The Wine Recommendation SOP

Read the change slip from The Vintage SOP at the briefing: vintages that changed, wines with fewer than two bottles, wines sold out. Never suggest a bottle you have not checked tonight.

Learn your three bottles from the card “Your Three Bottles”: the house pour, the step up and the one worth the story, with producer, price, one sentence and the dish each suits.

Pick at least one wine from the region for each colour on tonight’s list, and learn one fact about it: the village, the grower or the grape. This is the local bottle you will offer at every table.

Taste tonight’s new dishes with the kitchen at the briefing, or read the chef’s notes, and match each main course to one wine from the list, in under ten seconds, without looking.

Check yourself against The Presence SOP before your first table: uniform, name badge, hands, and tonight’s occasions and returning guests in mind.

Put the wine list on the table within 5 minutes of the guests sitting down, with the menus or straight after them. Open it at the first page and hand it to the host, or place it in the centre if you do not know who will choose.

“Here is our wine list. When you’ve seen the menu, I’d be glad to suggest something.”

From here on you will speak to the table. The lines in this SOP are examples: say them in your own words, in a calm voice, and keep each one to a sentence or two.

If you do not know who will choose, ask once, lightly, and give the list to that person. Never assume the host is the oldest guest or the man at the table.

“Who will be choosing the wine this evening?”

Step back and give the table 3 to 4 minutes with the menus. Come back when the menus close or the host looks up, and never stand at the table while they read.

Ask what they have chosen to eat before you talk about wine. If the order is not taken yet, ask what they are drawn to: fish, meat, or something from the grill.

“Have you decided on your dishes? It helps me find the right bottle.”

Ask one question about taste, not about knowledge: what they usually enjoy, or a wine they liked recently. Write down the words they use, such as “light”, “not too dry” or “something local”.

“Is there a wine you’ve enjoyed lately, or a style you usually like?”

Find the budget without asking it. Open the list, rest your finger on a region or a page, and let the prices sit in front of the host. Watch where they point and stay within that range.

“There are two or three around here I’d happily drink tonight. Shall I tell you about them?”

If the host names a price or a wine, take it as the brief and stay within about 10% of it. Never comment on the amount, and never suggest a bottle above it unless the host asks.

Offer three bottles at three price points, all of which suit what the table has ordered. Point to each on the list as you name it, so the host sees the price without anyone saying it aloud.

Make one of the three a wine from the region and say so in plain words: where it comes from and who makes it. A guest away from home often wants to drink the place.

“This one is from the hills 20 kilometres from here. The same family has made it for three generations.”

Give one sentence per wine: what it is like to drink, or who makes it. No list of tasting notes, no scores, no technical terms unless the host uses them first.

“The second is fuller and a little smoky, made by a grower who works only by hand.”

Tie your suggestion to the dish on the order, by name. If the table has ordered both fish and meat, say which wine covers both, or suggest a white and a red by the glass.

“You’ve chosen the lamb, Mr Okafor, so I’d go with the middle one. It’s made for it.”

Stop talking once you have named the three. Leave the list open at that page and give the host time. Come back within 2 minutes if they have not called you.

When the host chooses, repeat the producer, wine and vintage, and write them on the order pad as you say it. From here the bottle follows The Bottle Service SOP.

“The Vietti Barolo, 2019. I’ll bring it straight over, Mr Okafor.”

Ask when the wine should be poured: now, or with the main course. A red for the main course can be opened and left to breathe; say so if it will help the wine.

“Shall I pour it now, or keep it for the lamb?”

If anyone at the table is not drinking that wine, offer them a glass of something else or an alcohol-free choice once, by name, so nobody is left with only water.

Present and open the bottle as The Bottle Service SOP sets out. Stay beside the host for the taste and watch their face, not the bottle.

If the host hesitates, offer a word about the wine and wait. If they are still unsure, offer to change the bottle at once, without asking what is wrong and without defending the wine. A wine that is faulty follows The Faulty Bottle SOP.

“If it isn’t what you hoped for, I’ll bring something else. Which way would you like to go?”

Pour for the table, then come back within 5 minutes of the first course arriving and ask the host once whether the wine is working with the food.

“How is the Barolo with the lamb, Mr Okafor?”

When the bottle holds about one round of glasses and the main course is still on the table, tell the host and offer a second bottle or a glass of something different, as The Bottle Service SOP sets out.

In the formal restaurant, when the dessert menu goes to the table, offer a dessert wine or an after-dinner wine by the glass, with one suggestion for the dessert each guest chooses.

“With the lemon tart, a small glass of Moscato d’Asti is lovely: light and only lightly sweet.”

Make this the same offer as the closing offer in The Upsell SOP, not a second one. Agree at the briefing who makes it at each table: the sommelier or the server.

If the table declines, offer coffee or tea as the next course of the meal and leave it there. Offer the dessert wine once only.

Before the table leaves, note in the guest profile the wine chosen, the wine refused and any words the host used about taste, so the next visit starts from what they liked.