Smoked salmon | Champagne, Calif. sparkling wine, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc |
Grilled fish | Sauvignon Blanca, Pinot Blanc, Loire Valley whites, Riesling, champagne |
Pork | Pinot Noir, red Burgundy, Chianti, Dolcetto |
Lamb | Cabernet, Merlot, red Bordeaux red Rhinos, Barolo, Rioja Reservas |
Roast chicken | Pinot Noir, red Burgundy, Chianti, Zinfandel, Spanish reds |
Steak | Cabernet, Merlot, red Bordeaux, red Rhones, Chilean |
Salads | Sauvignon Blanc, Loire Valley whites |
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On Tasting Wine
"There are no standards of taste in wine, cigars, poetry, prose, etc. Each man's own taste is the standard, and a majority vote cannot decide for him or in any slightest degree affect the supremacy of his own standard." -Mark Twain, 1895
The following are the necessary steps for tasting wine. You may wish to follow them with a glass of wine in hand. Wine tasting can be broken down into five basic steps: Color, Swirl, Smell, Taste, and Savor.
Color
The best way to get an idea of the color of the wine is to get a white background and hold the glass of wine in front of it. The range of colors that you may see depends, of course, on whether you're tasting a white or red wine. Here are the colors for both, beginning with the youngest wine and moving to an older wine:
WHITE WINE : pale yellow-green, straw yellow, yellow-gold, old gold, yellow-brown, maderized, brown
RED WINE: purple, ruby, red, red brick, red-brown, brown
Color tells you a lot about the wine. There three main reasons why a wine may have more color:
It's older
Different grape varieties give different color. (For example, Chardonnay usually gives off a deeper color than does Riesling.)
The wine was aged in wood.
Swirl
Why do we swirl wine? To allow oxygen to get into the wine: Swirling releases the esters, ethers, and aldehydes that combine with oxygen to yield the bouquet of the wine. In other words, swirling aerates the wine and gives you a better smell.
Smell
This is the most important part of wine tasting. You can only perceive four tastes-sweet, sour, bitter, and salt-but the average person can smell over 2,000 different scents, and wine has over 200 of its own. Now that you've swirled the wine and released the bouquet, you should smell the wine at least three times. You will find that the third smell will give you more information than the first smell did. What does the wine smell like? What type of nose does it have? Smell is a very important step in the tasting process and most people simply don't spend enough time on it.
Pinpointing the nose of the wine helps you to identify certain characteristics. The best way to learn what your own preferences are for styles of wine is to "memorize" the smell of the individual grape varieties. For white, just try to memorize the three major grape varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling. Keep smelling them, and smelling them, and smelling them until you can identify the differences, one from the other. For the reds it's a little more difficult, but you still can take three major grape varieties: Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Taste
To many people, tasting wine means taking a sip and swallowing immediately. This isn't tasting. Tasting is something you do with your taste buds. You have taste buds all over your mouth-on both sides of the tongue, underneath, on the tip, and extending to the back of your throat. If you do what many people do, you take a gulp of wine and bypass all of those important taste buds.
What should you think about when tasting wine?
Be aware of the most important sensations of taste and where they occur on your tongue and in your mouth. One can only perceive four tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, and salt (but there's no salt in wine, so we're down to three). Bitterness in wine is usually created by high alcohol and high tannin. Sweetness only occurs in wines that have some residual sugar left over after fermentation. Sour (sometimes called "tart") indicates the acidity in wine.
Sweetness-Found on the tip of the tongue. If there's any sweetness in a wine whatsoever, you'll get it right away.
Fruit and Varietals Characteristics-Found in the middle of the tongue.
Acidity-Found at the sides of the tongue, the cheek area, and the back of the throat. White wines and some lighter-style red wines usually contain a higher degree of acidity.
Tannin-The sensation of tannin begins in the middle of the tongue.
Tannin frequently exists in red wines or wood-aged white wines. When the wines are too young, tannin dries the palate to excess. If there's a lot of tannin in the wine, the tannin can actually coat your whole mouth, blocking the fruit. Remember, tannin is not a taste. It is a tactile sensation.
