of glasses will be the same
every after order taking. But if the wines to accompany the foods are already being ordered by the host,
then it is wise to set up all the glasses needed. The number of glasses that can be set up on the table at
the same time may also depend on the size of the table. At least a maximum of three glasses per guest is
allowed again depending on the size of the table and the number of guests in the table.

Steps:

1. Start with the guest near from where you came from. There is no sequence yet of whom will be the
first guest to be set up with glasses.

2 Place glasses at the tip of the knife or beside the water goblet.

3. If appetizer, main course and dessert wine are already ordered, place all three glasses for each guest
at the table if there is no water goblet at the table. Start placing the dessert wine glass first, main course
wine and appetizer wine the last. Glasses can be arranged in diagonal or triangular form. But if there is a
water goblet set up at the table; avoid overcrowding the table and making the guest uncomfortable. Set
up only the first two glasses that will be used and those are the appetizer and course wine glasses. The
main course wine glass first then the appetizer wine glass. Dessert wine glass will be set up before the
dessert wine is served.

4. Set up all the glasses at once for every guest. Do it in clockwise movement. Make sure to always keep
the tray away from the guest to prevent hitting the guest in case accidental bumping of tray happened
or if tray may accidentally slip from your hand.

5. Always say 'excuse me' every time you approach a guest to set up.

Note: If the guests order the wine one at a time or before the food will be served, then setting up of
glasses for the wine being ordered will be done immediately after the order taking.

Wine presentation

Steps:
1. Hold the wine properly, label facing the host.

2 Present the wine by telling what wine you are presenting. Do this by mentioning the name of the wine,
what country produces it, its use and the vintage. This is for the purpose of letting the guest and the
server to verify if the wine that will be served is correct. "Sir here's your red wine for your main course,
Calvet Cabernet Sauvignon, a French red wine vintage 2000."

3. After presenting the wine, ask the host if the wine can now be opened. "Sir, can I open it now?"

Opening a bottle of wine Opening a bottle of still wine

Open the bottle of wine using the waiter's corkscrew. Don't place a bottle wine at the table
during the process of opening the wine. Use a side table if needed particularly if it is a matured wine
that needs to be decanted before serving B don't place it at the guest table if possible. Move back a little
bit to have some space while you open the wine, also to avoid accidentally hitting the guest while
opening the wine. Make sure that you open the wine correctly because if you make some mistake like
having some cork bits in the wine, the guest might reject it and ask you to replace it. In this case a
rejected wine is charged to you, depending also on the policy of the establishment on how much is the
charged either at cost or a price

Steps:

1. Cut and remove the metal cap or the covering of the wine using the knife of the corkscrew.

2. Wipe the lip and the cork to remove molds or cork bits using the side towel

3. Insert the screw. Tip at the center of the cork and twist the screw to spiral down to the cork. Avoid
letting the screw reach the other point of the cork for it may create cork bits that will fall into the wine.

4. Pull the screw to remove the cork from the bottle of the wine.

5 Wipe the lip of the bottle to remove cork dusts.

6. Remove the cork from the screw and present it the host or place it on the under liner. If the host
doesn't have an idea why you are presenting to him/her the cork, then explain that in the cork he/she
can already smell the aroma or bouquet of the wine.

Opening a bottle of sparkling wine

Steps:

1. Cut and remove the metal cap or covering.

2. Unscrew the wire cage and remove.

3. Hold the bottle in 45 degrees angle.

4. Hold the cork firmly and twist the bottle counter with cork slowly to remove the cork. Avoid the
popping out of the cork.

5. After removing the cork let the bottle stay in a 45 degrees angle for a while to avoid the wine gushing
out of the bottle.

6. Present the cork to the host or place it in an under liner.

Pouring and serving the wine

Steps:

1. After opening the wine, pour the wine in the glass of the host for tasting first, fall The host
must/should taste the wine to check if the wine is in its proper serving temperature and the taste of
course.

2. Let the host taste the wine, if he/she agree with the wine, then ask to start serving the wine.
"Sir/ma'am, can I now serve the wine?"

