Friday, February 25, 2011

WHEN TO DECANT WINE

When does a wine need to be decanted and why do we decant a wine at all.

Firstly most wines you will purchase at the LCBO do not need to be decanted, decanting involves pouring wine from the wine bottle to another container typically a glass decanter.

Decanting is a procedure to remove sediment from the wine which will create a bitter taste if left in contact also to aerate the wine allowing the wine to breathe.
The procedure for decanting is as follows:

Carefully remove the foil from the bottle; gently remove the cork and wipe the inside neck of the bottle.
Holding the decanter in one hand and the wine bottle in the other begin to slowly pour the wine into the decanter with the neck over a candle so as to see the sediment as it appears. Once the sediment appears then stop decanting.

Other wines that are sometimes decanted, very young racy reds that need aerating allowing the flavours open, there are a couple of white wines I would recommend decanting as a Sommelier white Chateauneuf De Pape and Coindrieu both need to aerate and allow the aromas open, make sure the decanter is placed on ice after decanting.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

TRAINING AN INVESTMENT OR UNNECCESSARY EXPENSE

Staff training and the costs involved has always been a hot topic within the hospitality industry, larger corporations understand the need to allocate funds to train and develop their teams in order for their business to grow as well as to protect their brand.

Working for private owners can be challenging when trying to look at a sensible budget to train employees and personal development plans for line managers.

In my opinion that employee training is vitally important in order for any business to be successful and continue to grow. Often in hospitality we recruit college students to fill seasonal positions, in order to set these people up for success they have understand customer service and what your brand is, then there is product knowledge which enables all of us to excel and increases sales and increase repeat business.

Training techniques have changed dramatically in recent years from reading, audio programmes, podcasts and webinars employers have to be more creative how we get the message across.

Over the last 5 years I have worked in seasonal properties recruiting students from all over Canada, I make a point of facilitating customer service programs and product educational seminars as I believe leadership buy in has to come from the top this way the message is clear as so is the expectation.

There are a great amount of benefits that to a company large or small can gain by investing in their team such as, higher sales, improved reputation, repeat business, reduced expenses, less employee turnover attracting employees to your company.

Yes there is a cost in training no question, but the benefits out way the costs it is something than you need to commit too long term with that commitment coming from the highest level, without doubt your organization will definitely reap the awards.