When A Restaurant Really Cares About Its Wine

Some restaurants care about their wine as much as more than they care about their food. They are lauded by critics and customers alike and they win awards if they seek them. Frankly, the wine experience there is different. Let's consider visits to a few of them, again without naming names although you may be able to identify them if you've been there.

Our first restaurant is known for its beef ... and for its desserts ... and for its wine. Upon entering, you notice the ornate if not gaudy wall covering and the highly vaulted ceilings. You won't be seated without a reservation and you had better make your reservation weeks if not months in advance.

Upon being seated, each guest will receive a thick menu and one of you will receive, in addition, a book. Yes, the wine list is a book, leather bound, and not thin at that. It's a marvel to explore, but if you're looking for the best wine on the list, you have some work to do.

Your server greets you. (S)he explains the menu and asks about your water selection, whether you will be having anything else to drink and if any of that will be wine. You're asked if you will need help with the wine.

The questions are not done yet, however. You're also asked if you would like to reserve a space in the dessert room upstairs after dinner and if you would like a tour of the kitchen and wine cellar. As silly as that might seem, do not say no. Do not say no under any circumstances. Just don't.

Your server has likely been with this restaurant for a long time. In fact, they average more than 15 years at that restaurant. But, they didn't start as servers. They started working the farm and then as kitchen help. They know everything about the food and food preparation there, and despite generally not wearing sommelier's pins, they know their wine. In fact, your server is probably quite familar with at least 1000 labels that are on the wine list and by familiar, we mean that they as much about that wine as a good wine director typically would. And, if you need more help than that, on any given night, there are between four and eight sommeliers on the floor (in addition, there are often two dessert drink sommeliers on the dessert floor).

The wine service is everything you would expect. It comes with all the pomp. You'll notice that the temperature is perfect and if you are drinking a red wine, it will be decanted unless you request otherwise. 

Let's digress for a second and talk about the wine list. Suppose what you really want is a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Howell Mountain AVA of Napa Valley and you want one that has at least 20 years on it. Tough to find, huh? This restaurant has at least a dozen of them on the list. Instead, you want a Grand Cru Burgundy that you might describe as powerful yet well-balanced and to celebrate your recent inheritance, you're willing to break the bank. Then you have your choice of several 1959 La Romanee.

While the list upstairs is not as thick, your dessert drink pairings are in their own smaller book. Need help pairing with their bananas Foster or baked Alaska? One of the dessert sommeliers will be happy to help you. Heard that you haven't lived until you've shared a bottle of 1945 Chateau d'Yquem? They'll ask you which size bottle you would like to enjoy.

So, having blown most of the inheritance at that restaurant, you travel to another part of the country to enjoy what can best be described as Asian fusion food. It's loaded with east Asian spices and anathema to wine, they love some of the roots that many sommeliers view as wine killers. The restaurant does not seem overly pretentious, but in addition to the servers, even on a slow night, you see several sommeliers out on the floor. This food is not easy to pair with and you will need their help. Again, the servers know their wine, but not at the level of the sommeliers.

Upon having one of the somms summoned for you, your experience might be something like this. First, a greeting and confirmation that you are looking for assistance. They will ask questions to ascertain what you like in a wine and also which foods you are thinking about. They may also ask if you are looking for traditional pairings or something different.

The wine list at this restaurant is quite extensive -- perhaps in the range of 30-50 pages. Nobody could know it all, could they?

Relating an actual story as it occurred, but not remembering the foods, we were informed that the traditional pairing would be an aromatic white wine -- perhaps an Alsatian Riesling. However, if we'd like to get really adventurous, a Sangiovese might do really well. Why not go adventurous?

Our somm pointed out that they had (my memory says about) eight different vintages of this particular wine. We discussed them and said that the other sommeliers there really liked the 2005 and 2007, but she preferred the 2010 because it still had more fruit. We decided to go with her recommendation (the least expensive of the bunch, but that's not why we chose it) and it was remarkable. 

But, the experience wasn't over. A few minutes into our dinner, she checked to make sure we were enjoying the pairing. When we approved, she returned once again, this time with six small pours of wine, three for each of us. These were among the other wines she had recommended and she wanted us to be able to compare.

These restaurants care about their wine. They want their customers to have a life-altering wine experience. I don't know how else to describe it, but when you have the same experience, you will know it.

And, as a postscript, at each of these restaurants, you can order a good bottle of wine for well under $50 for a bottle, so you need not break the bank.