Your home-cooked dinner date is approaching and you are starting to come up with ways to impress your special guest. This is the big one and everything has to be perfect! You’re thinking about what to wear, how to style your hair, the cologne you’ll use, the music you’ll play, and the kind of food you’ll cook. No beans! Just trust me on this. That covers all the basics. And yet, there’s one essential detail that will make your night more interesting because when it comes to date dinners, there’s more than just cocktail whinnies, Pinots and Zins. You need sensational wine dinner etiquette to turn your run-of-the-mill dinner date into a sexy romantic novel. That my friend is how you’ll impress your date. Let’s go!
Have All The Right Tools
I’m not saying you should buy the entire oenology gear collection, so let’s focus on the essentials. First, you’ll need a small knife to cut around the foil of the wine bottle. Some people will just pull that neck sleeve right off the bottle like an animal but where’s the fun in that? Improve your wine dinner etiquette by carefully cutting the foil around the neck of the bottle. Simply remove the loose part of the foil, and voilà! The cork is ready to be pulled. Naturally, you’ll need a corkscrew, because you don’t want to be that guy. Which guy you ask? The guy that doesn’t have a corkscrew!
There are lots of ways to open a wine bottle, one of which involves a shoe! But the corkscrew remains by far the best apparatus to open a wine bottle ;) Finally, get a wine aerating pourer. Nothing fancy, it’s just a small spout that aerates the wine right from the bottle into the glass. It makes a $10 bottle taste like a $30 bottle of wine, AND you’ll pour wine with style. Another option would be to get a decanter to aerate the wine. Those are not too expensive but they look very classy.
Use The Proper Glassware
Ah yes, the glassware… One of my greatest pet peeves of life when done wrong. How can I say this as delicately as I possibly can? Unless you are still in college, there’s absolutely no excuse for not having a proper set of wine glasses! Do not, under any circumstances serve wine in a glass that looks like a jam jar. Drinking wine in those feels like going on a run in high heels! I’ve witnessed such debaucherie and it is not pretty. Don’t cheap out and get a couple of wine glasses WITH a stem. They will make all the difference in the way your night will unfold. You’ll thank me later. And if you really want to impress your date, learn about the different wine glasses available based on wine varietals. Knowing the difference between a Bordeaux and a Burgundy glass is not crucial but it’ll give you extra points.
Did Someone Say Wine Cocktail?
Your date has arrived and everything is going according to plan. You are both getting comfortable with each other and as you turn on your favorite playlist, you crank up the wine dinner etiquette an extra notch with a pre-dinner drink. Bravo! You could craft a slippery American cocktail using hard liquor, but you decide to go with a wine cocktail instead. Excellent move! There are plenty of wine cocktails to choose from, and you’re in luck because I happen to have a few recipes I shared through the years. Make it a fun interactive game with your special someone. Offer a few options and decide on the perfect wine cocktail you want to make together.
And if you’re not much of a mixer, you always have Champagne to fall back on because nothing says romance like a little bubbly. And if you’re going Champagne, the same rule applies regarding glassware ;) Get a flute or a coupe for superior elegance.
Red Or White? How About Both!
Wine is another highly subjective matter, and picking the perfect wine will feel like a wild goose chase. When it comes to wine preference, to each their own. My recommendation? Don’t second guess, get both and let your date decide. Once you’ve agreed on a color, make sure to open it early and let it breathe – 30 minutes in the bottle, 10 minutes in the glass. But who’s got time for that? Use the aerating device I mentioned earlier (or a decanter) to help accelerate the evaporation of less favorable sulfites and ethanol compounds of wine. If you open it, pour it, and drink it, chances are you’ll get a headache a couple hours later. And, well… I’m quite sure this isn’t part of tonight’s plan ;) So Less hangover, more drinking… More drinking, more fun ;)
When And How To Serve The Wine
Too hot or too cold? Impress your date with some wine serving temperature facts! For the red, open and serve the wine early. Even with an aerating device, it’s still a good idea to serve the wine and let it sit in the glass for a few minutes. As you and your date are finishing your delicious wine cocktail, open that bottle wine.
Now let’s talk about wine temperature. Serving temperature will make a vast difference in overall appreciation. There is definitely a sweet spot, and it varies based on the wine. If you’re opening a red, it is best served between 55 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit, even though it is said that room temperature is optimal. When red wine is too cold, its flavor becomes dull. But when red wines are too warm, the alcohol content becomes overbearing. Simply put the bottle in the refrigerator for an hour prior to opening it. Conversely, serving white wines between 45 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit will give you the best flavor profile possible for these types of wines. Feel free to place that bottle in the refrigerator right after it is bought.
Wine Dinner Etiquette Wine Pairing
Ahh… Wine pairing. Perhaps my favorite subject when it comes to wine. Wine pairing is intriguing, and the way it works can be so random. Regardless, it’s interesting to share and compare our separate views and opinions. So if you want to go down the fun path of wine pairing, and pick a wine that will match your home-cooked meal, I have a few suggestions that might help you. You can also ask someone in the store to help you pick something that’ll pair well with your dish. The key takeaway about wine pairing is that there’s no such thing as THE perfect wine. We have access to so many great quality wines nowadays, it can be overwhelming. Just remember that wine is only as good as the people with whom it is shared! So whatever wine you chose will be equally as delicious and enjoyable as your special someone ;)
So there you have it! Light up a few candles, dim the lights, and follow these simple guidelines to show your date how much you care. Perfect wine or not, red or white, or both… Wine has a way to bring people together. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, wine remains the heart of our civilization in all of its conviviality. Your wine knowledge will impress your date… Unless that special friend doesn’t like wine, in which case you might want to get back to swiping mode!
Using wine dinner etiquette is more than a way to live, it’s a way to live well and impress that special someone. Just don’t forget to be yourself ;)