3. Ask if there is a VIP guest. "Sir/ma'am do you have a VIP guest?"

4. Serve VIP first, then ladies and gentlemen and last the host.

5. Tell what wine you are serving. In serving the ladies, it's according to age. Older guests first, but if you
cannot identify which one is older, serve the nearest guest base on the clockwise movement.

6. Serve at the right side of the guest with clockwise movement. When approaching each guest, say
excuse me and tell what wine you are serving. "Sir/ma'am, excuse me your appetizer wine."

7. Hold bottle in the mid-section during pouring to have the proper balance and handling.

8. Pour 2/3 full for small glasses and 1/4 full for large glasses. Lip of bottle must have 2 to 3 inches
distance from the rim of the glass. Twist the bottle before lifting to avoid drippings. If it drips
accidentally, immediately wipe the drip and ask for an apology,

9. Refill glass of guest, if there is still wine remaining in a bottle or place it in a wine bucket for white and
sparkling and at the side of the host if it is red wine.

Pouring of wine

Clearing the glasses

In clearing the glasses make sure that the guest is already done with his/her wine. As much as
possible clear all the used glasses before setting up a new one. Ask the guest first before picking up the
glass. "Sir/ma'am are you done with your wine?"
VII. Sequence of Serving Wines with Food.

Here are some of the guidelines in the sequence of serving food with wine.

Sequence for serving food and wines where wine were ordered at once from appetizer to dessert.

1. Serve appetizer wine first

2. Serve appetizer dish.

3. Clear appetizer cup or plate.

4. Clear appetizer wine glass.

5. Serve main course wine.

6. Serve main course.

7. Clear main course plate.

8. Clear main course wine glass.

9. Serve dessert wine. Set up dessert wine glass if it had not been set up yet and serve dessert wine

10. Serve dessert.

11. Clear dessert plate.

12. Clear dessert wine glass.

VIII. Wines and Food Pairing

The general rules in pairing food with wines are:

1. For the color-red wines goes with red or darker meats; white wines goes with white meats.

2. For taste or flavor-strong flavored foods goes with strong, robust, full bodied wines; light flavored
foods goes with light bodied and fruity wines.

These are basic examples of wines and food pairing.

1. Sweet

The sweetness in food cancels the "fruit" and/or any residual sugar in wines, making wines taste
drier. Sweet dishes or desserts call for wines of at least the same level of sweetness.

EX. Strawberry pie and Sauternes dessert wine

2. Salty

Foods that are salty or briny also cancel the "fruit" in wines. Salty foods call for wine that are
aromatic with high acidity, some sweetness, low tannins, and/or intense fruitiness.

Example: Fresh Oysters in Champagne and Sauvignon Blanc or sparkling wine.

3. Tart

Tart foods cancel some of a wine's fruity flavor. Serve them with lightly sweet, very fruity,
and/or full bodied white wines. In some instances, wine that are tart or crisp will also work well.

Example: Lemon fish fillet and a crisp Chardonnay

4. Spicy

Foods that are spicy/hot will also somehow cancel the fruitiness of the wine. Serve these kinds
of foods with lightly sweet, very fruity, low tannin, and/or crisp wines. Avoid wine with higher alcohol,
tannic red, and/or oaky wines.

Example: Sea Scallops with Jerk Marinade and Sauvignon Blanc or Gewürztraminer.

5. Rich

Delicately flavored, lighter bodied wine are usually overpowered by rich dishes. Serve these
dishes with full flavored, full bodied, higher acid wines.

Example: Braised Lamb Ribs and Cabernet Sauvignon

6. Fish & Game

Fish and game can overpower mildly flavored, medium bodied, dry wines. Serve fish and games
with very fruity, full bodied, high acid, and/or medium sweet wines.

Example: Stewed wild duck with Pernod & Baby Spinach with Pinot Noir or Merlot

7. Cheese

Cheese and wine make an excellent classic pairing. Match the 'weight' of the cheese to the wine,
or reverse. You may try contrasting a rich, salty cheese with a dessert wine.

Example: Gruyer and Dessert Wine or Sherry

IX. Wine Bottle Sizes

Standard Wine Bottle Sizes

These are traditional standard bottle sizes for Champagne.