5 Serving the right drink Lunch for four Treffen Every five years an interesting group of people celebrate a reunion. They became friends more than 50 years ago when they all studied at the London School of Economics in London. This year they are meeting near Hannover at Perl s restaurant because Hans Hansen, one of the group, lives in the Hannover region. The other three people are Colonel Trevor Urquardt from Aberdeen, Sir Francis Hallmark from Cheltenham and Lucy Greenbaum from Philadelphia. After about an hour of talking about old times they are ready for lunch. As it is a tradition with them they always start at 1 pm and order a five course meal. This time it consists of: 10th Reunion Lunch For Four 30th December Starter Turtle soup Fish Course Shrimp cocktail Main Course Boeuf Stroganoff Dessert Orange flummery Cheese Course Cheese platter 29 Lucy: Let s sit down everyone, shall we? Waiter: May I serve the soup, madam? Lucy: Francis, should we have an aperitif before we start with the meal? Francis: Oh yes, Lucy. I d like a Kir Royal. That s what we usually have. Lucy: Fine, Kir Royal, please. The soup can be served in 10 minutes. Waiter: Next we have a shrimp cocktail. It s our chef s speciality. Trevor: Shouldn t we have white wine with the cocktail? aufmerksam Lucy: White wine is a good choice, Trevor. You are always so thoughtful. Waiter: Did you enjoy the cocktail? Trevor: The best I ve ever had. Please tell the chef. Hauptgericht Waiter: May I serve the main course? Hans: I d like to recommend a light red wine, a Schwarzriesling from Württemberg in Germany, to go with the Boeuf Stroganoff. Trevor: Good idea, Hans. beschwipst Lucy: Should be a light one. I m really getting tipsy and the meal has only just begun. Hans: Isn t that what you re aiming for, my dear? Lucy: Excuse me waiter, what can you recommend to go with the cheese? Waiter: We have excellent Bordeaux in the cellar. It s a 2004 Château Moulin. As most of the cheeses vollmundig on the platter are French this will be the best choice. It s a full bodied red wine. Hans: Great party. Trevor: I enjoy our reunions more and more each time. 80
Exercise 1 What a party! Read or listen to the dialogue and answer the following questions. a) How many people are sitting around the table? f) How does Trevor describe the cocktail? b) Where are they from? g) Why does Lucy want a light red wine? c) What is the first drink the waiter serves? h) What kind of dessert is offered? d) What is served for the second course? i) What is the last drink that the waiter serves? e) What does Trevor ask for? Exercise 2 Comprehension Look at the photos and decide which bottles of wine the group consumes at the reunion. Which one was not offered and which one is missing? a) b) c) d) Exercise 3 Useful expressions for waiting staff Read the text and find expressions or sentences in the text for the following German sentences: a) Darf ich die Suppe servieren? b) Ich bevorzuge einen Kir Royal. c) Die Suppe kann in 10 Minuten serviert werden. d) Das ist die Spezialität unseres Küchenchefs. e) Sollten wir zum Cocktail Weißwein nehmen? f) Hat Ihnen der Cocktail geschmeckt? g) Ich empfehle einen leichten Rotwein. h) Wir haben einen hervorragenden Bordeaux im (Wein-)Keller. i) Ich genieße unserer Treffen. Useful to know Wine and dine Wine and dine means to take someone out, have a good quality wine and a delicious (expensive) aufrechterhalten meal in a first-class restaurant. This is often done to develop and/or maintain business relationships. You can say I wined and dined the managing director of XY three times before I won the new order. But there are also restaurants and publications called Wine & Dine. You will find a lot of information about wining and dining if you search for this phrase on the internet. 81
