{"id":19855,"date":"2019-03-18T10:25:58","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T14:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/?p=19855"},"modified":"2019-03-27T16:39:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T20:39:45","slug":"wine-serving-tips-glass-pour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wine-serving-tips-glass-pour\/","title":{"rendered":"The Worst Wine Mistakes Not to Make: Wine Etiquette"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-cp-qMWGQac\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" width=\"610\" height=\"343\" frameborder=\"0\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The hosts of CTV&#8217;s The Social love their wine. We shared a few good glasses together as well as some laughs on wine etiquette &#8212; how to avoid being low-classy with wine ;) Click the arrow above to watch the video.<\/p>\n<p>You can also read my story on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wine-entertaining-tips-gift-wines\/\"><strong>The Grapes of Gaffe<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wine-serving-tips-glass-pour\/brokenwinebottle-3\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-41579\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-41579\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/brokenwinebottle.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/brokenwinebottle.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/brokenwinebottle-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Find out the answers to these &#8220;pressing&#8221; wine questions:<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do I hold a wine glass, by the stem or the bowl?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hold your glass by stem\u2014otherwise your hands will warm the bowl and the wine, and leave unsightly fingerprints. Your wine glass should never be poured more than a third full.<\/p>\n<p>Pour the wine to no more than one-third level of the glass. This will give you room to swirl your glass in order to appreciate the aromas.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What about stemless wine glasses?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stemless glasses are trendy and it&#8217;s usually not a problem when you&#8217;re drinking red wine as your hands will warm the wine and make the aromas more airborne.<\/p>\n<p>They do pose a problem with white wines, however, because you don\u2019t want to warm a white wine.<\/p>\n<p>As well, stemless glasses do create the impression that there&#8217;s been a finger-painting party at the end of the meal with all those fingerprints covering them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What happens if I bring an expensive bottle of wine to a friend&#8217;s house and they serve me plonk?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you want to drink your wine, make it obvious by calling ahead to ask your host which wines you can contribute to complement what is being served for dinner.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, if you know that they\u2019re the people who consistently open their own stock, don\u2019t bother bringing a bottle you want to drink.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do I handle being offered my friend&#8217;s awful homemade wine?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You could grit your teeth and say it\u2019s unlike anything you\u2019ve tasted.<\/p>\n<p>As a last resort, you can drink up, recognizing the act as a testament to your friendship.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What if I want to bring my own bottle of wine to a restaurant?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Call ahead to see if customers can bring their own stock. Some refuse, while others permit it only on special occasions, particularly since much of the meal\u2019s profit may be in the wine\u2019s price.<\/p>\n<p>There may be a corkage fee, but that\u2019s usually small change compared to ordering the same wine from the restaurant list.<\/p>\n<p>Make sure you tip well, as though you bought the wine your brought from the restaurant&#8217;s wine list.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do I say to a cranky sommelier when the wine is bad?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For some sommeliers, a simple explanation of \u201cI think this bottle is a bit off\u201d will suffice; for others you must be ready to do verbal hand-to-hand combat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If I\u2019m attending a dinner party and I\u2019m enjoying my wine a little faster than the host, can I help myself and refill my glass, or do I need to wait for the host?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If the dinner party is informal and you have a close relationship with your friends, then go for it.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re in a more formal setting, wait for the host, though you can make it more obvious that you&#8217;ve run out of wine by lifting your empty glass and almost drinking then saying &#8220;Oh my goodness, that was good!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>I know that a wine\u2019s bouquet is nearly as important as its taste. Let\u2019s say I\u2019m in a restaurant and all I can smell of perfume from the woman sitting next to me?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Short of diluting the woman&#8217;s essence with your table water, there aren&#8217;t many options in this situation.<\/p>\n<p>You could put up with it, but strong smells ruin a fine wine since most of its nuances are in its bouquet.<\/p>\n<p>Your best bet is to ask to be seated elsewhere in the restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesocial.ca\/video?vid=405643\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>wine etiquette video<\/strong><\/a>. Posted with permission of CTV.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Melissa:<\/strong> Welcome back everybody. Well, wine is often considered a sophisticated drink but it can get pretty unsophisticated pretty quickly if you don\u2019t follow the proper etiquette or if you\u2019re at my house on a Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lainey:<\/strong> Or if I\u2019m there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Melissa:<\/strong> And if Ms. Lainey is there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lainey:<\/strong> Yeah. So here to give us a lesson in the dos and don\u2019ts of a civilized wine drinking is the editor of Canada\u2019s largest wine review site, Sommelier, Natalie MacLean. Welcome back. OK. So Natalie, I feel like people get really judgy with wine. So I\u2019m going to start with a basic question. How do you hold the wine glass, by the stem or by the bowl?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Right. Well, by the bowl, Lainey is a little bit low classy. I just got to tell you that. There are three reasons why we hold it by the stem. And go ahead ladies if you like.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> OK. Oh please. You don\u2019t mean like this, right, though?