The existential fear that hits when the waiter waits for your response? Be gone.
So, you bucked up and ordered the wine for the table (hopefully you knew what you were doing with the wine list), and now you’re starting to sweat because you know the waiter is going to ask if you’d like to taste the wine and it will be show time. A hush runs along the table, all eyes turn to you to take in your next move, and judgement ensues. It’s enough to make your armpits sting. But no more!
Knowledge is power and we’re not playing grown-ups, we actually are grown-ups, so while restaurants insist on doing the wine dance, you might as well learn the moves. Ahead, we run through exactly what to do when you have to taste the wine at a restaurant.
The waiter will then pour a small amount of the wine into your glass. With it, you are meant to check that it’s good, that you like it and the rest of the table will like it, too. Pressure! Kidding. Before we go any further, it’s important to note that you don’t actually have to go through this whole process if you don’t want to. It’s perfectly acceptable to tell the waiter the wine will be fine and you’re happy for them to serve it – especially if it’s sealed with a screwcap (and the chat around the table is too good to pause).
There is a very small chance the wine may be bad, but you never know. First, tilt the wine in the glass and look at it – against a white tablecloth is ideal – to check its colour and that no cork crumbs or sediment are in there. Give it a whirl and a sniff, and then, if all seems good, a taste. There are three main faults you could be looking for. The first is that oxidisation effect. If the wine smells and tastes like vinegar – – the way it does when you try to have the last glass of a bottle you opened last weekend – then it has probably been exposed to too much oxygen and oxidised. If it smells funky, in a bad way, like a dirty wet tea towel that’s been left overnight, it could be corked. This is caused by a bacteria on the cork. It’s not dangerous and can often not affect the taste of the wine, but smell and taste are so closely linked, it’s going to be off-putting. Finally, a wine can get too much sun, causing it to taste overly sweet when it shouldn’t, or it could be void of taste altogether. This happens if it’s been exposed to the elements in storage or transport, and it can be more of an issue here in sunny Australia rather than the more temperate climates of Europe.
