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Wedding Wines 101 (Part 1) Gone are the days when cognac was served at Chinese wedding dinners. These days, wine, be it still, sparkling or sweet, are the must-haves. So, the six million dollar question is: What wines should I choose for my wedding dinner?
FIRST THINGS FIRST... Believe me, even for a so-called expert, tasting and choosing wine for a wedding can be a Herculean task. Let me see if I can help to ease you through the process. First things first, we need some answers. 1. Your guests What kind of wine do you like? What about your guests? Do they prefer red, white, rose, sparkling, or dessert wine? Or, is wine not that important to your guests? Knowing who you are serving the wine to, and how important wine is to them will help you make better and possibly less costly decisions. 2. Time of day Are you having a day or evening wedding? People tend to drink a little less in the day as compared to an evening affair. 3. Menu Are you trying to pair the wine with the food? This may be tricky as Chinese wedding banquets tend to be 10-course affairs with drastically different ingredients, cooking styles and tastes. If you are trying to pair the wine with the food, chances are you will need to include a few different types of wines. 4. Your budget Ah, the all-important question. Since most people don’t have an unlimited budget to spend on wine, you need to consider cost. SOME BASICS One drink per hour Okay, now we’re almost ready to start… Almost… But before we start, let’s make sure we’re all clear with the basics. Firstly, it is safe to assume that one guest will drink have one drink per hour, so depending on the duration of your dinner, a drinking guest is likely to have 3-5 drinks. And, at the risk of sounding sexist, male guests generally drink a bit more than female guests, although there are very good female drinkers these days too. And oh ya, if your guest is driving or is working the following day, it is good to make sure they don’t have more than one drink per hour. How much in a bottle? And exactly how much drink does each bottle contain? Well, if you’re serving champagne (or sparkling wine), each bottle can fill six glasses, or even eight if the flutes are narrow. As for wine, each bottle can fill five glasses. Be sure you inform the hotel or the servers about the right amount to pour wine. In some restaurants, they hire part-time help for wedding banquets and I’ve seen servers pour wine to the brim (gasp!) To Be Continued ... |
