I recently wrote a piece about the restaurant bait-and-switch, about which I received more comments – all positive – than any other post on Wine-Flair, ever. So this morning when I was checking out a discussion about restaurant wine service “pet peeves” on Wine 2.0, I realized that the bait-and-switch thing is just the tip of the iceberg, and that diners need to know more to get good service.
Ordering wine in a restaurant, and the rituals of presenting the bottle, opening it, presenting the cork and the first pour give a lot of people angst…and some end up just drinking beer or a cocktail instead. I’ve long said that the wine and restaurant businesses need to do more, a lot more, to make this process more friendly to the consumer if they want to capture a larger share of the market and make Michelob drinkers into Merlot drinkers.
If you have any questions about this sometimes absurdly over-dramatic process – and you probably do – perhaps start by reading this primer on restaurant wine service. Then make a comment or email me your reaction.
Happy dining and whin…er, wining!