This is very true for me when ut comes to potato chips. My shoulder hurt from moving my arm so fast.
People do drink more when their glass is always full. Beyond that, though, a lot of people are correctly making the point that someone might only want 1 glass of wine. Refilling their glass means wasting wine. Even with only 2 diners, this can be an annoyance. With a larger group as in the OP, I’ve frequently seen an entire bottle’s worth of wine still in glasses when everyone leaves. It can happen easily with a group of 10+ people. That’s poor service.
As far as high end (Michelin starred or otherwise) restaurants, I generally find wine service to be done very well, but it’s often still more convenient for my wife and me to pour our own wines. I’ve almost never had a problem requesting that. Anyone who thinks I’m insulting their abilities by asking to do so should not work in service. That’s absurd, as is the idea that I should care about a Michelin reviewer. Great restaurants are great at making the guest experience flawlessly outstanding, which includes conducting wine service as the guests prefer (barring unreasonable requests, I suppose, but pouring one’s own wine is far from that).
In general, at any sort of restaurant, I find it’s all about communicating my desires to the service staff. That usually works out fine.
Interesting topic!
We pretty much universally have the waitstaff supervise pouring and our job is to relax, imbibe, and conversate. For a social group event (not a serious tasting event) we will sometimes mention that we would like wine poured as small “sharing pours” so everybody gets a chance to taste each wine. Otherwise, it’s simply a party and we figure the better any “civilian” gets served, the more likely that person may be to be turned into one of us wine kooks.
For a specific “serious” wine nerd group tasting, we usually have a wine table and we handle our own pours or pour blind portions for each other.
How true. Plus, with no more than 4 guests, full glasses can empty a bottle in 1 round. That can deprive those who want more, like me, while wasting wine on those who want only a half glass, like my wife.
I typically tell the waiter/somm that we’ll pour our own. If I bring an older bottle, I take out my Durand and offer to open it. I’m not usually eating in Michelin-starred places. Nine times out of ten the staff has never seen a Durand and is interested in watching me open the bottle.
If they insist on pouring, I ask for tasting pours, just a few ounces, and please don’t refill without asking first. This usually works when I’m hosting. Hard to avoid the speed-pours at larger business gatherings where someone else has ordered the wine, but those aren’t usually cherished bottles.
I rarely have trouble, but the worst was at a high-end place that insisted on keeping the bottles at a separate serving table. They served my 1982 Haut Brion to another table while we were eating our salads and appetizers.
Kirk,
That Sassicaia story is a good one, albeit heart-breaking.
How did you and the restaurant deal with that problem?!?
WOW, tell me that was off the list and not an irreplaceable BYOB.
i [literally] doubt that you would have done that.
They ordered from list? And you didn’t smell wine? 
At wine dinners I usually tell waitstaff we’ll handle pouring. I seldom dine at Michelin starred restaurants, but on those occasions (or really anytime with what seems to be a serious wine service place) I’ve never had trouble conveying expectations re pours. I have to say I’m astounded at posts where folks want good bottles on their end of table, plonk for others.
My worst wine service story was a place in Laguna Beach. I had carried a bottle of Bonnes Mares (not Roumier/Mugnier, negoce, but still ) but my wife wanted oysters as her app, so we ordered her a glass of Pinot Blanc.
She had about half when hostess walked by and filled up her glass- with 3-4 oz of Bonnes Mares. I was not thrilled, they offered to replace the Pinot Blanc, but she was done with app and I said never mind. But at end of meal when bill came I had been charged for a much more expensive glass of wine (as well as corkage). I pointed out to waitress, who re-ran and then brought back exact same bill. I asked for manager, explained we had consumed half the PB, rest had been ruined by addition/destruction of 3 oz of GC my red Burgundy. He corrected to just charge for the PB and the corkage. We did not go back. 
You iterally dont know me.
Maybe their tolerance to TCA was lower than yours?
After reading some of your comments lately, most people probably view this as a good thing.
Dale, that’s terrible service; I hate when that happens. What would have made it right by you; to get you to return?
In a setting like this, I think you need to order wines appropriate for the entire group . Unless you communicate with the wait staff in advance, they are going to keep glasses full.
If the waiter(s) didn’t pour, how would 12 people get their wines in that configuration (two long tables)? Would you have walked around and poured for them? Would they ask you for more? Both of those seem pretty awkward, too.
I’m probably in the minority, but I never feel like this is the right move. Whether they like wine or not, people end up feeling less than… It is easier to put off drinking good wines for a night than it is to repair people feeling slighted.
If you ever go to Oslo drop by Tranen. Great pizza place, creative and classic, with a beautifully wine list. Last I was there we had a bottle of Liger-Belair La Colombiere for about $130 with our pizzas.
I prefer my wines fresh (Loire reds, Bojo, Burgundy, German riesling, Champagne) and they all shine next to pizza.
Initially I would have been fine with just correct charges. Even if 1st attempt at correcting bill had done a correct bill, I would have been irritated but maybe returned (at time probably best restaurant in town where wife’s beloved stepgranny lived). After I had to send back bill, I think either BTG or corkage should have been waived (didn’t drink the glass, didn’t drink whole bottle)
For clarity, I found original post (thank you Google for buying Dejanews). Some corrections:
- btg difference was only a few bucks
- wasn’t negoce BM, 3rd tier producer
- only an ounce or two of mt wine ruined
- apparently talked to ghost waiter, not manager
I realize that more than 1 of my “worst wine stories” were in Laguna, though I’ve only been there a dozen or so times. There was a bistro called French 75. They had a really overpriced wine list, but square in the middle was a bottle of almost mature Beaucastel CdP for about retail. I said is it really Beaucastel and they said yes. I asked to see the bottle, they said “why?” I explained pricing was out of line with rest of list and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t Coudolet. They said I had to see wine manager, I went inside to bar and bartender showed me…a bottle of Perrin & Fils CdP (different vintage). I passed. But also learned a lesson when I didn’t question price of a special- Betsy got a surf and turf (tiny filet, tiny tail) that was more than double most expensive thing on menu (rack of lamb). I hate tourist towns.
Thanks for the suggestion. Sounds great!
It was a bottle I brought. Fortunately I had a few more in the cellar. A few minutes after I asked the waiter to bring it, the manager came to the table, waiter in tow, explained what happened and apologized profusely for their mistake. They offered our pick of any 2 bottles off of their list, no charge. I think we picked a vintage Krug and a mature Bordeaux, maybe a 1990? I recall both were outstanding, but I would have to dig around to find exactly what we got.
I felt the replacement bottles were easily equal to the value of the Haut Brion. I thought they handled it well and I was satisfied, having had a great meal, some great wines, and a good story to tell.
That’s definitely the way to take care of it. I wonder what they would’ve done if they’d poured your bottle of something less expensive to another table.
That was a perfect way to deal with that mistake, imo, David. Good for them.