Brad Ballinger

It's too late for this particular dinner, but when I've ordered one and only bottle for a tasting menu, it has been either Champagne, Alsatian Riesling, or Red Burgundy.

You've received some good advice here, and others could provide excruciatingly detailed advice for each wine if you happened to provide us with a list. But I wouldn't expect anyone to feel it necessary to do that. The point about wine club wines is a good one. Wine clubs want you to continue your membership/subscription with them. Therefore, they want you to open the wines soone rather that later, crossing their fingers that you'll like them and desire to buy more. Depending on how obscure the wines you have are, you can find very basic cellaring information from the producer's web site, reatiler web sites, or critics' tasting notes. If you plan to consume the wines yourself, either sooner or later, the main thing to know is what do you personally like in wines. For example, although many Northern Rhone red wines can maintain or improve with cellaring, I have a couple of friends that prefer to drink them young. It's a matter of personal preference. If, however, you are planning to resell the wines at an auction (I only mention this because you wrote something about "increasing value"), then you first want to make sure you have ideal storage conditions. If so, you'll have time to look up the cellaring recommendation for each wine.

I'm at the Texas de Brazil web site right now. They do not provide their wine list online, just a list of some of the producers whose wines they carry -- no doubt big names meant to "impress." The South American producers on the list are: Concha y Toro (Chile) Almaviva (Chile) Bodegas Catena (Argentina) There may be other South American wines, but that's all that was touted on the web site. That last one is a decent producer of Malbec. If things like the following matter to you, the 2002 Malbec from Catena was #67 on Wine Spectator's 2004 Top 100 list. The wine retails for about $10. I have no idea how much the restaurant charges for it. One of my personal favorites for Malbec wine from Argentina is from Luigi Bosca. That's the direction I'd go, if you want a specific recommendation.

I no longer pay for the cable package that would include Food Network. I've seen the commercial on "regular" TV. My guess is that many, if not most, of those viewers have no clue who Tyler Florence is. For many seeing the commercial, he's a good-looking guy who happened to have come up with some menu items for Applebee's. Big deal. I've only ordered from the bar at Applebee's. The beer is cold.

There's also, Deutz, Delamotte, Dehlinger, David Bruce, Ducru Beaucaillou. You can also use Domaine _________, DO, DOC, DOCG. Heck, we'll even give you dry, dulce, dessert wine, or a decanted wine. To start it off, 1996 Bodegas Alion Ribera del Duero. Just about as good as it gets. Fantastic balance. Great core of black cherry and blackberry fruit with underlying tobacco, earthy minerality, and not too much oak. Tannins were ripe and yielding. Bright acidity. Great partner to grilled ribeye. Long fruit-driven finish. Edited to add: I suppose I'd not be kind to my forum co-host if I neglected to mention Dover Canyon.

France 44

Depending on whether or not it's available where you live, one you should definitely try if you liked the Sierra Cantabria Organza is Bodegas Palacios Remondo "Placet" Rioja Blanco.

2002 Chateau Thivin (de Claude Geoffray) Cote de Brouilly, Beaujolais. Drunk on its own watching a DVD of "Walk the Line." Brief note here -- it was light, fruity, lively, and had a small bit of spice. Good level of acidity. No real sign of showing any age. Screaming for a plate of ratatouille and crusty bread.

