Wine…..Tools of the Trade
February 26, 2010
When a baseball player goes up to bat it seems to me it would be very important to have the proper tools with him for him to be successful. Of course he needs a bat, a helmet and maybe some batting gloves. Short of having these things it could be a very miserable at-bat.
The same principals apply to just about every job in life. It is no different for a server selling wine. If he/she takes the order for a bottle of wine but does not have the proper tools to serve it, then it goes without saying it will be a very miserable sale.
Let’s review some of the tools that a server would need to serve wine properly. It may seem a little obvious but I can’t tell you how many times I have seen servers scramble around looking for these items when they get an wine order.
1) A corkscrew- Yes, believe it or not a server needs to keep a wine screw with them at all times. There are many different corkscrews and styles of openers to choose from. I like a cork screw that has at least 5 “turns” on the screw and is at least 1 ½ inches long, tip to end. This is especially important to have if you are opening quality wines with age or with Italian and some South African wines. These wines tend to have longer corks then their counterparts and a longer screw helps release the cork with the proper leverage.
Learning to use a corkscrew is fairly easy but again it can be used poorly and destroying the cork on a nice bottle is both embarrassing and time consuming. Let new servers train by opening a few by-the-glass wines for the bartenders. With a little practice they will be opening wines like a pro in a short amount of time.
2)Wine Chillers and stands
(if possible) – Most white wines benefit from staying chilled. Supplying your staff with a proper chiller is the restaurants responsibility. Ensure the chillers are cold, clean and rust free (if metal) and also in good repair. A matching stand may also be necessary.
It is also important to have enough wine chillers. Although you can never predict how many wines you will sell each night that need chillers, it is always a good idea to keep enough of them on hand for those special nights.
3)Wine Cloth-
I believe it is a good idea to keep a wine cloth handy to help in the event of dirty corks, dripping or god forbid, spillage.
4) Wine Inventory- Some bottles which may be running low in inventory need to be communicated to the wait staff. With this information it will help eliminate embarrassing shortages for large parties or multiple wine bottle purchases.
5) Other items may include vintage charts, tasting notes, Food/Wine paring notes, decanters, candles, wine filters and piece of string. (This last one is for those who may have “pushed” a cork and need to remove it from the bottle, with practice fairly easily.) These all depend on the level of service for each restaurant.
Keeping your staff equipped and trained will help your restaurant develop the confidence need to help sell wine and assist in development of a strong wine service reputation.
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