Is it wrong to have a side bottle?

We have 16 people coming over tomorrow. Most will love the Molly Dooker 2005/2006 which I will open for them. I have been trying to get rid of an Aussie phase from 6 years ago! Is it wrong to have a side bottle of wine for myself and anonther that will actually appreciate it?

Not wrong at all. Just be discrete.

It might be, but I’ve done it plenty of times. I’ve tried to force people to appreciate wines that I like, but in the long run they would rather drink Mollydooker and thats fine as long as they don’t mind me having a “side” bottle.

Wrong? No. Is there the potential of “what are you drinking” drama? If so, I’d just avoid that.

For me, T-Day has always been family here (vs a larger gathering of family and friends or orphaned friends, etc) so I usually don’t focus on wine. I can do that plenty of other times so I just pour something that will work with the food that I’ll like and that’s not a wine that takes a lot of geeking to appreciate.

Not at all. This is what Nixon used to do, serve swill to the state dinner attendees and have Chat. Margaux served to him

Time honored tradition. Can’t think of a party I have had where there wasn’t a side bottle or two in play. You just have to have it somewhere that you won’t get busted pouring it, no one will notice it and out you and that you make sure to top up (if you leave the table/room with an empty glass and come back with a full one someone is bound to catch on).

GREAT avatar, Joe.

No, not wrong

Discrete. Yes, keep the bottles separate, or discrete. No mixing of the gem with the swill.
Also, do so discreetly.

When you have one empty bottle of Molly Dooker, just decant the good stuff into that out of sight and keep that as your bottle. Just be sure not to get things mixed up.

Eric said to be discrete. Keep them separate.

discreet. discrete. whatever…

No.

My cousin, who I thought was starting to minor in wine, brought a bottle of Bogle last year. It’s a perfect bottle for the majority of the crowd, but since he was getting started in this hobby , I expected more of him.

Rich, do what I do. Position yourself accordingly when you sit down. As a matter of fact, I’d tell anyone else in the know to sit close by, this way you can share with people that get it.

When all else fails, if someone goes to pour the good stuff, grab the bottle, and tell them their bottle is over there (pointing to the MD or whatever else you brought for them).

I kind of like to drink the plonk out of the plastic cup with the cousins

I find that in between the wooden boxes in the cellar makes for a perfect hiding place for the side bottle,as a matter of fact there is one there now

Me too! Nothing wrong with that.

I’m all for partaking in the swill because the last time this happened I was serve inexpensive Barefoot Pinot Grigio which turned me on to Pinot Gris which turned me on to Alsace Pinot Gris. Good does sometimes come out of bad.

Several years ago my mother in law dropped ice cubes into the Rochioli SVD Chardonnay I served her and polished off half a bottle in about 20 minutes. +1 on the side bottle(s) in this household.

Tom
Twitter: @NWTomLee

I’ve got ONE Aussie left, which I will pass off on some unsuspecting victim at some point (I’m not anti-Aussie, just anti-certain style of Aussie).
We always have a back room with some quality wines, but the door isn’t locked. Some of “The Great Unwashed” sometimes find us.

I don’t get it… why do all of you serve wine geek wine with a meal that is damn hard to match and in a setting when most people won’t get the difference between a modest $15 bottle and something amazing? There’s a lot of nice wines that aren’t remotely plonk for under $20.

Nice catch!