Wine "boo boos' in Restaurants

This past weekend we ate out three nights in a row...first on Friday evening at a small cafe in Chester, NovaScotia, the  Kiwi Cafe. On Saturday evening it was our La Chaine dinner at the Prince George Hotel in Halifax and, finally, on Sunday evening we chose a Brazilian/Portuguese restaurant called Pipa also in Halifax. Since we had wine at each place it could prove intersting and educational to compare the wine service of all three places.

 

 The Right Pour

 
 So, let's start with the Kiwi Cafe...nice little deco spot chosen as an alternative to fried food at the Pub across the street. The wine list was simple... as it should be in a restaurant this size. I ordered the Montalto Pinot Grigio from Sicily.. a very basic wine of very moderate price. It was served in one of those generic wine glasses and the first thing I noticed was that the wine did not reach the point on the glass with the widest diameter. A proper pour should provide the wine with the greatest surface to allow it to breathe. Remember wine is a living thing and breathes and changes in the glass if given the right opportunity. Before I took my first sip I slightly tipped the glass and looked at the wine in the light of the candle on the table. The glass was full of soap spots from the dishwasher. Detergents can react with the wine and alter its taste. To prevent this from happening glasses should be wiped clean with lint free specialty cloths if possible before serving and some winebars even go so far as to steam the glasses and then wipe them dry. Mistakes were mounting and I had not even tasted the wine . One of my tablemates, however, sipped her wine and reacted with a groan...the wine, a Shiraz was faulty.. tasting sherry-like.It was obvious that no one had tasted the wine before serving it but I also wondered about the wine preservation system used by the cafe. When they brought the second glass ,still poured to the same low level, my friend asked why the serving was what appeared to us as small. The server responded that the owner was making sure that each glass had strictly 5 ounces as the pours had been too heavy on other occasions. This was an acceptable answer except that later on we all noticed that a table the owner served had their wine glasses filled almost to the top of the glass...way past the largest diameter point...in fact so full one could not even swirl the wine and taking a smell would have resulted in wine in your nose. I would suggest to any owner that if you want to keep customers happy and coming back make sure everyone is treated equally and that means all pours should be similar.



Beautiful wine glasses at Stratus Winery, Niagara, Canada


The next evening at the Prince George the glasses were all shiny and sparkling and  rather than a generic glass there were different styled glasses for each wine... the Muscadet from the Loire and the Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. The pours were all similar and to the right point on the glass. However, it was not too long from when the Cab was poured that someone from another table brought their wine for us to taste. Another faulted wine. It appeared to my partner and myself when we both tasted the wine that it had started to ferment in the bottle and obviously the servers at the Prince George had not tasted the bottles.


A professional sommelier tasting the wines before serving

        This is an interesting point and I will diverge for a moment. Having a server  taste a wine prior to serving is perfectly legitimate especially in a banquet-type setting where no one customer is designated to taste the wine. I have been at great outdoor functions in France where a sommelier tasted each of maybe 20 bottles before it was passed out to the audience. So it should be in a resaturant or event like La Chaine. How else can you prevent serving a problem wine?
Although everyone uses the term"corked" to describe anything and everything wrong with a wine the better descripter is a "faulted" wine. A corked wine is a very specific problem due to a mould containing the chemical TCA on a cork  and that chemical reacting with the wine. If the wine is corked it should smell like wet mittens.... musky. Once you smell it you will never forget it! But many other things can cause a faulty wine..like poor preservation systems,soap detergents on the glasses and fermentation going on in the bottle.
OK what happened at Pipa? Nothing. The wine was a Marques de Marialva Branco...made from a unique grape from Portugal called Marie Gomes and was pretty delicious. The glasses were sparkling and free of soap droplets and the wine was poured exactly right. Whether it had been tasted prior to the pour I do not know but I think a big difference between these three restaurants and the quality of the wine service could be summed up in one word...sommelier.
The owner of Pipa is a sommelier and more aware of the importance of looking after the wine, the glasses and ensuring proper pours. But you do not need a sommelier on staff to learn the proper techniques. But I do think restaurant owners need some consultation. Otherwise, it is like teaching your kids to drive...you teach them your bad habits. And so it is with smaller restaurant owners...they teach their staff  about wine from their poor knowledge base. So, yes, you want to make sure that the pour is the right size and not so large you forego profit ,but remember, the shape of the glass has a purpose... to expose the right amount of surface for that type of wine. So, at least fill the glass to the right point. And if no one has told you why the glass is not filled to the brim then you pass that knowledge or lack of it on to your staff.
Similarly, if you do not know that detergent alters the taste of a wine then you do not make spotless glasses a must do task for your staff.
We are always cleaning and polishing our glasses at home. In fact we never use soap on our wine glasses and have micro fibre specialty towels for the drying and polishing.
We also use a wine vacuum gadget to preserve the wine when on one of those rare occurrences we fail to finish the bottle.In a restaurant with a larger seletion of wines by the glass I might even label the wines with the opening date to make sure the oldest opened  bottle is used first. I remember having this conversation with a restaurant owner asking him what preservation system he used..None, he said. He just recorked the bottle because it was never around long enough. I am sure that was the same thought the owner of the Kiwi Cafe had because that was what she did at home. But last Friday evening that reasoning failed her.



