Winning Wine Lists
As restaurant wine lists improve, Wine Spectator's Dining Guide continues to grow
Despite a stagnant economy that has Americans seeking the comforts of home cooking, restaurants are offering a wider array of options for wine-loving diners than ever before. Our annual Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards issue provides a guide to restaurants that take wine as seriously as you do. For the seventh year in a row, we received a record number of new entries -- 993 in 2003, breaking last year's mark of 848. Of these, 784 (79 percent) received one of our awards.
An additional 2,576 restaurants maintained previously earned awards, so our Dining Guide now counts 3,360 restaurants around the world with wine lists worthy of commendation.
Wine Spectator has three levels of wine list awards. The highest is the Grand Award, given to restaurants that display uncompromising quality in their wine programs. These restaurants are destinations for wine lovers, offering cellars full of bottles from top producers in mature vintages, along with unparalleled service and excellent food. This year we honor six new Grand Award winners: Alain Ducasse at the Essex House, Atrio, Le Cinq, Picasso, '21' Club and Via Allegro.
It's difficult to win a Grand Award, and it's not easy to maintain one. This year, eight former Grand Award winners were reclassified to our second-tier category, the Best of Award of Excellence, and four were dropped from the program. This brings the number of Grand Award restaurants to 89, less than 3 percent of our total roster.
The Best of Award of Excellence is given to restaurants with impressive wine lists that don't yet reach Grand Award standards. This year, 92 returning restaurants were upgraded to a Best of Award of Excellence, while 47 new winners gained this recognition. That brings the total of "Best of" winners to 463, nearly 14 percent of the total. This represents the highest percentage of Best of Award of Excellence winners in three years, as well as the category's highest ever total in real numbers.
Adega, in Denver, is a prototypical Best of Award of Excellence winner. New to the program this year, Adega offers a list of 800 selections backed by 13,500 bottles in inventory. The list features recognized stars from France, California and Italy, while also offering well-chosen wines from Austria and Germany -- selections that show a distinctly contemporary bent.
Hostellerie Bérard in La Cadière d'Azur, France, is another restaurant that earned a Best of Award of Excellence this year, an upgrade from its 2002 award. Its 870-selection list is strong in local bottlings, with comprehensive coverage of the wines of Provence augmenting a solid Bordeaux lineup. The cellar draws from a 12,000-bottle inventory.
Adega and Hostellerie Bérard's lists offer wines from both classic and less mainstream regions, continuing the trend of restaurants branching out with their selections.
"I'm selling more Alsatian, Loire and New Zealand wines than ever before," says David Alphonse, beverage director for the Legal Sea Foods restaurant chain, which counts 23 Award winners among their many branches. "People want character, value and food-friendly wines."
As wines from outside California and France's premier regions continue to gain acceptance among consumers, restaurants are reacting by giving them more representation on their lists.
"I find there is a growing interest in the Rhône with our customers. They are more knowledgeable, and then they look for those grapes -- Grenache, Syrah -- from other regions," says André Compeyre, sommelier at Alain Ducasse at the Essex House.
While depth of vintages and breadth of regions is important for those achieving our higher-level awards, a comfortable 80-selection bistro list has its place as well. Restaurants that offer well-presented lineups of quality producers, while taking care to match their selections to their cuisine, form the backbone of the program. Our Award of Excellence winners now total 2,808; this group warrants your regular patronage as you reserve special occasions for the Best of Award of Excellence- and Grand Award-winning restaurants.
Not everything is rosy for wine-loving diners though. Prices continue to be a sore spot. A bottle of wine can quickly turn a couple's modest dinner check into a three-digit bill. Those lists whose pricing is generally inexpensive make up less than 12 percent of our listings. This year, we have highlighted these value-oriented restaurants in our Dining Guide.
Dine at Restaurant Schaeffer, an Award of Excellence winner in Serrières, France, and you can order the Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 1990 for 183 euros ($200). In comparison, Charlie Trotter's in Chicago, a Grand Award winner since 1993, offers the '99 vintage of the same wine for $275 -- the result of markups caused by the U.S. distribution chain. However, Trotter's list does include a separate section that features more than 250 selections at $75 or less.
