Poured Wine vs Table Wine

If you are debating between having servers pour wine for your guests and placing bottles of wine on the table so that guests can serve themselves, here are a few things to consider.

First and foremost, servers pouring wine can actually cut down on waste and lower the costs of wine at dinner. As an example, let’s say all the guests at a table prefer white wine, but they’re given a bottle of both red and white wine. If no guests consume the red wine, it sits there untouched but is represented on the final bill as it was served at the table. With passed wine service, guests can simply request the wine they actually want as the servers circulate - no wasted bottles!

Then there’s the awkward “last sip” dilemma. Guests may hesitate to finish off a bottle, thinking it’s impolite, which means the server likely won’t replace it as quickly because technically, there’s still some left.

Portioning is another factor. If there’s a set amount of wine available, having servers provide poured wine service ensures that all guests receive an equal share of wine. If guests are pouring for themselves, the first few might be a little too generous, leaving the last person at the table with barely a splash—and if there’s no more wine available in the overall allocation, then they would be left with the "splash" for the rest of dinner.

Lastly, if offering wine bottles on the tables, be sure to consider the amount of space needed for the wine chillers and bottles when designing the tablescape! Adding wine chillers to a table can take up quite a bit of space leaving less room for decor such as candles, floral centrepieces and votives. And keep in mind that chillers are often silver in colour - if gold is a part of your colour scheme it may detract!