The charter guest has bought six wines to match six courses and expects them talked through. There is no sommelier aboard. Tonight, that is you: pouring, pacing, decanting and answering questions without bluffing.
Building and running a flight
A wine flight is a sequence of wines matched course by course. The classical progression runs light before heavy, dry before sweet, young before old, white before red, with exceptions the chef or guest may specify.
- Agree the flight with the chef and the host before service and write it on the pass card next to the menu.
- Each wine gets its own glass where the cover allows; where it does not, glasses are exchanged between courses.
- Pour small measures: a flight of six means roughly a third of a normal pour each. Guests should finish the evening able to stand.
- Pour the host a taste first, wait for approval, then serve guests in the agreed precedence order, host last.
Service at the table
- Present the bottle label toward the host and state the producer, appellation and vintage clearly before opening.
- Cut the foil below the lip, wipe the neck, draw the cork quietly. A pop is for celebration wine only.
- Pour from the right, without touching glass with bottle, and finish with a twist of the wrist to catch the drip.
- Fill to the widest point of the bowl at most, less for a flight; the empty space is where the wine works.
- Keep whites and rose in a cooler or sleeve, reds at the temperature the guest wants rather than the temperature a textbook wants.
Decanting
| Purpose | Wine | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Separating sediment | Older reds, vintage port | Stand upright for hours, pour slowly and steadily over a light until sediment reaches the neck; stop |
| Aeration | Young, tannic, closed reds | Pour freely; splash into the decanter to introduce air |
Decant over a candle, a torch or any light source so you can see the sediment arrive. Never shake, never hurry, and carry the bottle from the cellar in the same orientation it was stored.
Talking about wine without bluffing
- Learn the flight: producer, region, grape, vintage, one honest sentence about how it tastes and why it was matched.
- If you do not know, say "I will find out for you" and then actually do it. Guests forgive ignorance instantly and invented answers never.
- Note what each guest drinks, likes and leaves, and put it in the preference sheet the same evening.
Onboard Notes
- Motion ruins decanting. In a seaway, decant in the pantry braced against a counter, not at the table, and use a decanter with a broad, stable base.
- Log every bottle out of the cellar. Wine is often the single most valuable consumable aboard, and stock reconciliation is part of the senior role.
- Watch consumption across the table. Part of the job is protecting a guest from themselves quietly: smaller pours, more water, food offered.
- Never top up a glass that still has wine in it during a flight. It destroys the sequence and the guest loses track of what they are drinking.