You have no need to fear ‘the cork ritual’
Today we confront one of the most intimidating situations a wine lover can face: the presentation and evaluation of the cork in a restaurant.
You are the wine host. The server leaves the cork by the side of your plate. You stare at it. Your guests (and the whole dining room, it seems) stare at you. What do you do? Just as important, why do you do it?
Recently I dined at a local bistro when the server opened the wine and kept the cork on the corkscrew. He then poured the wine for me to evaluate. When I asked why he hadn’t presented the cork, he said that it “wasn’t important.” He is not alone in this belief. I read an article in the Arizona Daily Star last September with a similar comment.
The cork matters – a lot.
The Wine Column: Some steps to initially assess your selection
We went through the cork ritual in the last entry of The Wine Column.
Now let’s discuss the etiquette of ordering and tasting wine in a restaurant.
Here are the basics:
The person ordering the wine is referred to as the “wine host.” When choosing a wine, consider the entree each person has ordered. At times, this may dictate ordering wine by the glass, but if you choose to order a bottle, when in doubt choose a pinot noir. Pinot is the most versatile wine and will complement most dishes without overpowering them.
When the wine you’ve chosen is presented by the server, be sure to check the vintage date.
Labels tease the brain, but the tongue decides
NAPA, Calif.- Want to drink in Chaos Theory? Or perhaps you’d care to give your palate an Educated Guess? We’re talking wines, of course, specifically a new breed of quirkily named wines that aim to make you think while you drink.
“I’m a big believer in the theater of the mind,” says Jerry Prial, who decided to call his wine Debauchery to tickle the intellect as well as the palate. “People – when they see the wine, they really start to laugh and they smile and that’s what we wanted.”
Prial founded Portsmouth, N.H.-based Gerard Wine Co. after spending 30 years in the beer brewing industry.
The Wine Column: Decanting made easy: Pour, then drink wine
Time to tackle another reader inquiry, this time about decanting wines.
Decanting, pouring the wine from its bottle into another temporary container, is one of the most misunderstood practices in wine lore.
There are only two reasons to decant: To aerate young, immature wines and aged, developed red wines, and to remove sediment from older, mature reds. Any other use of a decanter is purely decorative.
Never decant sparkling wine. You lose the bubbles. Likewise, whites and rosés aren’t decanted. They have no sediment and lose flavor in the decanting process.