What is the proper way to serve a bottle of red wine?

I am a waitress and I have no idea how to do it. Everyone tells me something different.

1) First Present the wine with label up to the person ordering the wine. Once approved, you should open the foil preferably with a foil cutter, to make a nice incision. Once wine cork is pulled out, present it to the person who ordered the wine to inspect.
2) For better wine, decant. One way to tell is the price - anything over $50 retail (or $80-90 restaurant price) should be decanted. When in doubt, ask.
3) Hold bottle or decanter near the bottom to support, with the other hand with a towel near the mouth to wipe away drips. Always avoid drips.
4) Small pour of the person ordered wine for tasting. Wait for approval to make sure the wine is not corked. Keep in mind that tasting is not to see if the person likes the wine - it is to make sure the wine is not spoiled. If they don't like the wine, it is still their wine. If that person decides to return the wine thinking it is bad, make sure you get the sommelier to try if it is an expensive bottle.
5) Once approved, start serving the ladies first, then the gentlemen, then the last to be served is the person who did the tasting.
6) Small pours - estimate how many people is in the party and see how much you need to pour. Each bottle will give about 4-5 full glasses (that is, half way up a nice wine glasses, 2/3 way up a cheaper smaller glasses). Please don't overpour - it is not polite to have to order a second bottle of the same wine because the first few people got large pours. If anything, error on the side of smaller pours - 1/4 glasses-1/3 glasses tall. Try to leave behind about 1/3-1/4 of bottles of wine.
7) Place the remaining wine withint the reach of the person ordered if red; place in the ice bucket near the person ordered if white.

Red wine should be served at about 60 degrees Fahrenheit (or 15-16 degrees Celsius). Very light red wines (such as Beaujolais) can be served at 50 degrees fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). Remove the foil using a sharp knife to ensure no jagged edges.Modern corkscrews work very well, but you can push the cork into the bottle, and just pour while using a fork or knife to hold the cork away from the mouth of the bottle (make sure you decant into a jug, and not pour directly into glasses, if you have a cork in the bottle). If the cork breaks, just strain the wine through superfine mesh. Serious red wines (aka expensive) can be opened several hours in advance to breathe. It doesn't really matter if you use different types of glasses for red and white, the ideal glass is just a wide bowl (slightly tapered at the top), with a long slim stem.Only fill the glass halfway (you can always refill). Serve whites before red, good before bad, and young before old. Hold the bottle by the base and give your wrist a slight twist as you finish pouring to avoid dribbles.

Hope this helps!!

If you are working at an establishment that serves wines, then the headwaiter or manager/hostess should have trained you! Shame on them. Each restaurant has it's own way of doing things. Ask the manager or head waiter to show you exactly what it is he wants you to do. And watch him carefully. Good Luck. CarolSandyToes1

It depends on the bottle, but only if you're dealing with older, more expensive bottles of wine. For the most part, serving red differs very little from serving white (except that red does not require an ice bucket!)
If you're going to be serving an older or more expensive bottle of red then it is best to check with the head waitstaff first to see if there is a protocol in place, if there is, have them walk you through it throughly. Every restaurant has their own way of doing stuff, so always check first!!!
At any rate, your basic wine service rules apply:
1) Open Present the bottle to the host (customer who ordered it) so they may acknowledge that it's the bottle they intended to get
2) Open the wine at the table and place the cork (label facing the customer, if applicable) at the head of the host's plate
(If this is an older vintage wine you might have to decant it which would require protocol from your head waitstaff)
3)pour a small portion into the glass belonging to the host and allow them to taste it to ensure that the wine is acceptable. If they agree that it is, pour for the rest of the table starting with the women first.