Over the decades it has always been interesting to me to study restaurant wine lists. Your scribe has loads of experience even judging several competitions awarding the best wine list. Memories from the last century of dining at Michelin starred restaurants (with rooms) in France and upon checking in asking for the Wine List to carefully go over before dinner. Some long expansive tomes in those days and it was fun to narrow down some possible wine choices and older vintages you wanted to try and enjoy. It was so much simpler then with fewer top quality wine regions and more reasonably priced classic wines. Today it is much more difficult to balance the restaurant’s hope for profitability with the consumer’s search for fair value. So many factors involved now including the plethora of successful wineries around the world offering excellent wines, the demand and scarcity of icon wines, the increasing prices of all wines, higher mark-ups, tariffs, the marketing of brands, the dominance of supermarkets, cost control and inventory management, staff training, the happening of natural & orange wines, and the health issues with recent emergence of no alcohol or low-alcohol (NoLo) or alcohol-free (AF) & non-alcoholic (NA).
What is the right magic number of wines to offer on a Wine List? You want a diverse selection at various price points to satisfy consumer tastes – but not too many to navigate through. It is nice to see a regularly changing updated list. A good opportunity to try new undiscovered wines. You want wines that match the cuisine. Two lists often work well with a shorter one with reasonably priced wines and by the glass selections plus a longer one of more limited inventory at higher prices. We like slower mid-week specials (Cactus Club Tuesday half price) and BYOB day (at Orto Artisan Pasta). It is not an easy job to craft a balanced workable wine list. Increased restaurant emphasis on beers, ciders, sake, and especially cocktails. Please try harder on your Wine Lists!
Thinking back over the past year on various Wine Lists we have experienced shows Canada (with monopoly Liquor Boards) really needing wine price relief though Quebec & Alberta are somewhat better. Several visits to Paris & Burgundy show extensive lists of yore at the 3 star Michelins (Epicure at The Bristol) & Bistro 114 Faubourg but still fine value at Le Maufoux in Beaune for 2020 Chablis Raveneau 70 Euros, 2018 Meursault Domaine Roulot 100E, and 2015 Beaune Clos de la Mousse Bouchard Père 110E. The USA does better but with an amazing wide range starting with good Greek wine reasonable choices by the glass “Vins au Verre” at Milos locations to pair well with the Greek food to expensive resorts like Topper’s at the Wauwinet on Nantucket Island though have 11 Gevrey-Chambertin choices from $8000 to $140 listed in descending price order. Some fair values in New York with mature Italian 2014 Barbera d’Asti Icardi $85 perfect with the Italian focused cuisine at Don Angie, fresh Vermentino from Sardinia $62 at Shukette, and appropriate Alsace Riesling 2018 Grittermatte $95 at hot new Penny. Like the wine focus at some Boston spots like Toscano that feature ongoing specials for 8 ounce servings. San Francisco ranges widely too from upscale Rousseau Clos St. Jacques verticals at Angler to more user friendly lists at Zuni Cafe.
Possibly the best restaurant wine find of the year for me was an exquisite bottle specially imported of surprisingly pure balanced complexity 2022 Bourgogne Blanc Hautes-Cotes de Beaune Jardin Du Calvaire from respected Etienne Sauzet at Le Crocodile Vancouver. Posted on this Blog August 11, 2025 were white Burgundy values & this is another one to add on.
Wine Lists and sommelier led formal wine service is presently at a crossroads. Where do you think restaurants go from here? Pleased to receive your feedback and your predictions.
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