Provenance / Library / Protocols
The Protocols
The rituals of service — how the canon reaches the table. Decanting, the pour, temperature, the sequence; the disciplines that decide whether everything before them was worth it.
The Protocols are part of The Library. One protocol is open below to read in full; the rest open with a Library seat.
Open the Library — from $149 / yrService temperature
"Room temperature" was written when rooms were cellars; a modern dining room runs about twelve degrees too warm for any red worth opening.
Cellar-cool, not warm. Above that the alcohol lifts and the fruit goes flabby. The test: the bottle is cool to the back of the hand, never neutral.
Over-chilling locks the aromatics shut; a fine white served too cold is a wasted bottle. The test: condensation beads on the glass, but it isn't painful to hold.
Colder so the mousse holds its bead. The test: the bubble is fine and slow, not a rush of foam.
Serve the red down from the rack, not up from the table. The error is almost always too warm, never too cold.