I make it a habit to ask the bartender/waitstaff for a glass from the 'freshest' bottle. They seem to be receptive to that. One time the guy even brought a new bottle and opened it in front of us.

The last glass of wine that I had was so fresh I had to slap it.

Waiter: Would Monsieur care for another bottle of the Château Latour?

Navin: Ah, yes, but no more 1966. Let's splurge! Bring us some fresh wine! The freshest you've got -- this year's! No more of this old stuff.

as you may remember from previous comments, I have tended bar for over 20 years in and around baltimore. the wines to avoid because they are overpriced are wines you can only get at restaurants. there are many brands not available in liquor stores and wine shops, only in restaurants. I believe that is so the customer doesn't get to figure out that it is a $7 bottle of wine that your paying $8 a glass for.
always ask the bartender for his favorite wine, I have a favorite white I like to sell, montivina pinot grigio, $7 (some pinot grigio's we carry are $11) it is a safe simple pleasing wine that the overall public likes and I open 4 - 7 bottles daily. the $11 a glass, I may open once a week. for reds, my favorite (along with 3 of my bar team) is spellbound petit syrah ($8) which is amazing and off the beaten path. I open 2 - 3 bottles a day where some of the red wine we have I haven't opened in a month. we do have a strict policy of date dotting when we open and trashing after 3 days though so none of our wine is completly gone south. anyway, even if you are sitting at a table, come up to the bar first, talk to the bartender and get the info you need. here's a tip though, always, and I can't stress this enough, always pay the bar tab before going to your table! and leave a nice tip. the reason is simple, you piss off a bartender and they may get vengefull, they may find out what table you went to and all the rest of your driks that night will be sub par or not exactly what you ordered. I won't do this but I see it all the time, we do however make 43.18 an hour and by transferring you want us to give away our sales to a friggin unworthy server and then you tip them on our work, then at the end of the night we get tipped out 1% from them! some servers on a busy night are only required to tip us out $4!! yes thats right $4 for all the frozen foo foo and remakes because they spiiled the tray or whatever. I hope this answers some of your questions.

thats $3.18 an hour, I need to preview, I know but it's early and I havent had coffe yet

baltimoron, any idea why restaurants and bars don't use vacu vin stoppers to keep wine fresh? They are cheap and work good.

RayRay - The last glass of wine that I had was so fresh I had to slap it.

Sounds like the fish at Macky's in Ocean City.

At least that's what they say on the menu.

baltimoron, any idea why restaurants and bars don't use vacu vin stoppers to keep wine fresh? They are cheap and work good.

Too much work during a busy shift.

hmpstd, that 1966 Chateau Latour may taste just fine early on. But let it sit around long enough and you might not be able to distinguish it from vinegar.

Last May at a workshop west of Omaha I had a better than decent meal at a strip mall Oriental 3-way (Japanese, Chinese and Korean). I ordered a glass of wine that ended up being the worst I have ever tried to drink. Since beef Kalbi was coming, I ordered a glass of "burgundy." My guess is that it was the last glass from a huge jug that had been opened for months, stashed in a refrigerator. The amount of sediment in the small glass would have germinated a handful of beans. When the waitress/owner came around to ask how things were, I asked for a Heineken. (Far Eastern menu, strip mall, west of Omaha, red wine ... what was I thinking?!)

1) Freshness is a huge issue by the glass. Some servers will go out of their way not to serve their guests something stale. But sparkling wines, dessert wines and some fortifieds are most likely to be tired.

2) Restaurants usually get a deal on wine they agree to offer by the glass. They _should_ pass on part of the savings to their guests.

3) Some kinds of wine seem more consistent than others. I've never had an undrinkable albarino or gruner veltliner.

the vacu vin is a great tool, but bartenders tend to be lazy, plus the stoppers always seem to dissapear. we had a bunch when we opened and I don't have any now and the boss is reluctant to purchase more. thanks for asking!

Agreed, Dan D, but remember that when The Jerk came out in 1979, the 1966 Château Latour (if I recall correctly) was highly regarded. Even now, if you check this webpage, the '66 still commands some pretty prices.

hmpstd--wine advice from The Jerk???

Dahlink, the "fresh wine" scene in The Jerk was funny in 1979, and it's still funny now. Of course, I suspect that Navin Johnson's conception of "fresh wine" isn't quite what EL had in mind.

hmpstd, sorry that you misunderstood me. I meant sitting around in an opened bottle. I'm sure many of the '66 Bordeaux first growths are still very drinkable if a little tired and past their prime.