During this month of September there are dinners to be organised getting together with friends to catch up and share stories from the summer holidays. When you receive an invitation for dinner what is the correct protocol for bringing a wine?
Protocols are considered the norm in society, for example women should not wear white to weddings as it is the colour for the bride. Wine is also subject to protocols. The general rule is hat wine should be brought to a dinner and given to the host as a gift. The reasons for this protocol are that as it is the host who has prepared the food he or she should have not only selected the correct wine to accompany each course but also will have the wines at the right temperature to serve. Therefore the wine should you have brought should be a considered a gift.
I don’t know about you but more often than not when I am invited to a dinner, which may be a much less frequent occurrence following this article, the wines that are served are not the most suitable to accompany each dish. Often a consequence of the wine being a last minute consideration and not enough thought has gone into choosing the right ones. I am not saying the wines are necessarily poor quality but they are most probably going to be well known brands. Part of the joy of wine is to surprise and be surprised.
So there are times when protocols have to be broken. How can this be done diplomatically? If you are familiar with the host I suggest you call and ask what the menu will and suggest that you bring the wine. This throws on the onus on you to think what would be the most appropriate wines for the evening. Thankfully you can look up previous articles of ‘Wines of the World’ to read about how to combine food with wine or come to one of the ‘Tasting / Maridajes’ at The Wine Place.
Another way to break wine protocol is to bring your wine already at the correct serving temperature and suggest that it be opened straight away. Nowadays this is easy to do with a chilled wine sleeve that will maintain the wine’s temperature (just remember to not to leave it behind!)
If you do not know what is going to be served or who the other guests are, make sure you bring two bottles of you preferred selections give one to the host and suggest that the other one be opened.
Wine is also a nice way to start a conversation, keep it simple, for example talk about a wine that you discovered and enjoyed when you were away on holiday. Now that the host has put your wine away, another way to break wine protocol, is to mention the wine that you brought as not doubt it will be a surprising discovery for the other guests.
If you are going to break wine protocol I suggest that you be careful not to embarrass the host by bringing something obviously expensive making their selection look second rate.
With so much choice available it is best to be different and bring something that will pleasantly surprise.