Aftertaste-The overall taste and balance of the components of the wine that lingers in our mouth. How long does the balance last? Usually a sign of a high-quality wine is a long, pleasing aftertaste. The taste of many of the great wines lasts anywhere from one minute to three minutes, with all their components in harmony.
Savor
After you've had a chance to taste the wine, sit back for a few moments and savor it. Think about what you just experienced, and ask yourself the following questions to help focus your impressions. Was the wine:
Light, medium, or full-bodied? For a white wine: How was the acidity? Very little, just right, or too much? For a red wine: Is the tannin in the wine too strong or astringent? Is it pleasing? Or is it missing? What is the strongest component (residual sugar, fruit, acid, tannin)?
How do you know if a wine is good or not?
The definition of a good wine is one that you enjoy. Do not let others dictate taste to you!
The following are the necessary steps for tasting wine. You may wish to follow them with a glass of wine in hand. Wine tasting can be broken down into five basic steps: Color, Swirl, Smell, Taste, and Savor.
Color
The best way to get an idea of the color of the wine is to get a white background and hold the glass of wine in front of it. The range of colors that you may see depends, of course, on whether you're tasting a white or red wine. Here are the colors for both, beginning with the youngest wine and moving to an older wine:
WHITE WINE : pale yellow-green, straw yellow, yellow-gold, old gold, yellow-brown, maderized, brown
RED WINE: purple, ruby, red, red brick, red-brown, brown
Color tells you a lot about the wine. There three main reasons why a wine may have more color:
It's older
Different grape varieties give different color. (For example, Chardonnay usually gives off a deeper color than does Riesling.)
The wine was aged in wood.
Swirl
Why do we swirl wine? To allow oxygen to get into the wine: Swirling releases the esters, ethers, and aldehydes that combine with oxygen to yield the bouquet of the wine. In other words, swirling aerates the wine and gives you a better smell.
Smell
This is the most important part of wine tasting. You can only perceive four tastes-sweet, sour, bitter, and salt-but the average person can smell over 2,000 different scents, and wine has over 200 of its own. Now that you've swirled the wine and released the bouquet, you should smell the wine at least three times. You will find that the third smell will give you more information than the first smell did. What does the wine smell like? What type of nose does it have? Smell is a very important step in the tasting process and most people simply don't spend enough time on it.
Pinpointing the nose of the wine helps you to identify certain characteristics. The best way to learn what your own preferences are for styles of wine is to "memorize" the smell of the individual grape varieties. For white, just try to memorize the three major grape varieties: Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Riesling. Keep smelling them, and smelling them, and smelling them until you can identify the differences, one from the other. For the reds it's a little more difficult, but you still can take three major grape varieties: Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Taste
To many people, tasting wine means taking a sip and swallowing immediately. This isn't tasting. Tasting is something you do with your taste buds. You have taste buds all over your mouth-on both sides of the tongue, underneath, on the tip, and extending to the back of your throat. If you do what many people do, you take a gulp of wine and bypass all of those important taste buds.
What should you think about when tasting wine?
Be aware of the most important sensations of taste and where they occur on your tongue and in your mouth. One can only perceive four tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, and salt (but there's no salt in wine, so we're down to three). Bitterness in wine is usually created by high alcohol and high tannin. Sweetness only occurs in wines that have some residual sugar left over after fermentation. Sour (sometimes called "tart") indicates the acidity in wine.
Sweetness-Found on the tip of the tongue. If there's any sweetness in a wine whatsoever, you'll get it right away.
Fruit and Varietals Characteristics-Found in the middle of the tongue.
Acidity-Found at the sides of the tongue, the cheek area, and the back of the throat. White wines and some lighter-style red wines usually contain a higher degree of acidity.
Tannin-The sensation of tannin begins in the middle of the tongue.
Tannin frequently exists in red wines or wood-aged white wines. When the wines are too young, tannin dries the palate to excess. If there's a lot of tannin in the wine, the tannin can actually coat your whole mouth, blocking the fruit. Remember, tannin is not a taste. It is a tactile sensation.