Popular Wines Kategorie: Rotwein Weißwein Roséwein Geschmack: trocken trocken trocken Anbauregion: Süd-Australien Mosel Rhône Land: Australien Deutschland Frankreich Weingut: Penfolds Wines Reichsrat von Domaine Corne-Loup Kesselstatt Weinname: Penfolds Koonunga Hill Graacher Riesling Tavel AOC Rebsorte: Cabernet Sauvignon Riesling 100 % Grenache 60%, 26 %, Shiraz 74 % Cinsault 30%, Syrah 10% Trinktemperatur: 16 18 C 9 C 10 C Alkoholgehalt: 13,5 Vol.-% 12,5 Vol.-% 13,3 Vol.-% Restsüße: 2,2 g/l 7,7 g/l 0,8 g/l Säuregehalt: 4,9 g/l 6,8 g/l 5,8 g/l Harmoniert mit: Wild, Rindfleisch, Grillfleisch, Lamm, mittelkräftiger Käse Geflügel, Fisch, Käse, Suppen, helles Fleisch, Pasta Lamm, Geflügel, Wild, Fisch Exercise 4 Recommending a wine You are asked by a guest to recommend a wine. Use the product information sheet to recommend a wine for a guest who a) has ordered fish. b) wants a German wine. Geflügel c) has ordered poultry. d) doesn t like red wine. e) has ordered a steak. f) likes a dry wine. g) likes Australian wines. 82
Exercise 5 Knowing more about wine Now decide which wine a) goes best with cheese? b) is from Australia? c) is a dry wine? d) is a red wine? e) is from France? f) goes best with poultry? g) contains 13.5 % alcohol? h) is best at 16 C? i) contains 12.5 % alcohol? j) is from Germany? 30 Exercise 6 Spotting the right wine From the description below decide which wine is a) Roséwein? b) Rotwein? c) Weißwein? This wine is pale straw in colour. It smells like melon and peach with some mineral notes and a hint of orange. It is medium bodied with a light length and a nice crisp finish. This wine is ruby in colour, with purple shades and has a lovely fruity nose of plums and blueberry. This medium bodied Shiraz drinks well now but will gain complexity with age. This wine is from France. It is salmon in colour and well balanced. Its long finish is crisp with grapefruit Säuregehalt flavours and it has a good acidity. Adjectives to describe a wine Experts often describe a wine in a way that is difficult to understand. How do you recognize, for example, the flavour? Exercise 7 Passing on information a) Explain in your own words how the different wines are described. Look up any unknown words in a dictionary or on the internet. b) Match the words that go together. Choose from the following: balanced dry flowery gold racy ripe ruby spicy German English German English German English hell pale süß sweet fruchtig fruity goldgelb 1 halbtrocken medium dry blumig 2 bernstein amber trocken 3 erdig earthy hellrot light red säurehaltig sharp würzig 4 rubin 5 leicht lightweight rassig 6 vollmundig full bodied weich smooth duftend fragrant abgerundet 7 samtig mellow reif 8 83
Say Cheese In some restaurants there is not only a wine waiter but also a cheese waiter. Cheese is a very popular dessert. In many restaurants you will be offered a cheese platter or you can choose from a variety of cheeses. Often, you, as a waiter or waitress will be asked to make a recommendation, for example: Which wine goes best with the cheese?, What kind of cheese is it?, What does the cheese taste like?. Exercise 9 Cheese and Country There is a great variety of national and international cheeses. Here are some examples. a) Match the cheese with the flag of the country it is made in. b) Which country s flag is not listed? Which cheese do you associate with this country? a) Jarlsberg cow, mild, soft nutty, semi-firm, 1) g) Gorgonzola cow, buttery, firm, quite salty, 55 % b) Manchego sheep, firm, compact, distinctive flavour, 50 % c) Cheddar cow, firm, hard, sharp-tasting, d) Harzer Käse cow, soft strong smell, 10 % 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) h) Esrom cow, pungent aroma, buttery, semi-firm, i) Limburger cow/goat, pungent aroma, firm (first month) to creamy (after two months), 20 60 % j) Camembert soft, creamy, e) Appenzeller cow, firm, strong smell, 50 % 9) k) Edam cheese cow/goat, 10) semi-firm, nutty or fruity, 11) mild to sharp flavour, (% percentage refers to fat in dry weight) 84