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> No. Not like someone is going to take it away from you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> All right. All right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> OK. So one is, we don\u2019t want to warm up the wine by cupping it like this.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Melissa:<\/strong> OK.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Secondly, we don\u2019t want all kinds of unsightly fingerprints all over the bowl. And thirdly, we want to be able to swirl. Now, if you want to do the training wheels version of this, do it on the table. Get a good swirl going because the beauty of wine, its complexity is all in the nose. Sure, it\u2019s great on the palette and you can try that too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lainey:<\/strong> Can we drink now?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Yeah, yeah. Too much talking, not enough wine drinking. Do you like that? Yeah?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lainey:<\/strong> But what about stemless glasses then?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Right. I wish they would go off trend really, really soon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> Really?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Yeah, because after a dinner party, it looks like there has been a finger painting party.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> It is true.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> It is. And you\u2019re heating up the wine. Red wine maybe not so much a concern. White wine, I think if I had one, I would probably hold it like that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> OK. With the stemless glass.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Exactly, with the stemless. Yes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> I sometimes do that with these. I\u2019m not going to do it anymore. OK. If it got stem, all right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Melissa:<\/strong> Give it up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> Natalie, I\u2019m curious about something. I worked in restaurants where it was part of my job to drink a lot of wine. It was a fantastic job. But as a result of that, I sort of acquired maybe some more, I don\u2019t want to say elevated, but I like a good bottle of wine. And sometimes, that means spending a little more money. So what if I\u2019m going to a friend\u2019s place for dinner and I bring a really special bottle of Burgundy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> And they kind of put it aside and don\u2019t open it up and end up sort of bringing out an $8 bottle of plonk and serve it to me. I need to keep my mouth shut, right? Like I can\u2019t \u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> And you need to leave actually. You shouldn\u2019t be friends. No. What you want to do is plan ahead so let\u2019s back up that scenario.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> OK.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Call ahead.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> Really?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Oh yes. This is where we get the assumptive closing sales technique when it comes to wine. So call ahead and say, \u201cWhat are you serving for dinner because I would love to bring a bottle of wine to pair with it?\u201d So first of all, you\u2019re locking that in.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Then you arrive on the doorstep and you say, \u201cHere\u2019s the wine I brought.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> \u201cShould I decant it in the dining room or the kitchen.\u201d And keep moving. So, you can do that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> It\u2019s not so presumptuous because you\u2019ve made the \u2013 you\u2019ve let them know already so it doesn\u2019t seem \u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Exactly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> OK.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Well, that\u2019s a little presumptuous I guess. But let\u2019s say they just ignore all those cues and that sort of thing and they just insist on serving you the plonk. Then bring a decoy wine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> OK.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> So, decoy wine has a fancy label, tastes all right, but is low priced like under $15.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> So on that note, what about homemade wine? Like let\u2019s say, I share a coveted bottle of vintage with a friend and she counters with a bottle of wine that she has made herself. Is it my responsibility, do I have to drink it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Well, how good is the friendship? How close?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> Yeah. I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Well, I\u2019ve been presented with homemade wine previously because I\u2019m a wine writer and they want an opinion. And my comment is, \u201cWow! I\u2019ve never tasted anything quite like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> That\u2019s good, very good.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> How surprising.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> OK.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> But you could say, \u201cOh my goodness!\u201d Say she served you a red wine, her homemade red, say, \u201cYou know what? Lately, red wines have been giving me a headache. Do you mind if I switch to white tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> OK.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> You\u2019re out of luck if she has got both made.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> Right. All right. Good point.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Can\u2019t help you there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lainey:<\/strong> But is that a sweeping gen \u2013 like should people just stop making their own wine?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> It depends. There\u2019s all manner of homemade wines from the kits, almost like a tang crystals of wine, to actually &#8211; some people would go and source fresh grapes from Niagara, take it quite seriously beyond hobby and a lot of pride in their wine. So it really does depend on the quality.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Melissa:<\/strong> OK. So I\u2019m attending a party and I\u2019m going through my glass a little bit more quickly than the host is. So, do I help myself for the refill or should be holding back in waiting for the host?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lainey:<\/strong> Great question.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Great question.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> Yes. And screw your friends if they don\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Exactly. I would treat wine as I treat food. So if you are over to this friend\u2019s house, if you needed second helpings of the food, would you go help yourself? Is it informal? Is the relationship close? If not or if it\u2019s a bit of a formal dinner party, then what you can do is, let\u2019s say, you\u2019ve finished your glass, you can raise it up and go \u2026 That\u2019s option three.