Wine service without the fuss

Sparkling 6–8°C, whites and rosé 8–12°C, light reds 12–14°C, full reds 15–18°C. Most Irish restaurants serve reds too warm and whites too cold. Store bottles on their side, away from light and heat; opened whites go back in the fridge with a stopper and are poured within two days, reds within three.

1. Bring the bottle to the person who ordered, label facing them, and name it: producer, grape, region, vintage.
2. Cut the foil below the lip, wipe, draw the cork cleanly, wipe again.
3. Pour a taste (about 30ml) for the host. You are checking for a fault, not whether they like it.
4. Pour for the table, host last, bottle label up, never filling past the widest point of the glass.
5. Leave whites in a cooler or on the table as the guest prefers; ask.

• Cork taint (TCA): wet cardboard, musty. Replace without argument.
• Oxidised: flat, sherry-like, browning. Replace.
• Reduction: struck match or rotten egg; often blows off with air. Swirl, wait, re-taste.
• Not to taste is not a fault. Offer another glass by the glass with grace; it costs less than an argument.

Use a measured pourer or a lined glass and decide your serves (commonly 125ml, 175ml and 250ml) and print them on the list. A 750ml bottle gives six 125ml glasses or four 175ml. Check by-the-glass GP weekly with the drinks GP calculator: unmeasured pours lose more margin than any other line on the bar. Open bottles are dated and the oldest is poured first.

Staff sell wine when they can say one true thing about each one on the list. 'Dry, citrusy Albariño from Galicia, great with the fish' is enough. Taste every new listing as a team; it takes fifteen minutes and lifts wine sales for months. 64 Wine in Glasthule won the RAI's All-Ireland Wine Experience in 2026 by doing exactly this, every day.