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Human civilization twists and turns with the joyful, dramatic, and ingenius trends of wine.
Table wine started with the Roman Empire (near to Japan’s national drink, sake rice wine). House wine quickly followed with early restaurants and bars as strict business.
The meaning of table wine or house wine is more than “alcoholic drink made from grapes.” These terms prove its place in religious ceremonies, social celebrations, ambitious commerce, and current ingenuity.
Follow wine’s intoxicating past as it flows from the dining table to bartops, church sacrament, and the stainless beer kegs designed for wine on tap.
Key Takeaway: Table wine, house wine, and wine on tap contrast in quality (low, basic, etc.), purpose (casual drinking vs. bar operations), and occasion (at restaurants, home, or outside).
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What are House Wines?
Typically, a bar’s wine list refers to its standard wine on offer—always in stock and well-matched for its service—the “house wine.”
As a rule of thumb, house wines are chosen to feature broad appeal. For individual tastes and the steak pairing, whichever blend is chosen must be versatile.
First and foremost, house wine flexes with the cuisine and customers of the restaurant or fine wine bar. When you need to choose a house wine, keep a few rules of adaptable wine at the top of mind.
Rules of the House Wine at Bars & Restaurants
To start, think about the intention of the house wine. Consider why a restaurant or bar would stock a particular bottle as its standard—pouring dynamic flavors for satisfied customers and steady sales flow. Clearly, the standard house wine has plenty of work to get right.
How does “the house” (including bar inventory managers) keep up with its interlocked demands? Matching menus, pricing, demographics, and brand persona isn’t simple gastronomical gymnastics.
To succeed in choosing the right wine to achieve this broad, beneficial appeal, keep at least three notes on the tip of your tongue:
- Easy to drink regularly
- Satisfying across palates
- Neither bitter nor fruity
1. House wine is always on-brand.
As an idea, house wines set a standard for the bar or restaurant. This standard wine communicated the essential value of the dining or drinking experience.
In other words, the luxury house wine tells a different story to an entirely unique set of patrons, and not the tale told by the chosen house wine of the local bar and brewery.
2. House wine steadies restaurant sales.
As a practice, house wines establish another important baseline. Its wine, when all else fails, supports your daily sales average from unpredictable changes in demand or disinterest.
3. House wine pairs well with the menu.
Third, the house wine offers safety to customers who are willing to trust the taste of your standard selection. That is, restaurant menus may also receive an important requirement: the wine that fits and fills the common menu, pairing as close to universally with your most popular fare.
What is Table Wine?
The term "table wine" was born from the 14th century’s inexpensive price on wine—not to mention its timeless popularity. As the turn of phrase spread across Europe, society had experienced an entire world of wine:
- Roman vineyards flooded any serious meal or celebration.
- Greek tragedies personified the spirited chaos of Bacchus—god of wine.
- Christian faiths pushed wine further, legitimizing it from Church to monestary and nunnery.
- Wine tables were once designed to ease the after-dinner drink with a shape ease on host pouring.
Historically, table wine referred mainly to types of red wine. While “table wine” communicates little more than the drink’s context—it rarely includes aged wine or unique varietals.
Qualities of Table Wine
True to this, Europeans distinguish quality wine from the plain, unremarkable red table wine. American restaurants don’t always follow this definition of table wine, allowing it to grasp the daily red along with vintages of great quality.
The term can even describe wine created by the collective run-off in the course of producing higher quality draughts. Although, most US restaurants and bars wouldn’t include red wines above 14% alcohol content (ABV) in a table wine program.
What is Wine on Tap?
Wine on tap shows society’s ceaseless need to invent better ways to consume wine. The system's detailed and delicate requirements would impress table and house wine connoisseurs of our past.
Wine on tap uses steel kegs and draft equipment like the more familiar on-tap beer. The innovative wine taps also need nitrogen gas for still wine (or CO2 if it's sparkling).
Keg Wine Reduces Waste and Boosts Sustainability
Such engineering may be worth its reduction of the bar’s environmental footprint by carrying up to 26 bottles of wine per keg.
In material and function, the idea proves useful. Stainless steel is reusable, temperature stable, and protective. Wine kegs can keep brews fresh for 6 weeks after opening.
Frequently Asked Questions for House Wines
Table wine, house wine, and wine on tap trace out the evolution of wine’s popularity, standards, and development.
Explore how types of wine compare and see why wines on tap help bars reduce spoilage and advance sustainability.
What are table wines vs. house wines?
House wine and table wine are relatively inexpensive by-the-glass options intended for casual consumption.
Because of its commercial function, house wines often describe higher quality bottles that table wine allows in its company.
Can you find good house wines in cans?
Premium canned wines for casual service are plentiful, including sparkling as well as classic red and white wines.
This lightweight, compact format expands portability and eases the challenge of the outdoors against popular white wines—compared to the table-bound wine bottle.
Is “wine on tap” served like beer at breweries?
Wine on tap has gained much more popularity since the 2000s since it reduces one-time waste and prevents oxidation of the wine itself.
Invented about 50 years ago in the 1970s, the novelty was rarely seen and hindered by high setup costs and the limited variety of wines suitable for kegs or produced in them.
