What's with the Short Pour? Is a 5 oz glass really standard?

It was bad enough that American Airlines dumped me in Dallas-Fort Worth due to weather delays, and I was in a foul mood anyhow. Then the dining room at the Hyatt Regency DFW made me really annoyed with a 5 ounce pour of wine.

"Of course I want another glass," I said as nicely as I could muster to my waitperson. "And it would be nice if the next glass was a full pour."

My remarks came to the attention of Pascal Castiau, the Assistant Food & Beverage Director. I guess it is not every guest who takes photos of a glass of wine on the table... (Gotta love camera phones, a blogger's good friend!)

The wine was nice enough, at $9 for the glass of 2007 De Loach Pinot Noir, Winemaker's Blend. This must be a special blend sold to the restaurant trade, because I was interested in knowing what it would have cost for a full bottle at a wine shop, but no joy on the internet search.

Pascal said that 5 ounce is their standard pour. I guess that is a bit less than 5 glasses per bottle, but still....

So I pondered this, and then turned on my email (love my new Droid phone) and zipped a message to my friend Bruce Nichols, a wine consultant in Naples FL whose resume includes years as Director of Food and Beverage for a huge international hotel chain. His remarks:

"Interesting... I'm always amazed at the inconsistency of pours. With the array of glassware sizes used, it's hard to say. It used to be they'd use a 6 oz glass and pour it to the rim. You knew what you were getting in terms of the portion, but it didn't allow for swirling the wine, which truly does improve the aromatics and flavor profile by introducing some oxygen, hence the move to larger stemware.

What I often see in hotels, who generally are much more cost control oriented, is providing a large glass and serving the wine in a small carafe = the best of both worlds perhaps."

Nicely, Bruce commiserated on the situation too... whatta guy... "Air travel is deteriorating terribly. It's the only industry that the customer has no recourse whatsoever and it's getting worse. Sadly, little options if you want to visit the world. So, have another "short" glass of wine and enjoy. Hope the wine was good at least!"

It was okay and I got the first flight out the next morning.