Wine Service
Practice of presenting and pouring wine to guests.
What is Wine Service? Wine Service is the professional practice of presenting, opening, decanting, and pouring wine for guests, traditionally performed by a sommelier in fine-dining settings. It brings together correct serving temperatures, appropriate glassware, decanting decisions, and host-tasting protocol into a single craft. Done well, it protects the wine from the moment the bottle leaves the cellar until the last glass is poured, ensuring that the work of the winemaker reaches the guest intact. Done poorly, even a great bottle can feel flat, hot, or muted.
The Sommelier and the Craft
A sommelier is a trained wine professional specializing in all aspects of wine service and food-and-wine pairing in fine restaurants. The word itself comes from Middle French, where it described court officials who managed supply transportation, and traces further back through Old Provencal saumalier (pack-animal driver) to Late Latin sagma, a packsaddle. The job has traveled a long way from the stables to the dining room, but the underlying idea of careful stewardship has not changed.
Modern duties now extend well beyond wine into beers, spirits, cocktails, mineral waters, and tobacco, alongside building wine lists and training restaurant staff. Certification is taken seriously: the Court of Master Sommeliers, established in 1977, had recognized only 293 Master Sommeliers worldwide as of 2025. Other major bodies include the International Sommelier Guild, founded in 1982, and the U.S.-based National Wine School, founded in 2009, with five professional levels. The traditional tools of the trade are still in use, notably the tastevin, a small tasting cup, and the sommelier knife, a waiter's corkscrew.
Temperature and Glassware
Temperature is the lever that quietly shapes every pour. Light reds such as Beaujolais and rosé show best at 10 to 12 degrees C, medium reds like Burgundy at 14 to 17, and full-bodied reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Nebbiolo at 15 to 18. Whites run cooler: aromatic light styles like Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc at 8 to 12 degrees C, oaked Chardonnay at 12 to 16, and Champagne, sparkling wines, and sweet dessert wines at 6 to 10. Lower temperatures emphasize acidity and tannin while muting aromatics; higher temperatures soften acidity and tannin and amplify aromatics.
Glassware does the rest. The INAO standardized tasting glass has an egg shape with a narrower opening than its widest point, concentrating bouquet, with a capacity of around 215 ml and a 50 ml pour for professional tasting. That geometry is the reason a properly chosen glass can make a familiar wine feel suddenly more articulate.
Decanting and Host-Tasting Protocol
Decanting answers two different questions. The first is mechanical: separating wine from sediment, typical for aged bottles, often using a decanting cradle, a wicker or metal basket that helps pour a settled bottle without disturbing the deposit. The second is expressive: aeration to soften tannins and open aromatics, typical for young tannic wines such as Barolo, Bordeaux, and Cabernet Sauvignon. A standard decanter holds 0.75 L, equal to one bottle, and is traditionally made of glass or crystal. Venetians reintroduced glass decanters during the Renaissance with elongated necks, and British glassmakers added stoppers in the 1730s to limit air exposure.
Decanting is not a default. Karen MacNeil cautions against decanting delicate wines such as Chianti, and the oenologist Emile Peynaud argued that prolonged oxygen exposure dissipates more aromas than it enhances compared with simple glass swirling. The host-tasting ritual at the table closes the loop: the sommelier presents the bottle, opens it, offers a small pour to the host to confirm the wine is sound, and only then serves the rest of the guests.
