Scenario:
You arrive at a degustation type eating venue with a set menu (think Christmas party type function) with your father and some other friends/family.
You and your father get ahead of the queue and get a table.
He hands you a bottle of wine, asks for it to be opened so it can breath, and from the way he handles it you believe it represents some value to him, but you haven't assigned it any.
You open the bottle and then start to wonder where everyone in your party's gone.
You leave the table and try and find them.
5 minutes later you return to your table and it seems somebody has taken your table and started to drink the wine.
There's nobody at the table but there's a handbag on the floor and wine glasses with wine in it.
1 minute later a couple with a kid return and from their look they seems puzzled why you're there.
You explain to them that you were originally here and left the wine to breath.
They apologise but don't make any effort to leave.
You call over a waiter and ask for a new bottle of wine like the one on the table... the waiter say's sorry we don't have any wine like this, that's a special 1997 Dominio de Pingus.
What do you do?
Sit at the table , drink your wine. Give them a mouthful when they return and tell them you want money to replace the wine.
Select to expand quoteFlySurfer said..
Scenario:
You arrive at a degustation type eating venue with a set menu (think Christmas party type function) with your father and some other friends/family.
You and your father get ahead of the queue and get a table.
He hands you a bottle of wine, asks for it to be opened so it can breath, and from the way he handles it you believe it represents some value to him, but you haven't assigned it any.
You open the bottle and then start to wonder where everyone in your party's gone.
You leave the table and try and find them.
5 minutes later you return to your table and it seems somebody has taken your table and started to drink the wine.
There's nobody at the table but there's a handbag on the floor and wine glasses with wine in it.
1 minute later a couple with a kid return and from their look they seems puzzled why you're there.
You explain to them that you were originally here and left the wine to breath.
They apologise but don't make any effort to leave.
You call over a waiter and ask for a new bottle of wine like the one on the table... the waiter say's sorry we don't have any wine like this, that's a special 1997 Dominio de Pingus.
What do you do?
nicely explain that it's your bottle of wine and grab it. either go to a new table or tell them that you were just grabbing the rest of your party and here they are and would they mind leaving. check out her tits.
Disrespectful. Whatever gave them the right to feel they could help themselves? Could you have written a note on an up-turned coaster that the wine has been left to 'breathe', and you were very nearby + told staff that you were wanting to reserve the table?
I don't quite understand society's fuss with fine wine, although social etiquette/peer pressure (the latter a term often only assigned to much younger people) has seen me tinkle glasses so as not to upset others.
kinda your fault for leaving wine at the table. a lot of those do's have wine on the table or included. Also if you didn't have heaps of stuff on the table (bags coats etc) so that it looked occupied they may have just thought, bewdy this one has a wine already on it. not that I would do it, just saying. anyway, take the rest.
Yes I know. Happens to me all the time with my friends and family, especially around Christmas times. I don't know if it's good manners but I usually end up drinking the wine in the end. Well, the half a glass that's left anyway. ...I always wonder where everyone goes?
Hard to say what you would do unless you are there at that moment, I do know I would have told them drinking urine is good for your health, bottle for a while and its better and your happy to share.
Just saying odd things to people is enough to get your way in unusual situations.
Offer another glass to the hottest chick at the table. Shame for it to go to waste
Select to expand quoteFlySurfer said...
[br]......., that's a special 1997 Dominio de Pingus.
What do you do?
just checked what's that de penguins worth
ha ha ha ahaha
Select to expand quotedmitri said..FlySurfer said...
......., that's a special 1997 Dominio de Pingus.
What do you do?
just checked what's that de penguins worth
ha ha ha ahaha
At that price, It needed a minder.
Did you tell the couple what their "free" bottle was worth to see the look on their faces.
stephen
Google says that wine is $600-800 a bottle. Serves you right taking something that expensive to Sizzler.
Select to expand quoteFlySurfer said..
Scenario:
You arrive at a degustation type eating venue with a set menu (think Christmas party type function) with your father and some other friends/family.
You and your father get ahead of the queue and get a table.
He hands you a bottle of wine, asks for it to be opened so it can breath, and from the way he handles it you believe it represents some value to him, but you haven't assigned it any.
You open the bottle and then start to wonder where everyone in your party's gone.
You leave the table and try and find them.
5 minutes later you return to your table and it seems somebody has taken your table and started to drink the wine.
There's nobody at the table but there's a handbag on the floor and wine glasses with wine in it.
