Yesterday, as my wife had a birthday, we went to a major NY restaurant. The food and service were superb, but for me, the wine list was a problem. True, it is one of Wine Spectator’s perennial Grand Award winners, but the list is incredibly expensive, at least four times retail, with a good percentage starting at four figures. For $300 plus, we got a wine that would barely make it as our house wine.
I cannot blame the restaurant. It employs over 100 people, it is in a prime Manhattan location, the quality of the ingredients was superb, and I think a good percentage of profits comes from the wine. So my question: if you want to go to a restaurant that doesn’t offer BYO, what is the best way to navigate an overpriced list?
Drink cocktails. Or bite the bullet and get a decent bottle even though it’s overpriced because you’re there for the experience. You really wanted to go to that restaurant after all.
I find there’s almost always something on a list that isn’t a 3-4x markup vs what I would pay retail, even if that is the average markup on the list. Generally the wines that aren’t 3-4x markups are ones where there is a significant disconnect between the retail price of the wine and the wholesale price of the wine. Keller riesling, Lopez Rosado, Barolo from producers like Burlotto or Bartolo Mascarello are some examples I’ve found. Depending on the restaurant, sometimes older vintages are also less marked up if they were bought a long time ago at lower prices, although that seems to be less frequent of a hack these days as in the U.S. restaurants have gotten more sophisticated at pricing the list.
I’d say the most common solution is drinking a solid wine that will go well with everything, but not an epic wine, and Riesling like Keller Von der Fels seems to hit the spot in many cases.
Something most of us probably don’t do anymore… ask the somm. Tell him you’re somewhat of a wine aficionado (understatement of the year award please), you know retail prices and find the list prices somewhat expensive. Either the somm will look at you like you’re homeless and wandering into his fine establishment before recommending the cheapest thing on the list or he’ll actually point you to the good values. Tip according to the response you get .
Otherwise, what @Andrew_K said. You can always do cocktail as apéritif and starter, by the glass for main and digestif with dessert. Also, not a bad approach when the wine list completely sucks.
Actually I did ask the somm, as my first choice was sold out. It was ok, soft, voluptuous and quite boring.
Again I am not faulting the restaurant. My wife really loved the meal the food was beautifully prepared and very innovative. Like me, she wants to go back, but as the wines I would normally BYO, were well into four figures, I am thinking how to best enjoy the wine without breaking the bank.
For the most part, I won’t go to a (nice) restaurant that doesn’t have anything I want to buy on the list and doesn’t allow BYOB. There are too many great restaurants where this isn’t a problem for me to have to put up with this.
Often at these types of restaurants there’s something I’m excited about: sometimes a Burg/Rhone/Champagne that is culty and that even the high markups aren’t enough to catch up to retail.
Barring that, I often go with a pleasant but lower-tier Champagne or Riesling that will be allow the food to take center stage.
For me, when it gets to 4x retail for a current / recent release wine, I consciously choose sparkling water, and I’ve done that even when ‘on expenses’. I don’t want that sort of markup to be acceptable.
But I do agree, 4x retail is tough. Usually I’m able to find a good Beaujolais or Riesling that will be pleasant but maybe not memorable. But you’re there for the food, after all…
I almost always go with Beaujolais or Riesling because even at 4x retail it is a bargain.
If you really want to go back to this restaurant give the somm a heads up and tell him something you would like to drink like Keller Von der Fels or xyz Beaujoalis and I bet he/she gets it for you. They love ordering geeky wines.
This happens to us from time to time, where I can’t find a “great” wine I’m excited to try at a decent price.
I have 3 fallback positions-
Tell the somm what we’re planning to eat & what we want to spend then let them do their thing. I’ve been introduced to a lot of fun wines this way & the Somm typically will spend a bit of extra time at the table to chat about it.
Let the food be the star. Pick a decent, lighter table wine that plays in the background while letting the lead singer shine. A Beaujolais, cote du Rhône, light Chard, light Pinot work for us here.
Bubbles. I’m amazed how happy my wife can be drinking anything bubbly- even Prosecco or Cava.
I’ve never not ordered wine, that just seems wrong.
At almost any restaurant–I can’t justify paying the price for a bottle I really want so I just get glasses of the house wine. I’m generally as happy with the house wine as I would be with any bottle that costs what I could swallow spending.
That strategy also has the benefit of being able to get a white for one course, red for another, and bubbles (always) for my wife.
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