 Beaujolais wines from the 10 Cru Villages



 Interestingly enough all the wines poured last weekend  were poured to the right temperature which was a joy...sometimes, especially in the summer, I have had to ask the server to put the red wine in an ice bucket because it was so warm. Ah, there is so much to learn. And if you are interested in a good starting place ,try the  book put out by le Cordon Bleu...  Wine Essentials. Here you will find a wealth of information about storing and serving wine including glasses, preservations systems and what wine goes with what foods.

All Over But The Shouting

Finally, my partner and I, are members of La Chaine Des Rotisseurs and congratulations to us both! La Chaine is an ancient French organization dedicated to celebrating fine food and wine at the table.It was established in 1248...was disbanded during the French revolution and reinstituted in 1950 by a number of prominent French foodies  chief among them that Prince of Gastronomy,"Curnonsky" who used this organization to teach French chefs the importance of regional cuisine, to keep their dishes simple,( although as you might suspect simple can be complex,) and the seasonal approach to eating. These original La Chaine members, just as they do today, visited various restaurants as a group to enjoy and enthuse about the food specially prepared for them by the chef. Evenings were heady events and ended in accolades and perhaps some critique. Chefs were asked to join the association and display the sign of an intricate "chain" outside the restaurant.As the the organization evolved many types of people involved in the food and wine industry joined...restaurant owners, maitre d's, sommeliers, food writers and cuisine instructors as well as folks who just like to eat well and enjoy the conviviality of the table.

La Chaine is now an international organization and chapters or Bailliage's are found all over the world. Members wear decorative chains about their necks( see above) which signify which area of the food and wine industry they are from...different colours and pins for different associations.
Why would I want to join this organization I hear you ask? Well, first of all when La Chaine visits a restaurant for a meal the chef goes out of his/her way to do their very best as they know the members of la Chaine are very discerning palate-wise, appreciate fine food and wine and like to be challenged with new flavours and dishes.
Members use the occasion to dress in their finery with men usually in tuxedos and women evening wear to compliment their partners dress. Dressing up signals to the chef the importance the members place in coming to this restaurant and honours the hard work the chef has put into preparing this meal.
The menu is prepared in advance by the chef in consultation with the head of the Bailliage and the wines are chosen to complement the food. When members arrive at the event their places at the table have been pre-arranged by the Baille, the head of the Bailliage. This to me is an important aspect to the evening as it allows members to meet other members and not always fraternize with the same set of people. As well, if guests are present, they are always introduced with a short bio of who they are why they are there.
In many cases the chef speaks to each course ...what products the course contains, how they were cooked as well as any special thoughts about the preparation. Someone in the Bailliage then speaks to why the wine was chosen for this course as well as any special descriptors regarding the wine. There might even be some questions to test the members...all in fun but also serious.
Of course there is lots of converstion and conviviality so why would one not want to be part of this organization. Maybe the price? Most dinners range between 120$ to 140$per person for the evening and that includes the wine as well as tax and gratuity. That might seem steep! However, if you eat out enough you know that in a better restaurant you can pay this for a meal which is ordered off the menu and might not give you the challenges and exposure to something very interesting that would be available to La Chaine members.
Another favourable aspect to La Chaine is its internationality. When members travel it is always wise to seek out restaurants where the chef is a member ...in fact it is encouraged. Chefs will often prepare something special for visiting members and is it not special to meet the chef in any restaurant?... almost guaranteed for La Chaine members. I will be visiting Sarasoata this winter and plan to contact the Sarasota Bailliage to determine if they are having any events while I am there that I might attend as well as a list of recommended restaurants...what a joy!
And so you should  from all of the above understand why I was, finally, so happy to be inducted into the Nova Scotia Chapter of La Chaine at the special ceremony on Saturday, November 13, 2010 at the Prince George Hotel in Halifax. The evening was a spectacular event with the wines ranging from Champagne to Sauternes and the food including such delicacies and delights as lobster bisque,fois gras,beef carpaccio, duck salad, rack of lamb and of course an arrangement of desserts. The next blog will speak more to the wine and food.
A great big "thank you" to our son Jamie who came and took these wonderful pictures...note the chain that we are wearing. We are both professional sommeliers and the colours of the chain are a purple with a honey orange band...perhaps those colours represent a white and red wine. There is a great little pin with a wine carafe and glass attached. By the way, the chains are quite heavy around the neck and part way through the evening I took mine off to better enjoy my food.
But before I close I suggest you check out La Chaine des Rotisseurs on the web.
http://www.chainecanada.org/