Grape of the Day

I'll be one to say it and I'll say it here. I really do not like having to look at a restaurant menu or worse yet, a restaurant wine list on my phone. The whole craze of using QR (quick response in case you weren't sure) codes to get to a menu or a drink or wine list is a craze that makes me crazy. I'm not as facile as most of the people half my age and my eyes just don't like looking at the list either in a microscopic size or pinching it so that it's bigger, but then having to scroll all over the place to see what I really want to see. Imagine a 5-page wine list or a 10-page list or a 200-page list on your phone. Maybe you can, but for me, it is a nightmare that just won't quit. But, for restaurants, there are hueg advantages. If wines are kept online so that diners and drinkers can see the list on their phones, then restaurants can easily track inventory. They can also track the likes and dislikes of frequent guests. They can see how people are choosing t

As a broad classification, the most expensive wines in the world are Burgundies. Primarily red, but a few whites as well. Are they worth it? It depends who you ask, but don't ask me as I will never know.  There is a website that every year compiles a list of the 10 most expensive labels on average and shows that average retail price. And, it is not split by vintage, so the most prized vintages are ever more expensive. In 2021, 9 of the top 10 are Burgundies (the other one being a TBA Riesling) and 8 of the top 10 cost more than $10,000 per 750 ml bottle, on average. Compare to 2019, when only 5 exceeded $10,000. In just 2 years, the price to make this esteemed list has gone up by more than 50%. That is inflation. The number one wine on the list is the Domaine Leroy Musigny Grand Cru weighing in at an average of $32,857 per 750 ml bottle. On the 2020 list, the same wine was not #1, but it was only about $17,000 per bottle. What happened there? Who drinks this stuff? Presumably, it&#

What makes you like a wine better than another wine? I don't know. It could be that it tastes like a Hawaiian pizza, that's it's overly oaky, or that it's so tannic that you're still puckered up from last night's glass. While I've exaggerated a bit, I have heard descriptions that approached each of those from various people describing wines they love. On the other hand, if you are reading a description of wine from people who are experts in the field or at least purport to be, you'll likely see descriptors a bit different from those. What are their keys and if you understood them, would they make a difference to you? It might be easier to start with what they are not. I've never heard a real wine geek describe what they really like in a wine with a particularly simple description. And, if you read a review of a great wine, it might go on and on ... and on. It's that last "and on" after the ellipsis that should be telltale. Experienced w

Perhaps it's the alcohol. Maybe it's that you are just doing something fun. Could it be that only nice people drink wine? No, I know it's not that as I've had the other experience as well. But, by and large, when out tasting wine whether at a winery, a wine bar or restaurant, or just wherever it's an option, nice people seem to abound.  Consider yesterday. We chose to take our relatively new puppy (she's 4 1/2 months old now) out to do some wine tasting. We chose two wineries, one of which we had been to previously and the other which we had heard good things about, that claimed to be dog friendly. And, both were. Arriving at the first one, poor little Lola was amazed at everything around her -- the sights, the sounds, the smells, all the people, and even a few other dogs. While I went to get us wine, Lisa found a "sofa" on one side of an outdoor table. A couple less than half our ages was on the other side. I don't expect we have much in common wi

Restaurants and banquet halls love large gatherings. They often have open bars and to go with the open bars, their charges for alcoholic beverages are often quite exorbitant. And, frankly, they like nothing better than the wine drinkers. More so than with other alcoholic beverages, they are able to move their bad wines at good wine prices. Really? How does that happen? There are a few brands that you can see over and over at functions like this. Typically, they have something in common with a more famous brand. But, these are the mass-produced wines from out of the way vineyards that a restaurant or banquet hall can put out there as the same thing as the top tier wine whose name it sounds like.  But, and there is a big but there, they don't resemble each other. They're not produced from grapes from the same vineyards, perhaps not even the same regions. They're not produced using the same exacting techniques. And, they don't taste anything remotely like the wine they are

Some restaurants have what they call a Reserve List. This might be wines that are higher-priced, special wines, wines that they store or handle differently, wines that are poured in bigger or better glasses, or simply better wines. Some people always order off the Reserve List; others never do. I tend to look to the Reserve List in special situations: when it's "Half Off Night," when there is a steal on there, or on special occasions. Not all wines on the Reserve List are created (or priced) equally, however. There are some that everybody recognizes, some that a smaller group recognizes and some that only a few will recognize. Let's consider each of them. Unless the restaurant is featuring a particular wine, you tend to get your worst pricing on the wines that everybody knows although that is not always the case. While I rarely call out names, I am going to illustrate with a few. Where I live, there are two Cabernets that seem to be on every restaurant's Reserve L