I suspect that 2000 Ducru is probably $600 minimum on the wine list. Why is it “lowly”?
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Is there any potential sediment worth considering that got left with the last 60mL of wine? I once sold an '82 Mouton out of a library case and started to turn it vertical when the guy buying it insisted I keep it horizontal as they were going to drink it right there. They produced a mason jar and we carefully removed the capsule and cork and slowly decanted in the shop. There were probably a couple of ounces loaded with sediment they left for us.
me, too, after one idiot tipped horizontal a carefully vertically carried bottle of Leroy CdlR and sent the fine sediment exploding throughout the bottle.
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I don’t know if it will help to hear this, but I recently decanted a 1994 Musar & then returned it to the bottle. I am sensitive to sediment, and want my wine clear of ALL sediment. When I poured the decanter back into the bottle(after rinsing with distilled water), the wine was just barely over the top of the label (maybe the width of a #2 pencil).
It’s not easy if you feel this was an Intentional act by a server. While others have dismissed this based on it not being Burgundy, I would assume that a 2000 Ducru would still run $500 - $800/bottle off a wine list depending on the location of the restaurant…the server may have poured themselves a small taste of 1 to 2 oz. This a practice that some Somms may choose to employ to learn the classics…but I would guess based on my experiences in restaurants and drinking older wines that it’s highly unlikely that the server would pour themselves a glass of anything.
I was recently at a restaurant to which I brought a 1983 Pichon Lalande. As I always do, I offered the server a taste. He didn’t seem to know the wine (he was not a somm, I think) but 1983 was his birth year. He declined with intense regret, telling me he was absolutely not allowed to drink while working, even taking a taste from a bottle when he was offered it. I got the feeling it was a firing offense. Now, I am sure this rule is not universal–for all I know, it is endemic only to DC. But servers decline tastings far more than they accept them in my experience. I really don’t think either your server or the somm treated themselves to tastes. Your perception is more likely some combination of loss to sediment and the general inexact ability to tell from the fill in a decanter precisely how much wine is in there. But, if the experience really bother you, I would by all means double decant yourself and avoid the whole situation.
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That’s insane. How are these people ever going to learn and stay sharp? I get not allowing it on the floor, but not at all?
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Sorry this happened. I tackle this by decanting at home. I’m honestly not at a restaurant long enough for the decanting to have its intended impact on the wine.
I get around all the other problems by decanting at home that can come with bringing a bottle to a restaurant- bad cork, bad/flawed/corked wine, sediment that gets shaken up in travel, etc.
Also prevents me from having to bring a back up too. Having wine needlessly travel in fluctuating temps isn’t a good plan either.
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Not to hijack - and shut me down if it does - but for those that decant at home, have you had issues with the restaurant noticing the bottle has been previously opened? I’m not sure I would be able to get a cork fully placed back in.
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I never have, myself, and I’ve done this a lot of times. But there is the thread once in awhile on here where someone had a server claim (not necessarily correctly) that it’s against the law in that city/state to bring an opened bottle.
The safe thing in that case is to shove the cork back in. If the actual cork doesn’t fit back in, just shop around among some of your recent corks, usually another will fit in. Especially once they’ve dried out, they tend to skinny a bit.
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I also usually decant in advance for restaurants and tastings, if I think decanting is going to be necessary, for the good reasons you listed.
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I went to a restaurant in Miami with a 1983 Margaux. The wine person couldnt get the cork out so he just murdered it with probably half of the cork pushed in the bottle. He then poured it in decanter and snarkily said this is why you should always keep your bottles horizontal so the cork doesnt dry out.
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I can only speak to NY and NJ, and I have had zero issues.
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That guy should have been smacked around with an iron glove. Keep your comments to yourself Mr. Wine Waiter.
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It took quite a bit of strength to say thank you for the suggestion…
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Not a velvet fist?
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Won’t have the kind of impact that is required.
I am so glad there are a fair amount of people who double decant before going to a restaurant. I have been wanting to do that, because I too feel that the wine just doesn’t get enough air if it opened at a restaurant…oh and the sediment thing 
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Most of all, I want to arrive at my table and spend my time dining and enjoying the atmosphere and company. It’s nice just to get your stemware and be off and running.
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My response quoted the person who referred to the 2000 Ducru Beaucaillou as a wine that’s not worth stealing a pour from. My “lowly” comment was tongue-in-cheek.
As Chris noted below, this issue has arisen a few times on the board. I’m sure some states have a prohibition about open bottles. In other cases, it could be an incorrect interpretation.
I have a hard time putting corks back in fully as well but others here see to have success
Maybe try and keep the capsule over it if you can’t get it fully back in. Then of course you still have to deal with the overzealous waiter who thinks it their appointment duty to open the bottle and will not take , “ No thanks, I’ll do it myself” as the answer.
Earlier this year I brought a 14 year Barolo to a pizza place and had to fight off 3 people to open the bottle myself as I had kept it upright for 2 weeks and babied it on the car ride. Before I opened the wine, I let my guard down for a second when the waiter asked if he could see the bottle. He immediately jerked it horizontally to read the label ruining all my prep. From now on, I’m using the Greg Focker approach. The only way the waitstaff is going to touch my wine is if they pry it from my dead, lifeless fingers.
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