Ask a Somm: Is It Rude to Look Up a Wine on My Phone at the Table?

Ordering a bottle of wine out at a restaurant can be a high-pressure situation. If you’re the lucky one handed the wine list, it feels like a thankless task to balance the group’s preferences — whether it’s your “anything but Chardonnay” friend or family members who refuse to drink anything but Napa Cab — at an agreeable price point. Then there’s the matter of knowing what each bottle on the list will deliver: Is it good value? Does it accurately represent the grape and region? One way to overcome this is looking up some of the candidates online. But is it considered rude to whip out your phone at the dinner table to do some quick Googling?

While not every establishment has a dedicated sommelier, if the bar or restaurant in question has a large wine program, it’s likely that they also have a wine pro available to help you navigate the list. So consulting your phone rather than the sommelier working your table might seem a little ill-mannered. But what do wine pros think? We asked Kenneth Crum, the managing partner of New York City’s Heroes and Pearl Box, for his take on this conundrum.

“Good wine can be quite expensive these days, so it’s hard to know if you should trust someone to guide you correctly,” Crum says. “However, I think the chances of you finding something you love with the help of an experienced professional is higher than trying to use Google.”

If you’re having trouble deciding on a bottle, Crum recommends being open with your sommelier: “Give them a chance and be honest,” he says. “If you don’t understand the way they are describing the wine, or it doesn’t resonate with you, try to say that in a nice way. See if they’ll meet you where you are.”

While wine geeks might know what to look for when reading up on a certain producer or vintage before committing to a wine, Crum suggests that it isn’t wise to look up the bottle just to compare pricing. “I don’t think it’s rude to do some homework on the wine list before you visit it,” he says. “But be careful not to compare the retail or market price to the price on the list.” There are a lot of factors that go into the pricing of wine at a restaurant, and it’s unrealistic to expect the list price to mimic what it sells for retail.

Overall, if you’re at a restaurant with a dedicated wine professional, it’s best to use the resources they provide before you look for outside help. But if you do end up choosing to take the advice of your phone over the advice of the sommelier, you might be forgoing the aid of the wine team. “If you order a wine without the help that was offered to you, you’re on your own,” Crum says. “Please don’t try to send back the bottle (as long as it’s sound).”

*Image retrieved from Confidence via stock.adobe.com

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