As a waiter and restaurant manager of almost twenty years, I find it unfortunate that Mr. Hitchens has suffered at the hands of an intrusive waiter. Worse, it seems that he, like many Wine Spectator readers, believe that waiters are out to screw him by over pouring his wine. That sort of paranoia is somewhat inline with other of his writing--but I digress with this little jab.

Proper wine service includes pouring the wine for the customer, but not dumping, or "blasting" a bottle. More on that in a moment. Proper service maintains a level of a 60% glass pour, or a little four ounces at a time, for each customer at all times. Heavy drinkers like Mr. Hitchens are refilled at the same time his guests are refilled. They will be getting less, often just a drop, but everyone's glass stays the same. The result is psychological: all the customers feel they've been served the same amount. This way, Mr. Hitchens doesn't come off as big of a lush as his reputation, and his guests feel they've spent the evening drinking right along side him.

"Blasting" a bottle is, unfortunately, common in the industry. A Riedel Bordeaux or Burgandy glass can hold a full bottle of wine--750 ml. Often, customers believe we are underpouring because the glass is not even a quarter full. It's easy to quarter a bottle among four customers--I've seen waiters do that twice on a party of eight, then leave the empty bottles. That's unprofessional and people who work for me know that if they do it, they will be unceremoniously fired. Good service is hard enough to give in the first place, but being held suspect by your customer is a pain in the ass.

I do find it interesting that Mr. Hitchens wonders where this "vile" practice came from, since its roots are classic French service. It drives home the point that good service varies from customer to customer, and the proper level of service is what's required, no more, no less.

Since you work in the industry I'll accept your POV here that to most in the industry 'proper wine service includes pouring the wine for the customer,,,'.

So when I order a bottle of wine I'll make sure to tell the waiter to NOT pour any wine for us.

My reason for wanting to pour the wine myself is simple; I have control over the wine. As Hitchen points out how much wine each person wants, whether they want more or not, etc... is something I know about (and if I do not I ask my guess) that the waiter does NOT know about (and while a waiter can ask,, few do).

I guess classic French service supposes one of two things:

1. You are so loaded that 2-5 bottles of $40 dollar wine is pocket change to you, or

2. The wine in question is inexpensive table wine.

It is psychologically nice for the guests to have their glasses all filled simultaneously, to all be included in the ritual, but I suppose Hitch's point is that the downside is a lot of wasted wine. (Not that he and his set couldn't afford to pour a few glasses down the kitchen drain at the end of the night.) I like your point that good customer service varies from customer to customer.

Me, I'm too poor to order whole bottles of good wine in restaurants anyway, so I have no dog in this fight.

ianreif:

I always make it a habit of going back to the same restaurants to eat as I found I develop relationships with the waiters and the service improves. We ask for the same people and if they get 20%, there was something wrong at the meal. My wife commonly leaves an extra 20 or so %; but then, it comes with the service.

I have felt that returning to a restaurant is a exercise in trainning the waiter as to what you expect and want. Once you achieve it, the food and conversation flows, and you can include the waiter in the evening. It canbe fun and it makes the night rewarding.

I got used to drinking wine while I was living in Europe and spending a lot of time in France. It was pointed out to me by my boss, who happened to be English, that I should never touch the bottle itself.

It was also pointed out that the habit of american waiters of bringing the account to be settled up early is incredibly rude, forcing the patron out of the resturaunt before they are ready to go.

I think it's all just differences in what you expect. I like for the check to arrive, and I can deal with it when I want to, as opposed to having to search for wait staff when I'm suddenly ready to go. I like the waiter to be attentive enough to keep some wine in my glass without my having to break my conversation.

I think the key comes down to that wait staff are servants with patrons. I believe that eating out has become much less of an event, and so is less of a class thing, and generally manners have declined.

"A Riedel Bordeaux or Burgandy glass can hold a full bottle of wine--750 ml."

This comment fits in well with what Hitch was driving at: the strange "rules" we live by at restaurants. If you are never supposed to fill the glass even 1/4 full, why is the glass that large to begin with? And if the "proper" service leaves a significant number of guests believing they are being underserved, shouldn't that by itself be enough to prompt the restaurant to change to a smaller glass?

It's rather cruel to put the servers in the position where they're going to get docked by the customers for doing everything by the restaurant's book.

Actually, the larger glass will show the wine in a finer light if the wine is of good quality. In classic service no glass of wine should be more than 60% full because appreciating a wine requires being able to enjoy the bouqet,something you cannot do with 4 oz. of wine in a 5 oz. glass.

And assuming that a wine steward is pushing you to buy more wine if he asks about a second bottle is just being overly cynical. If you want the wine correctly served then a little notice is absolutely de rigeur. A red wine may need to breathe and a white wine may need to be chilled. All that being said, the waiter in Mr. Hitchens case should not have poured without first asking the host if this would be acceptable

By the way, classic wine service is defined by a British institution."The Court of Master Somelliers".

I personaly think it is more important for you to adapt more appriciation for your self and the money you are spending one the food and wine and learn to speak up for you self when people walk over you and take advantivge of your money and time. Its one thing to remark about it now, and another to take control of your life at that moment and time. In a polite way the next time someboby offends you or begins to take advatige of your money and time, start right then and there..dont wait and say excuse me but I would rather have it this way or that way. That is why you are paying for somthing. When you start to take control of your life in these small ways as a good habbit you will be amazed at what else you can change that will follow along. It is all about how you choose to handel the situation.

I do find it interesting that he feels so under siege by the wait staff. As a server at a fine restaurant, I serve about 3-4 bottles of wine a night. With parties of 2, after the first glasses have been poured, I leave it up to them to split their bottle how they choose (since they are both in proximity to the bottle) At parties of 3 or more, I serve the wine myself as a service to my guests - I never once thought I was being rude! A small head nod from a guest, or a wave off suffices to say whether they want more or not. And why not just tell your server that you will take care of the wine yourself? I've had a guest or two tell me that they'd handle the wine, and that is *fine* by me. We are not mind readers, so if there is an aspect of service you don't like, then politely tell you waiter.

(And by the way, I've had numerous guests ask me, table side, to cut their steak in bite sized pieces for them - is this not rude??)

Iboorm03:

A good waiter or bartender is priceless. I usually eat in one place in a nearby town consistently. It is a place I go to watch a game or just be with people when I am alone for the evening. So the small talk is kind and welcome from the staff I know there. Sometimes, the other customers will engage me there, drunk or just friendly.

It is the service and the introduction of the meal that makes it worthwhile the 20+% I leave there.