1 minute later a couple with a kid return and from their look they seems puzzled why you're there.
You explain to them that you were originally here and left the wine to breath.
They apologise but don't make any effort to leave.
You call over a waiter and ask for a new bottle of wine like the one on the table... the waiter say's sorry we don't have any wine like this, that's a special 1997 Dominio de Pingus.
What do you do?
You apologise to them for putting them in an awkward situation and remind yourself not to leave the table next time. There are unobservant people everywhere, so you can't really blame them too much for thinking 'free wine'. When your dad turns up, you give him a mouthful for being away for so long and leaving you nursing a bottle of wine alone.
Perhaps they were decanting it for you?
Some erroneously believe that merely uncorking a bottle of wine and allowing it to sit for a bit is all it takes to aerate. This method is futile, as there is simply not enough room (read: surface area) at the top of the bottle to permit adequate amounts of air to make contact with the wine. So what's a Wine Lover to do? You have two options: Decanter or Wine Glass...
Select to expand quoteFlySurfer said..
Scenario:
You arrive at a degustation type eating venue with a set menu (think Christmas party type function) with your father and some other friends/family.
You and your father get ahead of the queue and get a table.
He hands you a bottle of wine, asks for it to be opened so it can breath, and from the way he handles it you believe it represents some value to him, but you haven't assigned it any.
You open the bottle and then start to wonder where everyone in your party's gone.
You leave the table and try and find them.
5 minutes later you return to your table and it seems somebody has taken your table and started to drink the wine.
There's nobody at the table but there's a handbag on the floor and wine glasses with wine in it.
1 minute later a couple with a kid return and from their look they seems puzzled why you're there.
You explain to them that you were originally here and left the wine to breath.
They apologise but don't make any effort to leave.
You call over a waiter and ask for a new bottle of wine like the one on the table... the waiter say's sorry we don't have any wine like this, that's a special 1997 Dominio de Pingus.
What do you do?
Oh this is an easy one.
You sit down at the table with them ,.. all friendly like,.. grinning insanely,..with eyes darting wildly around,. and start up on your 9/11 conspiracy dissertation.
My guess is the table will be vacant in less than two minutes. 
Select to expand quotemyusernam said..
kinda your fault for leaving wine at the table. a lot of those do's have wine on the table or included. Also if you didn't have heaps of stuff on the table (bags coats etc) so that it looked occupied they may have just thought, bewdy this one has a wine already on it. not that I would do it, just saying. anyway, take the rest.
Agree
It was a Christmas do type thing, so I'd also have assumed a totally vacant table, with people still arriving and a bottle of wine on it, is ready for the taking.
Yep, good social etiquette would be to have someone stay at the designated table, especially after opening an expensive bottle of wine. The squatters simply made the best of the situation. Maybe next time it would be best to ask the waiter to mind the bottle.
any one who can afford to pay six hundred for a bottle of plonk , can afford to go and buy another ,and stop grizzling .
Loose your **. Up turn the table, spray the wine over them and throw tantrum. When the security guards rush in, have your father cover you saying you are a Summervile/Minda/Arafmi patient, you are out on day pass, this happens occasionally, but everything is under control. Remember to video the event and post it on here !! 
I wouldn't know what to do.
I would have to go to the toilets, hide in the furthest cubicle and post the question to a wave and wind web forum and only when I had the answer from random anonymous people could I come out and face the world again.
Oh - hang on that's what you did as well.
Don't worry about it, the wine was still there just in a glass...what's the issue?
My dad old man had a pretty amazing cellar of wines, when he passed away relatively suddenly, I meant to go around to the folks house and sort out the top wines from the good ones...took me a few months though.
What prompted me to get to it was dropping in one arvo to see mum enjoying a glass of wine (or 3) with her friends (mum knows nothing about wine) and seeing an empty 94 Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay, an 04 Giaconda Chardonnay and the red they had just cracked being a Hill of Grace (can't remember the year).
I just sat right down, poured myself a glass and said, I'll go pick up some steaks for tea, why don't you choose another bottle of red for the meal mum...
As a side note the steak went very well with the Armagh.
Moral of the story is wine, no matter how expensive or rare or incredible is meant to be drunk - it's the only way it ever realises its value. Just because someone else opened it and had a taste is not going to ruin it for you. Ask them if the liked it and let them know its a special wine, so you will take it back to your (new) table and share with your family. My guess is they would apologise, thank you for the taste and think what a nice bloke. Is that really a bad outcome?
