Waiter! There’s a fraud on my wine list!
By ED SCHWARTZ 2008-9-12 19:13:24
Recently there was a little flap involving a fake wine list from a fake restaurant — the so-called Osteria L’Intrepido — that won a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence. I guess that Robin Goldstein, the man who perpetrated this minor hoax, thought himself clever and he broadcast his deception far and wide. The bogus list included many wines that Spectator had trashed — lots of wines with scores below a rating of 70. Oh, naughty fellow!
I get the joke, but what’s the big deal? Even the greenest among us know that if a restaurateur submits a check and a long wine list, the list will be considered, and likely, favorably, so it isn’t like a Michelin star where a restaurant actually has to earn it. Wine Spectator has been involved with this pleasant game for years and no one really gets hurt. It’s just another award a restaurant can paste on its wall, rather like the places that proclaim, “Zagat rated” as if just a mere rating would mean something to the unwashed diner. What if the rating were a 14 out of 30? Silly, I say. I was the San Francisco editor of the first three Zagat Guides along with Anthony Dias Blue, so, too, I am Zagat rated.
I get the joke, but what’s the big deal? Even the greenest among us know that if a restaurateur submits a check and a long wine list, the list will be considered, and likely, favorably, so it isn’t like a Michelin star where a restaurant actually has to earn it. Wine Spectator has been involved with this pleasant game for years and no one really gets hurt. It’s just another award a restaurant can paste on its wall, rather like the places that proclaim, “Zagat rated” as if just a mere rating would mean something to the unwashed diner. What if the rating were a 14 out of 30? Silly, I say. I was the San Francisco editor of the first three Zagat Guides along with Anthony Dias Blue, so, too, I am Zagat rated.
If I were to give an award to a restaurant for a wine list, it wouldn’t be one for a wine list the size of our Napa phone book. I would give an award to a restaurant with a wine list of, say, 30 attractive wines, whose prices were such that a normal person might be able to afford a bottle of wine without flinching in pain when the wine list, printed on one single page, was offered. Now that would be something for a wine lover.
Several years ago, I was in a restaurant in Manhattan with a long list of wines. I was with several important wine people. The French-born captain oozed over to me and said in his most cloying voice, “Perhaps monsieur needs some help choosing a wine?”
Several years ago, I was in a restaurant in Manhattan with a long list of wines. I was with several important wine people. The French-born captain oozed over to me and said in his most cloying voice, “Perhaps monsieur needs some help choosing a wine?”
I cooed back, “Yes, I have a question. You list over 30 California cabernets and not one of them is less than $100 a bottle. So, just for fun, why don’t you bring us the least expensive bottle of wine on your list? Yes, that will do.” The captain’s look of disdain was worthy of any Frenchman on earth. The New Zealand sauvignon blanc was very nice, even with the steak.
Many of you are familiar with the wine list at Berns Steak House in Tampa. It is about 200 pages thick with 6,500 wines on the list. I think such a list is awkward but it has won every wine award in the book. What I like about the list is that many wines are really affordable and that, to me, that is the big deal. Two hundred wines by the glass are also useful if you want to spend a relaxed half hour trying to arrange a wine match with your dinner.
Many of you are familiar with the wine list at Berns Steak House in Tampa. It is about 200 pages thick with 6,500 wines on the list. I think such a list is awkward but it has won every wine award in the book. What I like about the list is that many wines are really affordable and that, to me, that is the big deal. Two hundred wines by the glass are also useful if you want to spend a relaxed half hour trying to arrange a wine match with your dinner.
What is silly about all of this is that I believe a huge, vast majority of wonderful and sophisticated people who go out to dine, do not choose a restaurant for its wine list. I have had dinners all over the world with people of discerning tastes and love of wine and no one ever said to me, “We’re going to Chez Chi Chi tonight — the place has a great wine list!” For this shocking opinion, I expect a posse of wine folks from some secret wine society, like The Chevaliers duh Tasty Vin, to rip the epaulets off my shoulders and smash my silver wine tasting cup under their heels while muttering French expletives.
I note a few exceptions, certainly the Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, one of the great restaurants in the world. The list is deep in both Italian wines and international wines, but the restaurant is also a three star temple of gastronomy. Also there are a few restaurants that pair courses with select wines, but as a rule, people go to restaurants where, most importantly, they are greeted and treated well. They also like a nice ambience. Food comes next and way at the end — if it ever comes up at all — wine.
If I were a wine lover and had a cellar full of great wines, why would I go out to a restaurant and buy a First Growth or a cult wine for, let’s say, $3,000? To show off? I would bring such a bottle with me and pay the corkage, whatever the price. I think the real joy of wine is to find really drinkable bottles for $25 and under at retail. Call me a heretic, slander my mother, but that’s my goal. There are thousands of wines that fall into my price range.
Speaking of wine lists and such, when I was just getting into the wine business in 1959, my first assignment at the “21” Club in Manhattan was to prepare its wine list for publication as a hard copy book for some anniversary. The most expensive wine on that list was a DRC Romanee-Conti for $14.75. And, mind you, “21” was no slouch for expensive dining. A First Growth Bordeaux was $4.75 at Cork & Bottle, my neighborhood wine shop, and you bet I brought them. Today, “21’s” director of wine operations, Phil Pratt, told me he has a bottle of that DRC wine for $8,000. Let us toast the good old days.
On Thursday, Sept. 25, beginning at 6 p.m., you will have the opportunity to enjoy all the double gold medal winners of the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, followed by a dinner featuring double gold medal winnings wines. Wine and food guru Anthony Dias Blue will preside. Tickets are $150 per person and are available by calling 1-800-338-7819, ext. 4. It’s at Silks restaurant at the Mandarin Hotel, 222 Sansome St.
I note a few exceptions, certainly the Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, one of the great restaurants in the world. The list is deep in both Italian wines and international wines, but the restaurant is also a three star temple of gastronomy. Also there are a few restaurants that pair courses with select wines, but as a rule, people go to restaurants where, most importantly, they are greeted and treated well. They also like a nice ambience. Food comes next and way at the end — if it ever comes up at all — wine.
If I were a wine lover and had a cellar full of great wines, why would I go out to a restaurant and buy a First Growth or a cult wine for, let’s say, $3,000? To show off? I would bring such a bottle with me and pay the corkage, whatever the price. I think the real joy of wine is to find really drinkable bottles for $25 and under at retail. Call me a heretic, slander my mother, but that’s my goal. There are thousands of wines that fall into my price range.
Speaking of wine lists and such, when I was just getting into the wine business in 1959, my first assignment at the “21” Club in Manhattan was to prepare its wine list for publication as a hard copy book for some anniversary. The most expensive wine on that list was a DRC Romanee-Conti for $14.75. And, mind you, “21” was no slouch for expensive dining. A First Growth Bordeaux was $4.75 at Cork & Bottle, my neighborhood wine shop, and you bet I brought them. Today, “21’s” director of wine operations, Phil Pratt, told me he has a bottle of that DRC wine for $8,000. Let us toast the good old days.
On Thursday, Sept. 25, beginning at 6 p.m., you will have the opportunity to enjoy all the double gold medal winners of the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition, followed by a dinner featuring double gold medal winnings wines. Wine and food guru Anthony Dias Blue will preside. Tickets are $150 per person and are available by calling 1-800-338-7819, ext. 4. It’s at Silks restaurant at the Mandarin Hotel, 222 Sansome St.
From napavalleyregister