I think most of you know with my new job I call on everything from the local grocery store all the way to high end places to eat. This has caused me start pondering restaurant wine lists.
What makes a good restaurant wine list? Yes, I know Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast does awards, but lately I’m finding those to be off.
So, here’s a very brief quick poll. I know I’m leaving out a lot of various issues, but I’m looking more for broad themes. I’m curious what people think, so please vote away.
Poll #630308 Wine Lists
Open to: All, results viewable to: All
At a restaurant when entrees costs on average $25 per person, do you want a wine list that. . .
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Has the old standards, Bogle, Blackstone, Hess, Kendal Jackson, Mondavi
5 (20.8%)
Different wine labels you have never heard of, but the stand by varietals 18 (75.0%)
A theme to the wine list, all wine from wine region (Sonoma), certain varietals (Rhone), etc. 12 (50.0%)
At a restaurant when entrees costs on average $15 per person, do you want a wine list that. . .
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Has the old standards, Bogle, Blackstone, Hess, Kendal Jackson, Mondavi 9 (37.5%)
Different wine labels you have never heard of, but the stand by varietals 17 (70.8%)
A theme to the wine list, all wine from wine region (Sonoma), certain varietals (Rhone), etc. 9 (37.5%)
- Mood:
curious
4 responses so far ↓
It’s fun to be the first person to answer an LJ quiz, because then you see the resaults and ‘hey, 100% of responders agree with me!’
Seriously, what bothers me most about wine lists is, at a lot of places they’re all the same. And it seems to me that they’re dominated by white wines and blushes. I like red wine, and frequently I have to pick between ‘the house red’ and some Cabernet. Complain! Complain!
Of course, I’m not nearly so sophisticated a wine drinker - and I’m probably way in the minority. I figure, the majority of people must like white wine… so how can I convince the restuarant industry to spend money on a variety for the one-in-thousand customer that wants an unusual red?
I think I would always prefer there to be a theme, and I’d always prefer the theme to make sense with the overall theme of the restaurant. For instance, I recently went to a cafe with food that was supposed to be the same quality as bars in Europe provide. The food wasn’t all that. The wine quality and prices matched it fairly well. Makes sense and was fun.
Fancier restaurants that don’t put quite the same amount of effort into their wine list do annoy me. And places that emphasize local over European wines when they are doing “traditional continental” cuisine annoy me. There I would expect a better knowledge of and balance of Old World wines on the list.
I am not the average diner, however. Restaurants do have to buy wines that will sell to their target markets. So, it makes sense to me that so many “fine” restaurants here have a heavy WA/OR wine bias. That’s what the public wants and will pay bigger bucks for.
I look to a wine list to educate me and expand my understanding of wine. I want to be introduced to new wineries that the developer of the restaurant wine list likes and respects.
It really seems like a non-poll
Different lists for different occasions. A restaurant that is traditional would be best with the old standards. One that is new and avant garde would have different wine labels. A restaurant with a theme (Italian, or one of the Californian restaurants in DC for instance) would have all of their wine from a region.
A steakhouse would lean heavily towards full-bodied reds