Question from a wine nerd. My wife and I have been to a high end steak house in Dallas twice in the last month. We have ordered multiple wines and I have asked for each of them to be decanted. Each time they would go to the corner of the restaurant and open and decant there. Then they would bring it over to us in the decanter. We would have to ask them to bring the empty bottle over after. My question is, "is this normal?" I feel that the bottle should be opened and decanted at the table. If I am wrong please let me know.
ehhhh... most restaurants don't have the space / side tables that we see here in this video, even if they are high end. For plenty of restaurants here in NYC, decanting is done in the side station. In truth, doing it in front of your guests or not is neither right nor wrong, and just depends on the restaurant. Sliante!
Wine nerd here too. We had a similar problem the other day. The restaurant is not real upscale however they brought the bottle to us already opened. I think this is a no no because the guest should be sure of what they are getting. I hope you enjoyed your multiple wines and dinner!
@@michelleneuman579 already opened is a definite no-no whatever the restaurant. On decanting - fine to decant away from the table if there is no room (should NOT be done on the guest's table) but the bottle/cork should be presented and taster poured for fault check.
I guess it's either they don't have wine stand and space for it or no one is skilled enough to open a corked wine smoothly in front of the guest (which is most likely the case) I should know coz I did it 🤣 I am guilty of it, first time I did it in-front of the guest, I cut myself coz I was too nervous, I didn't have enough grip and my hands were shaking. I learnt the hard way. Opening corked wines is a Waiter's nightmare not unless if you're a Sommelier.
I take a taste when serving decanted wine a s a way of tracking their quality over their ageing period. these wines dont get served like your by the glass range, or do you often taste older wines with reps etc. my guests will generally like to have a wee chat as we both taste and we can talk about the quality. every place is different but thats how we roll and our guests expect it. i also never drink all of my tasting glass and offer it to other servers to help educate their palate
There are two views to this. Aged wines can suffer with oxidation (bitter), corking (wet, musty) and so on. If the server tastes first, then they can tell the customer the wine is spoiled, and fetch another bottle without the customer having to try a spoiled wine, or perhaps force themselves to drink it as they aren't confident enough to send it back. The second view is that the server should NOT taste the wine, as taste is subjective, and one persons "spoiled" wine is another's "nicely aged" wine. If the server tastes, and approves the wine, but the customer then disapproves it, you have set up the circumstances for an unnesessary argument - if the server doesn't taste it, then there is no argument.
I just have a few small thoughts though, might be not correct but: - decanting should be done with waiting too as the wine itself needs oxidizing. - while removing the foil he should have not touched the upper part of the red wine bottle, as the hand's warmth may affect the wine and also because of hygienic reasons (as from 1:31 on he held the bottle's neck all the time).
As I checked, first reason is to separate the sediments of the wine which particularly comes from the vintage wines. Because as they age more in the bottle, the sediments go down and it is not good to have in your wine, right? Next is to let the flavor and aroma of the wine come out and improve by process of aeration. From (www.thekitchn.com/do-you-have-a-wine-145131)
Most of red wines over 10 years should be decanted, because of sediment on bottom of the bottle which is mixed would taste bitter/ and can spoil whole bottle. However, if bottle is shaken, should be left still for about few minutes/ sediment will lay down and wine can be decanted! This video is very useful for beginners! Again from country to country is different, but there is standard in wine service!
@@LuisGonzalez-qp1tp his fingerprints are going to be left on the decanter, well for hygienic reasons and for the looks of it, probably not right? That decanter should be held by two hands if necessary.