Aftertaste-The overall taste and balance of the components of the wine that lingers in our mouth. How long does the balance last? Usually a sign of a high-quality wine is a long, pleasing aftertaste. The taste of many of the great wines lasts anywhere from one minute to three minutes, with all their components in harmony.
Savor
After you've had a chance to taste the wine, sit back for a few moments and savor it. Think about what you just experienced, and ask yourself the following questions to help focus your impressions. Was the wine:
Light, medium, or full-bodied? For a white wine: How was the acidity? Very little, just right, or too much? For a red wine: Is the tannin in the wine too strong or astringent? Is it pleasing? Or is it missing? What is the strongest component (residual sugar, fruit, acid, tannin)?
How do you know if a wine is good or not?
The definition of a good wine is one that you enjoy. Do not let others dictate taste to you!
How to Serve Wines
The proper etiquette of wine serving and drinking should be one of complete informality and ease. It does not require long planning and great care of execution, except, of course, in the case of great and old wines. Some general rules to follow would be:
Serving temperatures:
(a) Red table wines should be left standing in the dining room approximately 24 hours before the meal for allowing any sediment to settle, and then brought to room temperature.
(b) White and Rose wines are served slightly chilled (around 50'F.), and one hour on the shelf of a refrigerator will bring them to the right temperature.
(c) Champagnes and other sparkling wines take longer to chill and should be left in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Uncorking:
(a) Red wine is improved if the bottle is uncorked about one hour before the meal. Wine is a living body. It is dormant in the bottle, and, as soon as the bottle is uncorked, the wine is "awakened" and starts "breathing." It absorbs oxygen from the air, and this oxidation activates the development of the "bouquet" and the aroma. One hour or so of "breathing" gives depth and smoothness to red wine.
(b) White and Rose wines have a very delicate fragrance which would lose its freshness if it were exposed to air for too long a time. Therefore, the bottles are opened just before serving.
All experts agree that one type of wine glass is perfect for all wines, including Champagne. The perfect glass is long stemmed and tulip-shaped, with a bowl the size of an orange. It is clear and thin, without heavy ornamentation. As a matter of fact, any large glass or goblet is better than the small, so-called "wine glass" that is in use in many homes and restaurants. Serving wine in a water goblet is a good idea when no regular wine glass is available.
Serving:
Wine is poured as soon as food is brought to the table. It is the host, rather than the hostess, who serves the wine and sees to it that glasses are replenished all during the meal. The glasses are never filled. They are served only half-full.
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The term Fine Dining brings to mind all kinds of images, from crisp white table cloths to waiters in tuxedos. Fine dining, just as the name suggests, offers patrons the finest in food, service and atmosphere. It is also the highest priced type of restaurant you can operate. While you may bring in mucho bucks with a fine dining restaurant you will also pay out more money than if you were running a more casual restaurant, such as a diner or café.
There are three main areas of focus with a fine dining restaurant: the menu, service and atmosphere.
Fine Dining Menu
Many people choose fine dining restaurants for a special occasion, so the food must not disappoint- in either selection or quality. You don’t need to feature a huge menu, but it should be interesting, offering unique items that patrons wouldn’t find at any other restaurant. Many fine dining restaurants offer prix fixe menus or limited menus that change on a daily or weekly basis. A great benefit of a smaller, rotating menu allows you to buy seasonal items when they are at their peak of freshness. Your chef can also exercise his or her creativity when designing dishes.
Fine dining wine and liquor selections should be on the high end. No Allen’s Coffee Brandy or Bud Light needed. Instead, you should carry top shelf liquors and a wide selection of cognacs, brandies and other after-dinner drinks. Your wine list should compliment your menu. Each wine should be paired with individual dishes.