In addition, American diners typically drink more young wine than old, leaving restaurants short on wines to age in their own cellars and thus making it difficult for them to build vertical collections. That forces restaurateurs to plumb the auction market for older vintages -- a risky and expensive endeavor that can create erratic pricing. Many of the lists we reviewed had higher prices for wines from weaker years. A bottle of '94 Mouton-Rothschild cost more than $400 at one steak house, while the far superior '90 vintage cost only $100 more at another -- likely a result of when and from where the wines were purchased.
Meanwhile, those restaurants that employ below-normal markups often see dramatic results in their wine sales. Using this strategy, Legal Sea Foods offers numerous wines for less than $40 a bottle, while also providing bargains on high-end wines. The 1993 Moët & Chandon Brut Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon lists for $99 -- it typically ranges $150 and up at other restaurants. With this consumer-friendly approach, the chain sells more wine.
"The spirits and beer sales are flat since '97, but every year wine sales have increased," says Alphonse about the program.
Some restaurants allow diners to bring in their own wines, another way for consumers to offset high prices. A corkage fee is common in these cases; $15 to $20 per bottle is not unusual. We solicited corkage fee information from the restaurants this year, and have listed it in the guide for the first time. For more on corkage policies and etiquette, see the box at left.
Despite the impressive growth of serious wine programs, many still lag behind. Of this year's 993 new entries, 209 did not win an award, a percentage that's in line with past years. In addition, several previous winners failed to earn renewal of their awards, while others were downgraded in award level.
First and foremost, wine lists must provide vintages and appellations for all selections, including by-the-glass wines. To our surprise, we continue to receive wine lists that fail to provide this basic information, inexcusable in today's world of laser printers and spreadsheet inventories. Some lists give multiple vintages for a wine, such as '98/'99, leaving the diner to wonder which vintage will actually be brought to the table.
Spelling and presentation are also stumbling blocks for some restaurants, which is hard to understand considering the labeled wine is on hand for reference. One list submitted this year referred to wines from "Louis Jados" (Louis Jadot), "Sonoma-Butrer" (Sonoma-Cutrer), and "Stage's Leap" (Stag's Leap).
Despite gaffes such as these, wine continues to play an increasingly important role in restaurants as diners show greater knowledge and the enthusiasm to explore. Judging by the growth in the Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards program, the restaurant wine scene is stronger than ever. For that, wine lovers around the world can raise a toast in appreciation.
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The Etiquette of Corkage
Restaurants know how to attract wine lovers: Offer great wine. But some restaurants are even more hospitable, allowing diners to bring in their own wines. Most charge a fee for the service, called "corkage." A few restaurants, such as those comprising Joachim Splichal's Pinot group in California, even allow diners to bring wine in free of charge.
This year, for the first time, Wine Spectator's Dining Guide lists corkage fees for those restaurants that offer this service; there are 1,351 such restaurants in this year's guide, an impressive 40 percent of our award winners. Corkage fees are typically charged per 750ml bottle (so, in general, double the corkage for a magnum). Based on the fees reported by restaurants in the 2003 Dining Guide, $15 to $20 per bottle is standard, but the amount varies widely. Some restaurants refuse to allow diners to bring wine; for other restaurants, the practice is prohibited by state or local regulations.
While corkage clearly benefits wine drinkers, it also involves a certain etiquette on the part of the diner. If you plan to bring your own wine to a restaurant, always call ahead and confirm the restaurant's corkage policy when you make your reservation. Let the restaurant know what wines and how many bottles you would like to bring. Work out the details and the total cost in advance. Some restaurants limit the number of bottles you can bring in, or want to make sure that the wine being brought in is not offered on their list. Generally, restaurants are more receptive when the customers' wines are special bottles, rather than widely available ones.
"When customers call asking about corkage, we tell them we have a 1,500-selection list," says David Gordon, wine director at Grand Award-winning Tribeca Grill in New York City, which charges a corkage fee of $20 per bottle. "But they will get the same service from us whether they bring in wine or not."
Once in the restaurant, start a dialogue with the staff in order to ensure proper wine service. Offering the sommelier or your server a taste of your wine can enhance your dining experience. Some restaurants will waive the corkage fee if you also order a bottle from their list. And in the end, be sure to factor this hospitality into your tip.
