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When
it comes to wine lists
Bigger isn't necessarily better
©
Michael Vaughan 2006
National Post
Weekly Wine & Spirits Columnist
Saturday,
May 6, 2006
The first in a series
on wine lists by Michael Vaughan.
Over the next few weeks, National Post readers will get the scoop on
how Toronto restaurants/sommeliers create their wine lists.
LIVE
WINE LINK
www.winefind.ca
(CLICK ON THE NAME - All
listings are automatically linked to the LCBO database)
If there is a product that interests you,
just click on the name below and you will instantaneously connected with
the LCBO database. The product will appear in blue and all you have to do
is click on the name again
and then the next screen will provide details along with the store search.
Just click on store search.
The number of bottles in each store is updated nightly. Call
the store first to see if stock still remains (each store phone number is
listed).
I admit it - I have a love-hate relationship with wine lists. First, I have great admiration for those who assemble well-planned, in-depth cellars. There is nothing like being able to discover a great, almost impossible to find, treasure lurking on a wine list. As a great amount of time and money is sunk in developing and maintaining great collections, such wines are rarely bargains.
Unfortunately, Ontario restaurants are not free to buy whatever they want. Unlike establishments in New York, Paris or London, the LCBO in cahoots with other provincial authorities, make it extremely difficult and expensive for restaurants to buy rare wines not found on LCBO shelves. A LCBO moratorium on certain private/consignment imports earlier this year, for instance, disrupted the supply of badly needed wines.
In the area of fine wine, last year's "bring your own wine" (BYOW) legislation was God sent. It enables serious wine lovers to bring that treasured bottle to a restaurant and enjoy it with friends and fine cuisine. "They got it wrong in Quebec" says one licensee, "because there you can only bring it to an establishment with no license." BYOW also gets around the problem of huge beverage taxes. Just like average consumers, restaurants pay most of the LCBO mark-up. Adding the additional 10% Ontario taxes (and 7% GST) to the wine's restaurant selling price at the end of a meal makes drinking out a very profitable business for the government.
While some may think, the bigger the better - that isn't always the case. At one time, I was totally impressed by size, but soon discovered that a big selection usually comes at a cost: the bigger the list, the higher the mark-up. While there are exceptions where choice is not compromised by high markups, there are other problems.
One concern of massive selections is that slower moving wines can remain on the list long past their prime meaning unsuspecting customers may end up with duds. I have been shocked by some of the outdated stuff hanging around some Wine Spectator wine list award-winning restaurants. I also have discovered that some of the best wines are put on hold for privileged clients. Because of this, I have become a great fan of smaller, well-chosen lists that feature tasty wines at a reasonable price. Note the key words: "tasty" and "reasonable".
To this end, more and more Toronto restaurants are featuring consignment wines and/or private orders. As a wine tasting professional, it means that I am often unfamiliar with what is being offered. The reason? Very few wine agents are proactive in having their wines assessed. Indeed, some importers don't want me to write about their wines and what they cost, because it would reveal restaurant mark-ups! Let's face it; the government isn't the only gouger in town.
Of course, some agents are proactive and get specialty items assessed. Alas, many of the portfolio tastings are too large and crowded - not really conducive to proper evaluation. Try to make notes when the only thing you can smell is the dazzling damsel's perfume. Odour-free, sit-down blind tastings are always best.
The nice thing about a smaller list is flexibility; the bad thing, lack of continuity. Such lists potentially liberate the restaurant from catering to the know-it-alls, who only demand the labels they know and love. I would rather have a tight selection of 20 fine, well-chosen wines, as opposed to 100 so-so selections. Tracking down the gems, however, is always a challenge.
At Toronto's The Rosebud, a relatively new bistro in the fashionable Queen Street West district, Krista Raspor has inherited the challenge of assembling the wine list. She learned hands-on without any formal training and has developed an idiosyncratic pastiche that focuses mostly on private order and consignment wines. With a wide variety of customers, she has broken them up into two groups. Younger clientele apparently prefer the "New World", while the "Old World" is more for the mature set.
With just less than three-dozen seats, Rosebud offers a fairly large selection of wines - 40 reds and 33 whites, 4 bubblies and 6 sweeties. Their website displays an outdated list (a problem afflicting most restaurants), which means you can't check out the selection before your visit. National Post readers, however, can see the current one by clicking here. To see their dinner menu click here. Remember, call first about availability because quantities stocked are small and always rotating.
On
Rosebud's wine list I discovered Excelsior
2004 Chardonnay from South Africa's Robertson Valley. It
costs $40 a bottle ($10 a glass) and was a great surprise with crisp,
fresh, ripe melon flavours leaning in a floral, almost Viognier-like,
direction. Fairly un-South African stylistically, but perfect with a truly
divine, spicy, cauliflower soup of day. As the second cheapest white on
the menu, it was a hit.
Having never heard of this wine or the importer, I managed to track down the latter, Metropolitan Wines. I discovered that only two restaurants have it and that it costs about $13. Sadly, buying a bottle from importer is impossible. While local wineries, their stores and the LCBO can sell a bottle at a time (even have it delivered to your house), importers can only sell a case at a time. Worse yet, importers can't stock anything they sell. Talk about Ontario's grossly unfair, discriminatory regulations!
There are 8 whites, 5 reds and one sparkler available by the glass along with 3 local sweet dessert wines and 3 fortified wines. Some selections are iffy, while others like the general list Cave Spring Cellar 2004 Off-Dry Riesling (pricey at $9 a glass vs. the $11.18 pre-tax restaurant bottle cost and LCBO's $13.95 retail) are spot on. Sadly, the sole sparkler Seaview, is not a destination drink. If you want something decent, the cheapest bubbly is the tasty Piper Heidsieck Brut at $100 ($117 after taxes but before gratuities) vs. the LCBO's $52.95 retail price. For Dom Perignon, it's worse: $350 vs. a licensee cost of about $168. It all makes me wonder why so many restaurants feel compelled to have such high markups? After all, it doesn't cost a penny more to serve a bottle of frothy Seaview at $36 than Dom at almost ten times the price. Also, why no half bottles, especially of Champagne?
If readers have comments on wine lists write to Michael Vaughan at mbv@biteback.ca
National Post readers wishing to receive the current May 2006 Vintage Assessments newsletter (covering the Vintages releases for the May 13th & 27th releases - including ISD) can have it e-mailed today and receive a $20 discount - click here.
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Contact Michael Vaughan at
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