Fine Dining Customer Service
Customer service in a fine dining restaurant is much more attentative than in casual dining establishments. Fine dining service goes far beyond taking an order and delivering food. Many fine dining services include:
• Escorting patrons to the table, holding the chair for women
• Escorting patrons to the restrooms
• Crumbing the table in between courses
• Replacing linen napkins if a patron leaves the table
• Explaining menu items without notes
• Serving food directly on the plate at the table
All of the details that are expected of a fine dining server require that your staff be rigorously trained. They should be able to answer any and all questions customers may have about a menu or item or wine. They should also be ready to make menu recommendations, if asked. No detail is ever too small to pay attention to in fine dining.
Fine Dining Atmosphere
Fine dining used to be synonymous with snooty French waiters and restaurants with names like “Le Fancy-Smancy” (or something of that ilk). Today fine dining can be in any type of setting and feature a wide variety of cuisine, from ethnic to organic, local fare. Standards you should always include in fine dining are fine china, glassware and flatware (absolutely no paper, plastic, or Styrofoam). While tablecloths are hard to escape in fine dining, the rest of the atmosphere is up to you. You can take the traditional route, with silver candelabras and rose centerpieces, or go for hip and trendy with a bold color scheme and modern furnishings. Music playing subtly in the background should reflect your theme, such as classical for a traditional fine dining restaurant or jazz tunes for something modern. Lighting should also be subtle, leaning toward dim (romantic).
Fine dining requires a lot of attention to detail, but it can pay off in the end when you have reservations months in advance, waiting to eat at your restaurant.
The Formal Place Setting
There is general agreement among etiquette experts and writers of etiquette manuals that far too many people are not sure they can choose the proper flatware for the appropriate course of the meal. As all published text tells you, use the outermost flatware as necessary, one set for each course, and you will not make a mistake unless the table has been improperly set to start with.
For a formal place setting, you will receive exactly the flatware you will need, arranged in the correct order. Good etiquette requires you to assume that the host has correctly designated each piece of flatware to its task. As each course is finished, the corresponding flatware (used and unused) will be removed with the dish, leaving you ready for the next course to arrive. If the meal is to have more than three or four courses, common sense and aesthetics tell you not to place a slew of forks and knives at the sides of the charger/service plate, so on these occasions the proper new flatware will be brought to you with each course after all of the original settings have been used.
A service plate, also known as a charger plate is never eaten from. It will either be removed when the first course is brought, or the different courses will be set on top of it. A set table may contain any or all of the flatware below.
Oyster Fork
There is a small fork provided for eating oysters. It will be to your right. They say every rule has an exception and this is the one exception to the rule of placing forks to the left of the plate.
Soup Spoon
The soup spoon will be located to the right of the plate. It is usually the only spoon provided with the initial place setting.
Salad Fork and Knife
The salad fork may have a thicker tine at the left of the fork. For right handed people, which are the majority, this strengthens the fork for use in cutting large greens without having to use the salad knife.
Fish Fork and Knife
Both a special fork and a knife should be provided for fish. In the old days, the fish knife often had a silver blade, because fish, which is often served with lemon, reacts with the steel in old knife blades, causing an unpleasant taste. The invention of stainless steel in the 1920s took care of this problem. The fish fork is usually shorter than the meat fork.
Meat Fork and Knife
In the western hemisphere, the innermost fork and knife are provided for the meat course of the meal. In some countries where they eat the salad after the main course, the innermost fork and knife are for the salad and are always smaller than the meat fork and knife.
Dessert Spoon and Fork
The dessert spoon and/or fork may be set when you arrive, or may be brought in with the dessert. If they are part of the initial place setting, they would be placed horizontally north of the plate, parallel to each other, with the fork closest to the plate and the tines of the fork pointing right. The bowl of the spoon should point to the left.
Teaspoon
When coffee and tea are served, a teaspoon will be provided and it is brought in on the saucer next to the cup.
Butter Knife
If a bread plate is provided, as in the photo to the left, a butter knife will also be provided. Remember this is only for the butter as bread is never cut with that or any knife, but simply ripped apart.
Chopsticks
In today's eclectic cuisine, your dinner may include one or several oriental courses. If so, chopsticks may be provided for your convenience, such as with nigiri sushi or rolls. Chopsticks may be used for more than one course.
