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Food and Drink

May I see the wine list - please

By Anthony Gismondi

Long before appellations and approved viticultural areas (AVAs), single vineyard barrel fermented, critter labels and globetrotting winemakers, restaurant wine lists were a simple read. Essentially your choice boiled down to red or white wine, all of which was equally sweet.

Those days are long gone in a province where the inhabitants are mad about wine. With B.C.’s annual per capita consumption growing monthly and heading north toward 20 litres per head (similar to UK consumption), drinking quality table wine is fast becoming an integral part of the every day dining experience. Both sophisticated and thoughtful, many of today’s B.C. restaurant wine lists are as good as any you’ll find on the continent.

While I wholeheartedly endorse the notion of better and not necessarily bigger wine lists, sophistication comes with a price — and it’s more than just the cost of the bottle. There is a fine line between giving the customer the variety and depth they demand and totally confusing the person given the task of actually choosing something to go with his or her meal. Obviously a wine list that scares off as many customers as it attracts is not the goal of any restaurateur.

As someone frequently charged with reviewing and, in some cases, evaluating wine lists, I thought it might be useful to breakdown the format of the modern wine list and see just what all the shouting is about.

If you are 35 years of age or older you may remember the term “house wine” although, hopefully, you won’t remember any of the wine. House wine was never much of bargain, at least quality-wise, and its disappearance off the modern-day list can only be interpreted as a good thing. Wine-by-the-glass is where the action is today and it’s by far your best opportunity to explore new wines without “investing” in an entire bottle. For many it has become the perfect pre-dinner solution before ordering that bottle of old faithful.

Some restaurants have even instituted regularly scheduled taste programs. These are designed to offer customers a “sneak” preview of what is on the regular wine list, again without forcing you to buy the entire bottle.

From here most wine lists launch into a standard format that breaks out the white wine from the red. Many methods are used including progressing from the lightest- to the richest-textured wines, from the simplest to the most complex, or even from the youngest to the oldest. That said, today’s favoured and no doubt most successful wine list format is the one sorted by grape variety and/or blend.

In the case of white wine, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay generally command separate sections, followed by a miscellaneous band of varietals that include riesling, sémillon, chenin blanc, viognier and an assortment of blends. The reds follow a similar pattern led by cabernet sauvignon, followed by pinot noir and more recently merlot, shiraz and zinfandel.

Other techniques include a more traditional listing of wine by country and region. Here on the West Coast it has become fashionable to separate the Old World wines of Europe from the New World efforts of the United States, Canada and the southern hemisphere. Within each country you may discover some regional sorting such as Italy-Tuscany-Chianti. No matter what the format is, once consumers become familiar with the layout, finding most wines isn’t very complicated.

Sometimes within the aforementioned groupings the selections are arranged by price. Others mix the order in the hope that you will read the entire list and not just those selections that most suit your budget. Still others have fixed prices, offering selections at various price points such as $19, $29, and $39. It is here that customers with particularly fine-tuned pricing knowledge can often find bottles sporting less than the full mark-up.

Restaurants with more advanced wine programs normally offer a small range of specialty, high-end products either within the main selections or on a completely separate list that often represents the best they have to offer. Typically selections are limited and tend to change often, although usually what’s available more than meets the demands of the most discriminating diner.

Of course, the value of any specialty list is closely related to the quality of what is in the bottle, with particular attention being paid to both the vintage and producer of the wine.

Any establishment hoping to improve its wine list (and its bottom line) will find that building a solid, wine list is a relatively easy and painless process, if and only if, they are prepared to seek professional help. And that doesn’t mean trading a free meal for second-hand advice from your accountant, lawyer and or banker.

Once selected, the new list must be introduced to the staff. Only a small percentage of restaurants can afford to employ a full-time sommelier to look after wine sales so the onus for wine service falls squarely on the shoulders of the wait staff. They need as much information as possible to offer uncluttered service shaped with a solid grasp of the fundamentals of wine.

It is my experience that staff is mostly a reflection of the owner and his or her personality, and what they think about their customers. If the owner cares enough to educate his staff about the wine list chances are the staff will look after all your wine needs. Just remember to ask for help when you need it.

• • •

I couldn’t leave you without a couple of killer wine picks to kick off the warm weather:

Vina Casablanca Sauvignon Blanc Coleccion Privada 2006, Casablanca Valley, Chile $14

Edition two is as solid as the previous year and it’s great value for $14. The nose is clean and fresh with plenty of lifted gooseberry, green apple and lime rind aromas. It’s New Zealand for $5 less. Love the balance and freshness here. Perfect seafood/shellfish wine. Drink it all summer.

Pascual Toso Malbec 2005, Maipú, Northern Region, Mendoza, Argentina $12

Big savoury, gamey, spicy, menthol, black cherry, cedar, licorice, shoe leather aromas. Ripe, round, fat, full bodied style with smooth tannins. Peppery, menthol, black cherry, orange, cedar, tobacco, savoury flavours. Continued good value and intensity.

 

Anthony Gismondi is a globetrotting wine writer who makes his home in West Vancouver, British Columbia. For more of his thoughts on wine log onto www.gismondionwine.com