March 12 - by Andreas Breitfuss
Restaurant Management Center
For today’s business tip I wanted to share with you a pretty good wine and sparkling wine opening procedures. Print out a copy and give it to your staff, or copy and paste it into your own training document. Wine opening is certainly an art and customers love to see a skilful person opening their wine for them. You can delete any of the steps if you think it is too formal for your café or restaurant.
OPENING A BOTTLE OF WINE
1. Present the bottle of wine to the guest who placed the order.
2. State the name, grape variety, style, and year of production.
3. Once the guest has acknowledged that it is the correct wine, proceed.
4. Grasp the bottle near the bottom.
5. Open the wine knife and cut the plastic or lead cap below the first rim of the bottle by turning the wine knife around the rim. Do not turn the bottle around the wine knife.
6. Place the cap in your pocket or apron pouch.
7. Open the cork screw on the wine knife.
8. Place the tip of the corkscrew in the center of the cork and then with downward pressure on the cork push and turn simultaneously. The corkscrew should be firmly embedded in the cork after one complete turn.
9. In a slow and dignified manner, screw the cork-screw into the cork until three quarters of the corkscrew is embedded in the cork.
10. With the fulcrum facing the guest, place it on the top rim of the bottle.
11. Extract the cork using an upward motion moving away from your body and keeping your finger around the fulcrum for stability. You may choose to gently remove the cork with your free hand, using a twisting motion, once the bottom of the cork has nearly reached the top of the bottle. Avoid popping the cork.
12. Remove any debris from the bottle rim with your waiter cloth?.
13. Pour approximately 30ml into the host’s glass for tasting purposes.
14. Present the wine (label facing the guest) to the host again while he/she is tasting the wine.
15. Once approval of the wine has been given, dispense the wine to the rest of the guests at the table beginning with the females and finishing with the host.
16. When pouring wine, fill the glasses approximately ½ . Be sure to have enough wine left in the bottle to fill the host’s glass. Your trainer will demonstrate the ideal amount of wine to pour into each glass. He/she will also show you the proper technique to employ when pouring wine.
17. If the wine is white, place the wine bottle in an ice bucket. If the wine is red, place the bottle on the table.
18. If the bottle is nearly empty after dispensing the wine, ask the host if he would like another bottle.
OPENING SPARKLING WINE OR CHAMPAGNE
1. Present the champagne using the method outlined above for bottles of wine.
2. Using a wine knife, cut the foil of the bottle below the muzzle (wire cage).
3. Hold the bottle on a forty-five degree angle.
4. Place your finger on top of the cork while removing the muzzle as the cork may pre-release due to unforeseen bottle pressure.
5. Turn the bottle, not the cork slowly. Avoid popping the cork, the sound should be a slow release of pressure from the bottle a “hiss” not a “pop”
6. Point the bottle away from the table when opening.
7. Follow the guest approval and pouring procedure outline above for bottles of wine.
Source: Restaurant Management
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