What should we do about table wine and water?
We are not wine connoisseurs....
So I’m know going to tell you which wines to choose. What I will say is, keep it simple.
Choose a white or rosé to match lighter flavoured chicken or fish dishes and a red to match darker meats. When considering the ratio of white wine to red wine, going 50/50 is the safe choice.
Stick to something everyone will enjoy. For white wines, we would suggest a nice Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc whereas for reds, it would be a Merlot or a Cabernet Sauvignon.
Just like sparkling wine, table wine isn’t everyone choice of drinks and therefore we would suggest if you were providing wine and water for the table, limit this to just ½ bottle per person. There will always be more wine at the bar if someone is looking for more.
Now onto my bug bear!
Have you noticed that at the end of the evening just how many opened and part empty bottles there are scattered across the tables. Saddening isn’t it to know that this will be wasted!
Working for our clients.
We worked hard this year in helping our clients come up with ways to reduce costs and there have been a couple of winners which we would like to share.
The one approach is to provide your guests with a drinks voucher (or two) which they could trade in against a predefined selection of drinks from the bar for the meal. The only downside to this is that you’ll have a lot of people at the bar when you want them to be sat – table service can help deal with this. Chat with your bar provider and see what they can offer.
Now my favourite approach, whether its table wine or water;
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If you are asking your guests to choose from a menu choice for food, ask which colour of wine they would prefer with their meal together with whether they prefer still or sparkling water to help you with budgeting
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Working with your bar provider, ask them to:
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provide the table drinks on a sale or return basis
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limit the number of bottles on the table to start with and where necessary move bottles around the table to ensure part bottles are being drunk before opening a new bottle.
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At the end of the meal ask them to
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remove full bottles as these may be returned to the supplier
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place part bottles on a table for guests to help themselves
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And?
With one client who followed these tips, she saved over £180 with ourselves!
