Today wine is a key factor in catering (except for those establishments associated with certain religions or ethnic groups where the consumption of alcohol is frowned upon or prohibited).  Gastronomic pleasure is inconceivable unless accompanied by a great wine that respects and combines with each of the dishes to be enjoyed.  It is then that the zenith of gastronomy is attained, pleasure at its highest—the transformation of an activity essential to survival into a pleasure verging on the divine.  

Knowing how to choose a wine has become as important as selecting a good dish.  This is why a restaurant needs to take great care of its wine, not forgetting that wine also provides a quick and easy way to extra income, as long as we are able to get to know and to control our wine cellars as well as we usually do our perishable stocks.

We must not leave this matter in the hands of the cellar visitors who call in every day, nor of some client who we assume to master the subject.  We must think like businessmen and manage a significant part of our business by attaching due importance to our establishment’s wine.  Clients are becoming increasingly demanding on every count, and the question of wine in the restaurant is often a little neglected.  It’s a question of getting with it and moving to the tune of our customers.  

Wine is currently fashionable and our customers are showing more and more interest in it.  Sometimes they ask for particular wines, sometimes they criticise our wine lists—all this, not to mention the controversy over the price of the wines on some of our lists.  These are subjects that we shall gradually be looking into.



For all these reasons, it is fundamental that hotel and catering professionals are in possession of some minimal knowledge about wine and, above all, that they are capable of putting together a good wine list, by means of smart purchasing, proper rotation, and control of the wines.  All that will mean that we can offer our customers a better service while increasing our profits.  

The subject of wine has suffered from mystification, and that has led us to believe it is a very difficult matter.  Not so!  Anyone can get by perfectly well with just a few basic and simple notions.  This does not mean that you can turn into experts overnight; but it does mean that you can handle the matter reasonably well in your establishments—all you need is the will and some study.  In a short time you realise that it wasn’t as difficult as you thought, that it is attainable, if complex, what with the many variations, regions, varieties of grape, different vintages, and so on. But IT IS NOT DIFFICULT to build up a good, short wine list around wines of the moment, with few wines for putting away, thus creating greater pleasure for our customers and greater profits for ourselves.

And so a big cheer for all our companions in hotels and catering as they embark on this tour of the world of wine, and do not be daunted by a subject that has always been made to look difficult, but which in fact only requires interest and sensitivity.


Jesús A. Yraola