How excited I was the other day to recieve the beautiful new issue of SOMMselections and to read the fantastic article Jared Heber wrote about Avinare. It is a ritual at Babbo as well, and something which I have loved doing from day one. Not only does it do it's main job: rid the glass of impurities that otherwise might ruin a beautiful bouquet, but it also is a great extra service that we provide our guests, giving me the opportunity to make sure that the wine is sound before an 'off' wine lands in somebody's glass.

We see it a crucial element in our wine service and more often than not I, too, get strange looks from people when I place red-tinted glasses down onto the table. Even rarer are the times when somebody at the table knows what I am doing and explains it to their fellow diners. Sometimes it is exhausting for me to remember that some people have no idea what avinare is, and to calmly explain- there are times when I unfortunately am feeling rather hurried and will set 'primed' glasses down in front of people, leave the table to pick up their decanter, and by the time I have returned to the table with the intention of explaining why their glasses look dirty, all four people have drank their 'priming' which is really no more than half a teaspoon in the bottom of their glasses. Silently I laugh to myself, finding it funny, then I reprimand myself for not taking the time to explain beforehand. It is easy to forget when you are sometimes serving up to 60 bottles a night.

No matter the case, Avinare is a practice that I have fallen in love with, almost as much as I am with my future husband.