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INT-WINE-2-4.3.2

Inventory, Wine Lists and Serving Rare Bottles

Bottle-level inventory, insurance and valuation, building a balanced charter list, and the practical service of old bottles - standing time, sediment, decanting, cork failure and the honest conversation when a great bottle is faulted.

It is the last night of a charter. The principal has asked for a 1982 Bordeaux from the owner's reserve, the cork is crumbling under your waiter's friend, and everyone at the table is watching. Everything you do in the next two minutes is the job.

Inventory and value

A cellar that is not counted is not managed.

  • Keep a bottle-level stock system (a dedicated cellar app or a disciplined spreadsheet) recording bottle, vintage, format, purchase price, current value, location and tier.
  • Reconcile after every trip. Losses, breakages and consumption all get logged.
  • Provide the management company with a valuation for insurance. Fine wine is usually a specified item, not part of general contents cover, and undeclared value is uninsured value.
  • Note bottles that are approaching or past their drinking window - unrecorded stock quietly turns into vinegar.

Building a charter wine list

  • Cover the spread: sparkling, crisp white, rich white, rosé, light red, full red, dessert, fortified.
  • Depth in the middle, not the extremes. Guests order the middle.
  • Print vintage and producer; guests notice if the vintage on the list is not the vintage in the glass.
  • Match the wine to the guest, not to the textbook. If they want an ice bucket for their red, provide it and stay silent.

Serving old and rare bottles

  1. Stand the bottle upright for at least 24 hours (48 for a heavily sedimented old red) so sediment settles to the base.
  2. Inspect: ullage (a low fill in an old bottle can signal a poor seal), capsule, seepage.
  3. Cut the capsule low and clean the lip.
  4. Old corks are fragile. Use a two-pronged (Ah-So) puller for the oldest, and go slowly and straight.
  5. Decant off the sediment against a light source, stopping as soon as the sediment reaches the shoulder.
  6. Very old wine can fade within minutes of air. Decant close to service, not hours ahead - the "standing time" is for the sediment, not for aeration.

When the bottle is faulted

Cork taint (TCA - damp cardboard, musty), oxidation (flat, bruised apple, sherry-like in a table wine), heat damage, and volatile acidity are all real and all beyond your control.

Be honest, immediately and calmly. Tell the guest the wine is not showing as it should, offer to open another, and apologise for the wine, not for yourself. Never serve a bottle you believe to be faulted in the hope that nobody notices - they will, and the trust is worth more than the bottle. Log the fault, keep the cork and the bottle, and pursue the merchant afterwards: reputable suppliers replace faulted stock.

Onboard Notes

  • Rehearse the Ah-So on cheap old bottles before you need it on an expensive one.
  • Have a decanter, funnel, muslin, candle or torch, and a spare bottle of something comparable ready before you touch a trophy bottle.
  • If the fault is arguable and the guest is happy, let them enjoy it. The bottle is theirs. Your job is to inform, not to overrule.

Practice questions

5 questions
recallcore

recall · core

What should a bottle-level inventory record, and why does insurance depend on it?

recallcore

recall · core

Set out the correct sequence for serving an old, sedimented red.

recallcore

recall · core

What is TCA, and what does an oxidised table wine taste like?

scenariostretch

scenario · stretch

You open a very expensive bottle from the owner's reserve in front of guests and it is clearly corked. What do you do?

oralstretch

oral · stretch

A guest asks for ice in a fine red. How do you handle it, and what principle applies?

Independent study. xplor is not an IAMI- or PYA-accredited GUEST training provider and is not a WSET Approved Programme Provider. This course covers the ground assessed in GUEST Unit 13 (for which WSET Level 2 is a recognised equivalent); it awards no unit, certificate or qualification of any kind.

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