Applying as a server, wine knowledge a must!!??

Question

When they say wine knowledge, how far in detail are they expecting you to go into wine knowledge. I know the colors RED WHITE, and which ones are RED and Which ones White, and Reds such as Merlot go well with Red meats and are typically dry and whites go well with pastas and in many case light colored meats such as poultry and Fish, and whites (some are a little sweet and less dry) I know how to present the wine, cut the foil, pour the sample while twirling the wrist to prevent any drips, then if it is the desired wine you then start with ladies move around the table and end at the person who actually ordered the wine. I have 2 yrs of serving expierience, the highest I have been is black angus. Is this enough knowledge to go into high end dining service? What do you think? Is there more I need to know about wines? Thanks for your help

Answer 1

The best tip here is from whoever said to look at their wine list.  A list of 100 wines is pretty easy to navigate by knowing the basics, but when you see places with 1000+ wines, you're probably over your head.  No shame, but you need to be realistic.  While sommeliers or wine stewards will help, most expect you to be able to perform more than suggesting a merlot with red meat.  They'll train, but they expect a better baseline to start with.  And a lot of so called high end places have little more than a wine buyer with servers out on an island much of the time.  

Obviously, there's a lot in between.  The best advice here is to look at the restaurant's wine list (usually available on the web) and learn as much as you can about the wines they sell.

Answer 2

Why don't you make your own culture - just by taking part to forums - learning wine geography - Europe - America - Africa - Asia -

Then learning the big rules of climate, soil and growing -

The way wine is harvested - when - why - etc then "manufactured"  - how to stress on such or such aspect of the wine - what for instance is chaptalization -

At last go to winetasting sessions - and buy small fragrance

bottles - ( which can be quite expensive ) in order to get used to the different tastes you can identifie while tasting -

Just some ideas - only the first step is hard - then you'll amazed by the kilojoul of knowledge than you can acquire about the very noble & fascinating world of wine

Answer 3

You have demonstrated that you now more about wine than many people here.

What a high end restaurant will expect of a wine waiter is knowledge of the wines on THEIR  list, and the only way to get that knowledge is to work there. The wine sales people can help and you should get the opportunity to taste the actual wines. You can take a copy of the wine list home and check out those wines in the web -- lots of resources out there.

So then when a diner asks your advice about a particular wine you can give a bit more info than the winelist has, such as a bit about the winery or winemaker, or if they say they can't decide between wine 1 and wine 2 you can give them the info they are looking for because you've tasted them.

Go for it!!

Suggest when you get an interview you check out their wine list first.

Best of luck!!

Answer 4

As a server, you will need minimal knowledge you will learn most of it there. but ofcourse you goot know the chardonnay, white wine sherry the basics

Answer 5

Black Angus is a far cry from a real "high-end" dining establishment. Their steaks are great though. I worked a 5 diamond 5 star resort ---making Black Angus look like Denny's (no offense at all). We had a Wine Steward on staff --also known as a sommelier. He or she will usually hold wine seminars for the servers---teaching you EVERYTHING you'll need and want to know about wine and wine-serving. You have no need to be nervous. If you do get hired in a fine dining establishment or resort, I guarantee you that you will be highly trained by the staff before you'll be allowed to work as a server. Not knowing everything about wine and wine-serving,  will NOT hurt your chances in getting hired at a high-end establishment. Your enthusiasm, clean haircut, previous experience, and your bright smile, will take you where you want to go! Now go out there and make a million --- You obviously care about being a great server, just based on the fact that you're asking questions. Good for you! You're going to do GREAT!