Screwtop Etiquette

[Q-step]

Also, check the bottle and ensure the label is what you ordered. On a recent cruise, we were brought the wrong bottle. And my husband nodded just as the wine steward was about to open it. But at the last moment, I recognized it was a bottle about $100 more than we had ordered.

 

That's reason # 1 to check the wine before opening. I have had several restaurants bring the wrong wine or the wrong year.

 

There is plenty of evidence that screwtops may be better for wine storage & aging. But I don't imagine any top winery switching over their grand cru anytime soon.

 

As for what to do table side, obviously examining the screwtop would not yield any important information. But you should taste the wine to see if it's good. Many factors can make a wine go bad. Don't feel pressured to act a certain way or even make comments to the steward. I've been at a table where the gentlemen accepts the wine and later his wife rejects it. I guess she had drank this wine before and knew something was wrong. Most of the time I just say "It's good-Thank you."

[snydermann]

Yes, it is still a good idea to sample a wine that is served from a Stelvin Closure bottle. Even storing wine at extremes of temperature can cause it to spoil or taste bad.

Here are some interesting guidelines that we learned from our last cruise sommelier and subsequently confirmed at The Wine School of Philadelphia. I'm sure the majority of the readers here are aware of these points, but for as often as we see them violated, many people are not.

 

When the cork is presented at the table it is not necessary to do anything with it. You do not have to squeeze it, smell it, read it or anything of the sort. If a problem is noticed while tasting the wine, the cork can then be used as a reference.

 

Wine is not served with a "screw cap", "twist top" or "easy-off cap". It's called a Stelvin Closure. By all means, don't squeeze or sniff the cap when it's set on the table. Just using the words "Stelvin Closure" will gain you credibility with the wine snobs.

 

When uncapping a Stelvin Closure, the cap is held in the palm of one hand and the bottle twisted from the cap while cupping the base of the bottle in the other hand. You're not cranking open a beer or 2-liter Pepsi, try to uncap it with class.

 

Take your time sampling the wine. Tilt the glass and examine the color, swirl the wine in the glass with the base on the table, smell (nose) the wine, taste the wine."Slurping" (pulling the wine into the mouth along with a breath of air) is not a requirement, but is not considered impolite if done quietly.

 

If there is any question with the quality of the wine it is polite to ask the sommelier for his opinion.

 

Always hold the glass by the stem. Holding the bowl warms the wine and fingerprints the glass.

 

The spoon worn by the sommelier is called a tastevin.

[garigoun]

Ah me! Just when it was getting interesting.

Gari

[GCurry]

Totally agree.

And more and more countrys are following.

Save the Tree's;)

But won't that put a lot of cork sockers out of business??:D

[Cruachan]

Having tasted neither, I am unable to review their qualities and at that, will hand you back to Cruachan for further comment.

 

Well, I was certainly never a big fan of Pally Ally but I have sampled more than my fair share of LD and its close cousin, the late lamented (at least I think it's late and lamented) Lanliq - reputedly made in South Africa but, I think, in reality produced in a vast underground industrial facility just outside Greenock :eek:

 

Sadly my expertise ends there as I have never tasted Buckfast, the modern pretender to the crown of Strathclyde rocket fuel. It hadn't come on the scene before I left Scotland for good.

 

J

[cunardqueen]

But won't that put a lot of cork sockers out of business??

 

It might well do, But consider how long it takes to open a Stelvin closure compared to a cork, then ask yourself how may less wine waiters are employed.

Ok if your having a CNDP then the showmanship of opening a bottle can be fun, But if its just a bottle of your house wines then you can get off with the stelvin closure.

And lets face it with the new breed of Cunard customers on their new ships Stelvins are in and corks are out.

 

Personally if lm serving a nice wine,(which believe it or not l do) its rather nice to get the foil cutter out, remove the top and make a show of getting your cork out and present the whole thing with a flourish to the seated guests at the table, who if they have the manners will be suitably spellbound by the performance.

There is nothing worse than getting the cork out and no one noticing.

 

Indeed where l work, a member of staff was invited into the inner sanctum of The Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, and who this is/was is a very closely guarded secret.