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> OK.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> This is the middle ground.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> All right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Hang on. So you can raise your empty glass and go, \u201cOh my goodness! That was good. That went quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lainey:<\/strong> A very subtle \u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Like you\u2019re surprised by your own glass.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> Oh, OK. All right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Melissa:<\/strong> A bit like that. That\u2019s good.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> So, we all know if we\u2019re in a restaurant and we get a bottle of wine and it happens to be off, you can send it back and you can generally feel not uncomfortable about that. But what if you\u2019re at your friend\u2019s house and this has happened to me, where the bottle of wine is clearly off but everyone else is enjoying it, so would you be that sort of jerk who sort of says, \u201cGuys, this bottle is off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Right. It looks like [0:05:50] [Indiscernible] yourself.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> Or do you just suck it back?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Well, I wouldn\u2019t do either. So, I would say something like, especially where everybody is drinking it, \u201cWow! I used to really enjoy this style of wine.\u201d In your mind, \u201cBefore I knew anything about wine.\u201d And then you could say, \u201cBut again lately, this style of wine is giving me a real headache.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> OK.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Where you could pull out like a bottle of Smarties or something, a pill prop. \u201cIt\u2019s going to cause me to have allergies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> Exactly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> \u201cDo you mind if I switch to \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> Right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> \u2026 or something like that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Melissa:<\/strong> To get off the hook from drinking from that bottle.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Exactly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Melissa:<\/strong> OK, yeah, very, very smart. My husband and I, we want to celebrate our anniversary. And we think, \u201cYou know what? It would be great to enjoy a bottle of wine from that year.\u201d So how would we handle that?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Sure. So if you\u2019re going to a restaurant, you want to call ahead and find out what is their policy because bringing your own bottle of wine is legal but not mandated. So, the adage in the restaurant industry is that customers will eat you poor and drink you rich. All the margin is in the liquor, the water, the coffee, and the tea. So you want to be respectful of that because some restaurants just can\u2019t afford, their margins are so small. So call ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Some will have it on a Monday or a Sunday, slow traffic nights. Bring on the foodies. Bring on the wine. And others have different policies. You\u2019ll likely be charged a corkage fee just to open the wine but still, your bill will be lower.<\/p>\n<p>My last tip though is, tip based on having paid for the wine off the list because the service is the same.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jess:<\/strong> Oh wow!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Melissa:<\/strong> Good call, very good call.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lainey:<\/strong> Yeah. So we\u2019re going to taste \u2013 toast to say goodbye. But before we do say goodbye, I mean we\u2019ve talked about etiquette.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Sure.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lainey:<\/strong> But the most important thing though is to just enjoy yourself.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Exactly, exactly. That\u2019s the only rule, really, when it comes down to it. It\u2019s just drink what you like, enjoy it, and always drink with good friends.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lainey:<\/strong> And we clink? Can we clink? Is that allowed?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Natalie:<\/strong> Absolutely. You know, this whole clinking thing, the history of that is that you would spill a little bit of wine into each other\u2019s glass. This goes back to ancient history because you weren\u2019t sure if there was poison in yours. So, if you\u2019re going to a dinner party, don\u2019t know the folks well, clink.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cynthia:<\/strong> Oh, amazing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lainey:<\/strong> Natalie, thank you so much for teaching us how not to be low classy. And we\u2019ll have all of these great tips available to you at TheSocial.ca. Don\u2019t go anywhere. We\u2019ll be back.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesocial.ca\/food\/entertaining\/a-lesson-in-wine-etiquette\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19856\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/The-Social-Wine-Etiquette.jpg\" alt=\"The Social Wine Etiquette\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/The-Social-Wine-Etiquette.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/The-Social-Wine-Etiquette-160x106.jpg 160w, https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/The-Social-Wine-Etiquette-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/The-Social-Wine-Etiquette-125x83.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ufeff The hosts of CTV&#8217;s The Social love their wine. We shared a few good glasses together as well as some laughs on wine etiquette &#8212; how to avoid being low-classy with wine ;) Click the arrow above to watch the video. You can also read my story on The Grapes of Gaffe. Find out the answers to these &#8220;pressing&#8221; wine questions: How do I hold a wine glass, by the stem or the bowl? Hold your glass by stem\u2014otherwise your hands will warm the bowl and the wine, and leave unsightly fingerprints. Your wine glass should never be poured [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[964,963,19,13,965,288],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bring-your-own-wine-restaurant","category-pouring-wine","category-restaurant-wine-lists","category-serving-wine","category-wine-etiquette","category-wine-glass"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19855"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44866,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19855\/revisions\/44866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}