I'm going to spend just a moment ranting here about a very big pet peeve of mine. Restaurants that allow their wine lists to become outdated and/or just plain wrong. Making a wine list can be a daunting task for a restaurant manager who doesn't have a wine background, but there are consultants to help if you're not up to the task. If you call yourself a sommelier, you'd better be up to it. The list, regardless of size, scope and format should list the following information for every wine.Varietal, Winery, Appellation, Vineyard (where needed), Vintage and Price. This is very base level of information for any guest, from novice to Master of Wine to make an educated decision. Please please keep the list updated. There is no excuse for not updating the list at least once a month to keep vintages correct and remove items no longer available. These sorts of errors reflect very badly on the restaurant. I ordered a bottle of Alain Graillot Crozes Hermitage Blanc 2004 (a white Rhone fave of mine) from a notable Bay Area restaurant lately and was brought (after fifteen or twenty minutes to chill the bottle to an acceptable temperature without showing me the bottle) a bottle of 2003 Guigal Crozes Hermitage Blanc. So let's review, I waited without wine for almost twenty minutes for a bottle of wine that was both the wrong wine and the wrong vintage. The waitress seemed stunned upon presenting the wine to discover that A) I knew the difference and B) I seemed to mind. Oh, but the wine they DID have was the same price... Hallelujah!
You wouldn't present a menu to a client where nine out of the ten items are mispriced and come with french fries instead of the wasabi mashed potatoes would you? No, and you most definitely would not bring out a well done steak when the guest had ordered a veal medium rare.
I can't fault the poor waitress, the manager/sommelier never bothered to show his face at the table to apologize, and the waitress had obviously never been trained properly.
So please, keep the list current- does it take time? Yes. But trust me, it is very necessary.
Cheers,
TRC
2 comments:
Excellent post, and one that deserves particular attention here in Baltimore, which just might have the worst overall food service anywhere in the East coast. Case in point, I went to a restaurant last week serving d’Arenberg The Stump Jump Red and was instead given a glass of Alice White Shiraz, with the waiter's feedback that this was basically the same order, only perhaps even better. When I incredulously replied that the d’Arenberg contained a healthy dose of Grenache, she curtly informed me they were both "Shiraz." Which simply forced me to immediately send it back.
While there may be more, I personally know of only a handfull of Baltimore eating establishments that actually possess knowledgeable wine personnel who will work to properly pair a suitable wine with a meal, given the client’s preferences and financial constraints: Black Olive, Charleston’s, Prime Rib, IXIA, and a couple of others in Little Italy. Not too surprising, however, considering that even the Baltimore Sun's primary food critic, Elizabeth Large, rarely even mentions wine in her reviews, much less ever evaluates the restaurant for their capabilities in this service area.
These are not sophisticated concepts; in fact, they should be de rigeur for any restaurant looking to compete. I can only hope that people in general will become more demanding of quality of service, equating it as a necessary complement to the restaurant’s quality of food.
I must say Capo, I forgot that you can write quite eloquently:)
I really like it.
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