Quote:
Originally Posted by marc237 
Am sorry, but this is wrong on so many levels.
First, very few restaurants have waiters who have greater knowledge about wines than a reasonably informed wine enthusiast. At least in the US, it is not a pre-requisite to being hired and only the top tier restaurant will invest in educating their waiters on the wine list;
Second, a wink to indicate the wine is good?? Sorry, but in the US, a simple thank you and indication that the wine is good is a fine way of communicating. Certainly, the purpose of tasting is not to indicate whether the customer is likely to enjoy the wine, but indicating that is good is perfectly acceptable and far less open to ambiguity than a wink. Also, swirling to aerate is fine.
Third, you cannot order your own dishes in an Italian restaurant. If we were talking something relatively exotic, say Basque cuisne without the translations, ok - but Italian, really? You did not even indicate fish or veal, pasta or not? No wonder you got stuck with Mussels and fettuccine. p.s. the irony of asking the waitress to order for you and then counseling folk how to not look as if they have no idea when ordering is delicious.
Finally, a Riesling?? A high acid flowery wine typically running to sweet in the bottles that one finds in mid to low-brow restaurants to go with whatever random dishes the waitress may select? I do recognize that a Riesling can be versatile and hold up to spicier dishes (hence it is appreciated with spicier Chinese for example), but it is still an odd choice.
First, very few restaurants have waiters who have greater knowledge about wines than a reasonably informed wine enthusiast. At least in the US, it is not a pre-requisite to being hired and only the top tier restaurant will invest in educating their waiters on the wine list;
Second, a wink to indicate the wine is good?? Sorry, but in the US, a simple thank you and indication that the wine is good is a fine way of communicating. Certainly, the purpose of tasting is not to indicate whether the customer is likely to enjoy the wine, but indicating that is good is perfectly acceptable and far less open to ambiguity than a wink. Also, swirling to aerate is fine.
Third, you cannot order your own dishes in an Italian restaurant. If we were talking something relatively exotic, say Basque cuisne without the translations, ok - but Italian, really? You did not even indicate fish or veal, pasta or not? No wonder you got stuck with Mussels and fettuccine. p.s. the irony of asking the waitress to order for you and then counseling folk how to not look as if they have no idea when ordering is delicious.
Finally, a Riesling?? A high acid flowery wine typically running to sweet in the bottles that one finds in mid to low-brow restaurants to go with whatever random dishes the waitress may select? I do recognize that a Riesling can be versatile and hold up to spicier dishes (hence it is appreciated with spicier Chinese for example), but it is still an odd choice.
I was just saying what I would do. Certainly my profession would affect the way I conduct myself. And I think I did just fine that night.
1. For someone who typically see customers making a fool of themselves with the wine list, I don't think it's uneasonable for me to stress to him the importance of being subtle with it if he's not a wine enthusiast.
2. Sorry no I don't mean a wink as in when you wink when flirting with a beautiful lady, but that brisk brow movement when you want to indicate approval. What's that called again? And of course you're right. It's entirely appropriate to say thank you.
3. Yes I don't know my Italian and it's a common habit of mine to leave it to the waiters, even when I go to Chinese restaurants that does the most common suburban takeaway. In the end I got mussels and fettuccini, but hey, did I say they weren't good?
4. Most Australian rieslings ARE dry and so was the bottle I got last night. It went well that's why I drank too much of it.
But it's nice to hear your views anyway. I'll definitely look into it.
