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Navigating Restaurant Wine Lists |
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Just when you feel confident about your knowledge of wines, nothing can be as humbling as being
handed a wickedly large wine list at a restaurant that absolutely blows your mind. Sure,
you can always depend on the help of the trusty sommelier,
but this article will help you better
understand what you're looking at, and at the very least allow you to narrow down your
choices and let you point out options to the somm. Want to see an example of an intimidating wine list? Look no further than Michael Mina in San Francisco. In fact, all of the Michael Mina family of restaurants have almost insanely big wine lists, but his flagship restaurant is found in the Bay Area. Just take a look at his red and white lists - absolutely crazy! Just imagine when this wine list is delivered in printed form. It's as big and heavy as a university textbook. Now, this is certainly an extreme example, and a vast majority of restaurants will have wine lists that are far smaller than Michael Mina's. However, and you'll have to pardon our obvious pun, size really doesn't matter. Really large wine lists are quite impressive, but they're also that big because the restaurant and its wine staff wants to show off. In the end, all restaurant wine lists are designed to offer up enough choices to satisfy all tastes and combine well with all of the dishes served. So, where do you start with a wine list? First, it's absolutely key to know what you're going to eat, and that will dictate what type of wine you want to zero in on. Now, if you a serious drinker, you could go in reserve and choose your wine and then order food that pairs well with it, but for the most part everyone wants to select their dishes first and then pick the wine. Once you've identified what the table is eating, it's time to dive in. Wine lists are always divided into red Now, it's time to narrow down the choices further. One perfectly acceptable approach is to look for familiar names on the list; you're almost guaranteed to see wines you've had before or at least heard of on almost all wine lists. Safety first is what we'd call this. But what fun is that? At the point that you've got your choices narrowed down to a varietal or two and you're in the mood to try something new, it's time to bring in the expert, the sommelier. The key to getting a great bottle is expressing your thought process and how you've narrowed down your options. For example, you could say this to the sommelier: "My wife is having lamb and I'm going with the ribeye, so we were looking at something heavier, such as a Syrah There are rare occasions where you'll be stuck without sommelier assistance; this would most likely occur at a restaurant without a very large wine list. Your server should be able to steer you in the right direction, but if the server is new or clueless, you're on your own. At this point, if you aren't seeing any familiar labels, try to find a wine from the same region or appellation as a wine that you enjoy. If that doesn't work, you'll be forced into somewhat of a guess. Our advice that this point... go for the wines in the middle or upper region in terms of price. That should ensure you of a good quality wine. Continuing with the aspect of price, you should always have a price point in mind that everyone (or, more specifically, everyone who is paying) is comfortable with. Don't let wine lists that lean heavily towards more expensive options scare you into spending more than you want. If you're at a restaurant such as Michael Mina, every wine on that list is going to be of very high quality. |
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