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2009-10-09
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We had a gathering at Twyst for a friend's birthday at Twyst. The waiter was helpful and friendly when we made reservation to book a private room for 8 people.As one of the advantages at Twyst has been free corkage, we brought a few bottles of white and red wine for dinner. I called the restaurant to decant one of the red wines for 30 minutes before we arrived, and they have followed the instruction. My friend who arrived before me had brought a bottle of Bordeaux Red (probably Cabernet sauvi
As one of the advantages at Twyst has been free corkage, we brought a few bottles of white and red wine for dinner. I called the restaurant to decant one of the red wines for 30 minutes before we arrived, and they have followed the instruction. My friend who arrived before me had brought a bottle of Bordeaux Red (probably Cabernet sauvignon blending with Merlot) in 2006, and a bottle of premium Medoc (Cru Bourgeois) in 1999. As my friend was not familiar with wine, she had asked for the waiter's advice about the duration of time for decanting.
Here's what the waiter recommended to my friend: "The older the wine, the shorter time it needs to be decanted. The younger the wine, the longest time it needs". So he recommended my friend to decant the 2006 Bordeaux Red for 1 hour, and decant the 1999 Medoc for 20 minutes.
Oh wow! I guess it doesn't need to be a wine expert to figure out that this waiter was giving out wrong information to customers. And what's more interesting, what he called as decanting was just to open the bottle without pouring the wine into the decanter, or at least pouring into a glass to allow the wine to breathe. He just removed the cork and let the wine sitting there as "decanting".
I won't expect a waiter at a small restaurant to be highly knowledgeable about wine, but I think it is the basic requirement not to ruin the wine brought by customers. So according to his theory, a 1985 Grand Cru Classe Red will only need to be decanted fo 10 minutes! As I didn't want to make a big fuss at my friend's party, I just quiety requested them to bring a decanter to decant the wine, and to serve the wine with younger age first.
If he was unsure about the information, he should ask his superior to handle it, instead of ruining a bottle of good wine, and he might never know how much the cost and how meaningful the wine was to the customers.
I am not discouraging others to visit this restaurant, as their food, environment and service is acceptable and decent for this price level. But if you are going to BYOB to Twyst, please make sure you tell them exactly what to do, and do not rely on their knowledge. And I hope their management will be able to view this comment, and help to improve the service and knowledge of their staff. It's actually quite a shame.
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