Foods That Are Proper To Eat With Your Fingers
Artichoke
The artichoke is actually the leaf-enclosed flower bud of a plant that is in the thistle family. It is usually served steamed with a dipping sauce. To eat it, pull a leaf off, dip it, scrape the flesh from the base of the leaf with your top teeth, and discard the leaf on the plate provided for that purpose. You may encounter a special plate made with a central niche for the artichoke, a niche for a small bowl of sauce, and a sort of moat all around on which the leaves are to be discarded. Continue eating the leaves until the prickly "choke" is revealed. This is the point when it is clear you have a species of thistle in front of you. Switch to fork and knife, first to remove the choke, then to eat the heart and base.
Asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus may be eaten with the fingers as long as it is not covered with sauce or otherwise prepared so it is too mushy to pick up easily. Of course, it is also just fine to use a fork and knife to eat asparagus, even when it is perfectly al dente and sauce-free. But you might appreciate getting to act like a rebel without breaking any rules.
Bacon
Bacon
When bacon is cooked until it is very crisp, and there is no danger of getting the fingers wet with grease, it is okay to pick it up to eat it. This is an instance of practicality winning out over decorum, since trying to cut a crisp piece of bacon usually results in crushing it into shards that are quite difficult to round up onto a fork.
Bread
Bread
Bread must always be broken, never cut with a knife. Tear off a piece that is no bigger than a couple of bites worth and eat that before tearing off another. If butter is provided, and at formal events it customarily is not, butter the small piece just before eating it. There is an exception to this rule: if you are served a hot roll, it is permissible to tear, never cut, the whole roll lengthwise down the middle and place a pat of butter inside to melt.
Cookies
Cookies
It is never necessary to try to eat the cookie that comes as a garnish to your dessert with a spoon. Unless it has fallen so far into the chocolate sauce that there isn't a clean corner by which to pick it up.
Corn on the Cob
Corn on the Cob
It is unlikely that it will be served at a formal event, but if you encounter corn on the cob, it may be picked up and eaten. The approved method of doing so is to butter one or two rows at a time and to eat across the cob cleanly.
Chips, French Fries, Fried Chicken, and Hamburgers
Chips, French Fries, Fried Chicken, and Hamburgers
All these items, which could also probably be classified as "fast foods", simply will not be served in a formal setting. Most are intended to be eaten with the hands, although a particularly messy hamburger could be approached with fork and knife, and steak fries, the thick-cut, less crispy variety, may be best eaten with a fork.
Hors d'Oeuvre, Canapés, Crudités
Hors d'Oeuvre, Canapés, Crudités
Almost everything that is served at a cocktail party or during a pre-meal cocktail hour is intended to be eaten with the fingers. Some of these foods make appearances at regular meals as well, although not often at very formal ones. When they do, it is still permissible to use the fingers to eat them. This includes olives, pickles, nuts, deviled eggs, and chips.
Sandwiches
Sandwiches
The straightforward sandwich, that is, any sandwich that is not open-faced, not too tall to fit in the mouth, not saturated with dripping sauces or loaded with mushy fillings, is intended to be picked up and eaten. Otherwise use fork and knife.
Small Fruits and Berries on the Stem
If you are served strawberries with the hulls on, cherries with stems, or grapes in bunches, then it is okay to eat them with your fingers. Otherwise, as with all berries, the utensil of choice is a spoon. In the case of grapes, you may encounter a special scissors, to be used to cut off a small cluster from the bunch. If not, tear a portion from the whole, rather than plucking off single grapes, which leaves a cluster of unattractive bare stems on the serving platter.
Small Fruits and Berries on the Stem
If you are served strawberries with the hulls on, cherries with stems, or grapes in bunches, then it is okay to eat them with your fingers. Otherwise, as with all berries, the utensil of choice is a spoon. In the case of grapes, you may encounter a special scissors, to be used to cut off a small cluster from the bunch. If not, tear a portion from the whole, rather than plucking off single grapes, which leaves a cluster of unattractive bare stems on the serving platter.
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