It's not a Christmas party, it's something similar, a set degustation menu from a famous chef... My Kitchen Rules final...
Don't forget the ladies hand bag was also left at the table.
And given that the bottle is 17yo it's quite possible the father had been saving it for that many years, and it represented something for a special occasion, it doesn't mean he's rich.
Select to expand quoteFlySurfer said..
It's not a Christmas party, it's something similar, a set degustation menu from a famous chef... My Kitchen Rules final...
Don't forget the ladies hand bag was also left at the table.
And given that the bottle is 17yo it's quite possible the father had been saving it for that many years, and it represented something for a special occasion, it doesn't mean he's rich.
MKT final = special occasion?
Select to expand quoteok said..
what did you do?
Change the channel to watch something decent?
It's poor form to take a table that has an already opened bottle of wine on it, although it could be an easy mistake given the scenario you describe; large groups of people. It's very poor form to drink that wine, although as someone pointed out above they perhaps mistook it for the table's complimentary bottle of wine.
Was wine provided?
If so, then the people that sat at the empty table are not really at fault.
If not, they are complete bogans.
Given the scenario you describe it's also just plain weird to open a very valuable bottle of wine and then leave it completely unattended. Where did everybody go? Why? Sit down already, the wine's open and you have a table.
You sure it wasn't a "Biggest Loser" final?
Here's my similar story:
It's our wedding reception. We've provided the usual free meals and I think four or so hours of wines and beers. Everybody has had a really good time.
It's the end of the reception and everybody is leaving the venue. I am one of the last to leave when the staff pull me aside and explain that one of my guests has stolen a bottle of champagne from behind the bar. It was found with the cork broken off, still half in the bottle, and the bottle hidden behind a pot plant.
"No worries," I say. "I'll pay for it and we'll drink it upstairs."
"Ah, that's good of you sir. That comes to... $800." (or thereabouts)
"... say what?"
Someone in my party had pinched a bottle of '73 Cristal. They hadn't even popped the cork properly, but it was opened.
Nobody owned up to it but I eventually found out who it was. We've never received an apology. Haven't spoken since.
Select to expand quoteFlySurfer said..
Scenario:
You arrive at a degustation type eating venue with a set menu (think Christmas party type function) with your father and some other friends/family.
You and your father get ahead of the queue and get a table.
He hands you a bottle of wine, asks for it to be opened so it can breath, and from the way he handles it you believe it represents some value to him, but you haven't assigned it any.
You open the bottle and then start to wonder where everyone in your party's gone.
You leave the table and try and find them.
5 minutes later you return to your table and it seems somebody has taken your table and started to drink the wine.
There's nobody at the table but there's a handbag on the floor and wine glasses with wine in it.
1 minute later a couple with a kid return and from their look they seems puzzled why you're there.
You explain to them that you were originally here and left the wine to breath.
They apologise but don't make any effort to leave.
You call over a waiter and ask for a new bottle of wine like the one on the table... the waiter say's sorry we don't have any wine like this, that's a special 1997 Dominio de Pingus.
What do you do?
A prominent handbag should be enough to mark a table as occupied. Except leaving on the floor under table is not prominent, easy to miss as you approach.
You could/should have 1. Explained you were "here" rather than "originally here" 2. resumed control of poured wine, it's yours after all and not spoiled by having a few sips taken out 3. If they weren't leaving voluntarily, shame them into it by loudly accusing them of theft of wine, table & possibly bag underneath.
What you should *not* have done is 1. make your lack of communication with father the waiter's problem. 2. expect waiter to magic up matching bottle of wine from his infinite wine cellar 3. expect whole bottle of expensive wine provided to you to replace sips taken by others. Profit margins might not cover your personal stuff ups.
Select to expand quoteFlySurfer said..
the waiter say's sorry we don't have any wine like this, that's a special 1997 Dominio de Pingus.Select to expand quoteRails said..
You have two options: Decanter or Wine Glass...
Sounds the waiter was clued up with wines and maybe he poured it for you.
In my opinion though, reqardless of FlySurfers actions, it is poor form for the second group to arrive at the table having realised the mix up, not offer to leave.
As an alternative, it would have been interesting to shoo away the new guests, empty the entire bottle of wine into another one to take home, and fill the original with the closest wine at hand. I guess you could even just top it up.
For added fun you could take the piss out of your dad all night about how ordinary the wine is.
Of course, this would work on my family, not necessarily anyone that knows anything about wine.
