Does Your Favorite Restaurant Care About Its Wine (Smaller Restaurant Version)?

Does your favorite restaurant care about its wine? That seems like a silly question, but I'm going to offer my opinions. There are lots of tells and gradations, and, of course, we wouldn't expect a family-style chain restaurant to care in the same way that a high-end steakhouse would, but most restaurants have the opportunity to show that they care that their customers truly have an excellent wine experience or that they are just turning a nice profit on every bottle. Serious wine drinkers are more likely to patronize the first group.

Let's start with the smallish neighborhood favorite. What I'm talking about here is the little gem that it took you two years to find because it's hidden on a corner that you try to stay away from. But, a friend told you about the restaurant and you tried it and you fell in love. 

But, did you fall in love with the wine there?

This restaurant can't have an expansive wine list. It's only open for dinner and in non-Covid times, it only seats 40. And, they don't have a lot of storage space, so their ability to keep their wine stored at proper temperatures is extremely limited. So, what can they do?

They probably have a white wine refrigerator. And, they should probably keep the wine in there a few degrees cooler than its proper serving temperatures as the wine will warm a bit as soon as it's removed. If you see a number that starts with a 3 on the termperature indicator, though, they don't care. That's just too cold. With respect to their red wines, if they at least keep them stored horizontally and out of the bright lights, they're not doing badly.

The wine glasses they use are another big tell. Now, admittedly, they may be an ethnic restaurant trying to imitate wine service in an underground garage in Lisbon or a sidewalk cafe in Milan in which case they would perhaps use the glasses you would find there, but lets assume they are not. 

At the very least, they should have red wine glasses and white wine glasses, or they should have versatile, but decent tasting glasses that can accommodate most any wine. If they have room for them, they might even have up to 5 types -- aromatic white, non-aromatic white, aromatic red, tannic red, and special occasion red. That's going to an extreme for a smaller restaurant, though. An additional nice touch would be to keep a couple of decanters in house.

Then there is the wine list. It's going to be small, but it can still have diversity. A wine list that has five Chardonnays and a Pinot Grigio says that the owner likes Chardonnay and has a spouse that likes Pinot Grigio. But, a list that has two Chardonnays of different styles, two Sauvignon Blancs of different styles, and two other white wines says they care abour their customers. Similarly, the list with two Cabernets, two Pinot Noirs, two Merlots, a Syrah, and a couple of red blends is wonderful. 

Prices should have diversity. In this area, it's not uncommon to see a list a bit more robust than the one above that is filled with bottles ranging from $35 to $50, and a few select bottles in the $110 to $150 range. But, there is nothing in the range of $50 to $110. Isn't this just a bit disrespectful to the diner who likes better wine, but doesn't have the budget for $100 plus for a bottle?

Finally, there is no excuse for not serving the wine properly. Now, I'm not talking about all the pomp you would expect from a trained sommelier, but there is no reason that service should not include the opportunity to taste the wine for imperfection before complete service and that pours be appropriate (if you order a bottle, there is no reason to fill glasses more than one-third of the way up).

Finally, for the neighborhood gem that really cares about its wine, and this is probably only for the geeks and snobs among us, the wine list should reflect the food on the menu. So, if you are at a seafood restaurant, there is no reason to fill a list with big, bold, tannic reds. Or, if you are at a place that features red meat, we'd expect those big, tannic reds, but we would not expect a lot of Riesling. This is common sense, but so many places don't do it. And, as we look at that list, do we see the same wines that we see everywhere else? I know; they sell. But, have a wine or two that people don't recognize and feature them. Sell them at a slightly discounted price or offer small tastes to customers. If people like them, you have a new wine, unique to your restaurant that you can feature.

We're going to work our way up the food chain, so to speak on this restaurant adventure with two or three more days getting to better and better places. But, until tomorrow ...