Where to put the cork?

your lip?

The server should put the cork with the wet part facing up next to the glass of the person at the table who acts as the taster.

I’ve seen what La chica says done several times. I always pick up the cork and smell it, which is probably wrong.

Or you could put the cork on the fork: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqMc9B7uDV8

Sniff the cork. Pretend you know what you are smelling for and hand back to wine steward. he takes care of it from there.

It should be placed to the right of the person who ordered it, which shouldn’t be hard because you’ll be standing to their right.

@jaredg: There’s nothing wrong with smelling the cork, it’s actually placed there more for visual inspection. If the wine is “out of condition” it might be evidenced by staining that runs along the length of the cork’s side. Mold on the exterior end (the end not in the bottle) may or may not indicate a fault. Finally, you might see tiny crystals (tartrates) on the interior end (the end that was in the bottle). These are harmless and do not indicate a fault.

En la basura.

@breedmitch, thanks for correcting that common misconception!

I ALWAYS save corks, from restaurants and from bottles I drink at home. I am not a snob about it, I save the rubber ones too =)

I collect them and have a huge decorative basket of them displayed on my wine rack at home.

Anyone else save corks? Make anything out of them? I’ve seen some neat home artwork fashioned out of old wine corks.

Thanks everybody! Cheers!

@jsc: I’ve seen corkboards made out of them. I always thought that was a great idea.

@jsc: I’ve been saving them for years, I have them in a huge jar and I don’t know why but they make me happy! Maybe it’s the memories of all that wine ;)

Me too! They make me happy too.

Everyone is right; smelling them is something a wine connoisseur would do, and it should be left on the table, wet end up. You can see the winery’s seal on the cork, and sometimes the date of the bottling or the vintage – all important things.

breedmitch is also very right about looking for things like staining, mold or crystalization, but you really have to know what you’re looking for. If you’re at a fine dining restaurant, chances are your sommelier or steward won’t serve you a ruined bottle.

On the right of the host. Don’t smell the cork. It smells like cork or mold. Neither are fun to smell. Examine the cork for cracks or deterioration. When I bartended at a fine dining restaurant, we always knew the tools on a first date by how much they played with the cork and how rude they were to the servers.

for my 21st I got the champagne cork returned with a silver coin in it which I kept as a memento for many years. With regards to a wine cork we were taught at hotel school how to wrap the foil around the cork so that the cork remained attached to the bottle at all times (and would guarantee your original cork should you take the remainder of the bottle home)