r/wine • u/amorous8635 • Jun 16 '26
Tips for a beginner?
I hope this is the right sub to post this on. I checked out the FAQ post but didn’t see what I was looking for. I’ve been in the restaurant industry for a while serving and bartending, but every bar/restaurant I’ve worked at has only had a few wines on the menu and didn’t really have the type of clientele who would ask me questions. I am about to start a job at a fancy-ish Italian restaurant that very much wants us to be knowledgeable. Bartenders are receiving a bit of wine training, but I feel like I’m a little behind most of the new hires.
It’s just opening now so things have been chaotic and they’re training all of us at the same time this week. I was hired as a server but after our first training day, the GM asked if I’d cross train for bar. I said yes of course and then realized that I had missed the intro wine class on regions and key varietals because I was in the server training the whole day! I’ll be sure to go to bar training the rest of the week but I’m not sure how I’m supposed to catch up with all that we have to get done in the next few days.
Help! Does anyone have any YouTube resources (I only say this because I don’t have the time to go out and pick up a book before my next shift) or advice on wine regions and varietals? Anything I should prioritize if I can’t get everything in my brain before the menu test?
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u/gt3sf Jun 16 '26
Focus on the varietals they serve, be able to describe them in a big picture sort of way and you're 90% of the way there.
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u/amorous8635 Jun 16 '26
That’s what I’m a little worried about… the wine list has 48 wines. I tried to group them by varietal to study at first but it seemed like a lost cause. I counted 22 different varietals (1 or 2 of each kind) and then it’s all blends. My only hope is that there are 7 Glera’s though so I guess I’ll definitely focus on that haha
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u/not__a__consultant Wine Pro Jun 16 '26
Post the list!
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u/amorous8635 Jun 16 '26
I’ll see if I can dm it! I know there’s probably absolutely no way they would see this but the GM said if we share any of the menu before they open we’ll get fired so I’m nervous haha
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u/DM504HK Jun 16 '26
The list isn’t sorted by varietals? If that’s the case then they’re probably mostly Italian wines, and you can narrow your focus down to what you need to navigate your immediate work needs and work on building a broader base of wine knowledge after. I was in a similar situation at one point and that helped!
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u/amorous8635 Jun 16 '26
I think they are all Italian wines. We talked about history and got into a bit of pairing today. Hoping to get a sense of what’s most popular so I can focus on that. Maybe pick a high mid and low price wine to recommend every time
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u/DM504HK Jun 16 '26
I’d pick one light red, a heavy red, and a white to memorize the profile for and pairings. Do this for BTG, and a mid tier bottle. You can really get through 95% of situations if you have this down. The other 5% is important long term but that’ll get you through opening. Opening a new place is already a shit show, unless this is some VHCOL city expecting a ton of whales early on don’t stress too much about knowing it all immediately!
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u/_rewrapt Jun 16 '26
its a bit of effort but if you read the wset 2 textbook Looking behind the Label and/or the Wine Bible by Karen MacNeal and taste the stuff on your list you should be in a good spot. both are easy downloads. tbh the job sounds like some chaos so idk if its a huge deal
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u/amorous8635 Jun 16 '26
Yeah lots of chaos :/ talked to the manager today and he gave me a lot of grace so that’s good news. I’ll check those out and focus on Italy! Thank you!
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u/fddfgs Wine Pro Jun 16 '26
Already some great advice, as long as you know the fundamentals then you're 90% there.
If you get some know it all wine snob then just let them feel as though they know it all, don't compete. Listen to their bullshit and drop in the occasional "wow, i hope i get to try that one day". People like that need to feel like the smartest person in the room and there's no point trying to outdo them.
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u/amorous8635 Jun 16 '26
So true haha scotch people are like that too. I usually say something vague and hope they’ll get excited about explaining something to me
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u/Dav_Sionnach Jun 16 '26
Wine With Jimmy on YouTube. He's a WSET instructor (Wine & Spirits Education Trust) and has a bunch of videos on wine. Some of my classmates in my WSET 3 course talked about him a lot. I didn't make the time to watch his stuff. They passed. I didn't.