RESPECT FOR WINE
SIR,—Good wine being one of the civilised—and, one hopes, civilising—pleasures of life, lovers of what 'maketh glad the heart' must deplore the way in which a piece of fair comment on wine service by Leslie Adrian has been received by some corre- spondents. If the service of wine in Britain were already as good as Mr. Denes considers it to be, the admirable work of the Guild of Sommeliers would not be necessary. As an Associate of the Guild, I know a little about the huge task still to be done, and also something of the problems of even the best wine waiter who may be regarded by the wrong kind of management as a mere seller of bottles, and compelled by the boss to go against what he knows to be correct in wine service—for example, in the wrong use of the wine cradle and the irritatingly frequent topping-up of glasses. As public appreciation of wine drinking increases, so conscientious restaurateurs and wine waiters wel- come the kind of informed constructive criticism of Leslie Adrian directed at their unworthy brethren, for one of the aims of the Guild is to encourage that respect for wine--in all price ranges—that enhances its enjoyment for the drinker by correct service.
Mr. Ames's statement that 'if one truly cares about wine . . . then surely one does not order meals in a restaurant which is not known for its wines,' puzzles me. A restaurant may be reputed for its cellar—and serve wines indifferently. How do you know unless you have tried it? And why he would 'never think of ordering a serious wine in a place one did not know,' I cannot understand. Does he always expect the worst? A curious assertionis made by Mr. Gabor Denes: 'Chi-chi and wine snobbery is [sic] to be discouraged and it is silly and preten- tious to expect a sommelier to go through the motions of serving a chateau-bottled old claret when only a bottle of ordinary . . . has been ordered.' There is a correct way to serve any bottle , of wine, whatever the cost involved. An old wine may need care, a young one deserves it. Respect for a fine wine does not preclude the correct service of the humblest half-bottle and pretentiousness is out of place in the service of either.
As for Mr. Denes's dismissal of Leslie Adrian's perfectly reasonable wish to inspect the cork of a bottle as 'ludicrous, pompous hocus-pocus,' because 'only 4 per cent of the wine consumed in this country is shipped in bottle,' it suggests that he drinks only estate-bottled wines. It is not unknown for corks to bear the name of a property and a vintage even when the wines have been bottled away from their home ground. Some corks carry the name of a shipper, some of a wine merchant. And has Mr. Denes never drawn a cork from a bottle of red wine bearing a vintage label of several years back, to find that this cork is tinged with red for only about an eighth of an inch? Really, Mr. Denes1
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