While dining in a restaurant in Paris earlier this year I came across something that I had never seen before – being able to purchase wine by the portion of the bottle that you consume. The server provides you with your choice of a bottle of French red or white. The bottle comes with a string tied around the neck that then drapes down the length of the bottle. There are knots in the string to indicate 12, 25, 37, 50, 62 and 75 centilitres of wine.

This is referred to as, “à la ficelle”.  It is a very practical approach to purchasing wine when you don’t want to consume a whole bottle but desire more than a single glass.

Although the concept of ficelle wine has only started to become popular in restaurants in recent years, the concept dates all the way back to the 15th century. According to legend, it was an Auvergne innkeeper by the name of Gaultier who, in the 1400s, ​​used a piece of string to determine how much wine his customers drank.

During that time wine was served in earthenware or pewter pitchers. The innkeeper used an evenly spaced knotted rope to determine the quantity of wine his patrons had consumed. The distance between each knot represented 25 centilitres of wine.

With the current trend where people are reducing their wine consumption, the concept of string wine is becoming more popular. Less restaurant patrons are purchasing wine by the bottle and instead 20% now favour wine by the glass while 12% now prefer the wine by string concept.

Sláinte mhaith