I'm sure Lincoln Cafe doesn't need any publicity, but I do have to comment on what a gem this place is in the small town of Mount Vernon, about 15 minutes east of Cedar Rapids. I was on business in Williamsburg, Iowa, recently. Good friends of mine in St. Paul have a son attending Cornell College in Mount Vernon. It's only a 45-minute drive, so I decided to take him out to dinner. The choices are a pizza joint, a Subway, and Lincoln Cafe. I told him we were going to Lincoln Cafe. I told him what time I'd pick him up at the library. He still didn't make a reservation. But he's a college freshman, new to these sorts of things, and probably didn't think we'd need one at 6:30 on a Wednesday night. Wrong. Fortunately, there was counter seating available, and we weren't picky. The restaurant seats about 40. It's in "downtown" Mount Vernon on 1st Street. Brick walls, booths along one side, tables along the other, tables in the middle, four-seat counter at the back looking into the kitchen. The printed menu is burgers, sandwiches, soups, and salads. On the chalkboard there were three entrees, two appetizers, and three desserts. These likely change nightly or weekly. My guest was looking over the burger and sandwich options. "Erik," I said, "I'm ordering the ribeye. You can't get a burger if you want, but I'm treating." Erik quickly switched to the ribeye. Entrees come with soup or house salad. I also ordered the crab fritters for an appetizer (the other one was already sold out – at 6:30). Alas, the last order of that just went out right before I ordered it. The salad I had was typical field greens, very fresh, lightly dressed with a vinaigrette. It was twice as good as a similar salad I had the night before at Devotay in Iowa City (that salad has some old soggy greens in it). Erik go the tomato mint soup, which he enjoyed very much (I didn't have a bite). The server then came with good news and bad news. The good news – a booth had opened up that we could take. The bad news – no more ribeye. BUT, they did have NY strip instead – only five left – and we both jumped on one. The strips were very flavorful, served with a fantastic sweet potato bread pudding, some greens, deep fried prosciutto, shaved parmesan, and a mushroom demi-glace. It was $30, but was a large portion (and included soup or salad). I ordered mine black and blue, and it actually came that way – big thumbs up. We did not have dessert. Lincoln Café does not have a liquor license, but patrons are permitted to bring their own. This policy is printed on the menu, and the following is from the web site. Being a former boy scout, I’m almost always prepared and happened to have a bottle in the car (not knowing it was a BYO only joint until walking in). I also have my own stemware, but their stuff was fine, even above average. The place was still three-quarters full when we left. I will have to continue traveling to Williamsburg, Iowa, about twice per year. That will be two free good meals for Erik. I’ll also briefly mention dinner the previous evening at Devotay in Iowa City. Chef Kurt Friese posts here on occasion. This was only one visit, but I expected a bit better. Again, some of the greens in the salad should’ve been tossed. The pork “osso buco” entrée I had seemed to have more fat than meat. I don’t know – maybe I need to order from the tapas menu next time.

In every case, the restaurant has offered; I have not imposed my will on them.

Not necessarily true. Or, perhaps, I should say not necessarily always practiced. I've successfully brought wine to restaurants in Minnesota that don't have liquor licenses.

BYO laws are usually based upon municipality, and not state. But there may be some state-wide cases. No BYO in Boston, for example, but you can bring your own in the suburbs. But Boston isn't the heartland, so. . . I've never experienced a municiplaity that did not allow BYO in either Minnesota or Iowa. I've never tried in Wisconsin, so I have nothing to report there. Even though BYO may be permitted by law, however, doesn't mean that a restaurant has to allow it. I know a few that don't. It is also up to the restaurant whether or not to charge a corkage fee, and what that fee should be. And although no one asked, a couple of decorum issues on BYO (you will find this topic addressed ad nauseum in the Wine Forum, with some volatile dissent to what follows). The main thing is not to bring your own wine just to appear cheap, and avoid paying the wine list prices. That means different things to different people, but usually it means not bringing something on the wine list, not bringing something like Yellow Tail, and -- depending on the size of your party -- perhaps also ordering something from the list (or by the glass). Taking home wine in the bottle is also governed by municipality. It is against the law in Chicago (but some places look the other way).

If limited to what might be in a pantry that I appreciate in wine, but would (prefer) not pass my lips. . . coconut, lychee. From the pantry, what I don't like in wine nor across my lips. . . bell pepper, dill.

Minnesota has a similar law. And about every 2-3 years a piece of legislation starts moving through committees that, if ever passed, would allow grocery stores and supermarkets to sell wine. The opposition is usually the same as what was cited in the Massachussetts case -- easier access, easier minor access, harder to enforce, what about Sundays, too many drunks, etc. Of course, the real reason is some retailers would lose business, which is true and would be a shame. But remember, the consumer always wins in the end. Maybe not today or tomorrow. But eventually.

I'm thinking this letter is going to be so easy for people who have yet to participate. Caberent (sauvignon and franc), chardonnay, chenin, charbono, corvina, heck even concord. . . Cote _________, Cotes __________, Chateau __________, Clos __________, Cuvee __________. . . Cornas, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Chablis, Champagne, Chinon, Chianti (and Chianti Classico). . . And I haven't even named a producer (Caymus, Cusumano, Cakebread, Colosi. . .) Anyone for a Marcel Juge Cornas Cuvee C?

Excellent point, Kouign Aman. That second clerk performed enough customer service to find out what would be a suitable alternative, whereas the first clierk went straight to the solution without fully understanding the situation.

I'd tell Food TV to save their money for the first season and not even do a show. Although wine consumption and consumerism is on the rise, I still don't think there's enough of an audience for a wine show to please advertisers and network executives. There's still a limited print media audience, and web audience. And a great many of those people look to those sources because the question they want asked is "what wine(s) should I buy?" and not "what can I learn?"

In that case, I agree with the comfort zone thing, and would also add predictability as a factor. The customer knows the wine, knows what it tastes like, knows he or she likes it, may even know what food to serve with it, and so on. And, for many people, wine is an expensive beverage, even at $10/bottle. The customer is also thinking "I don't know about risking $10 -- or more -- on something that I know nothing about." I like the ethnic food analogy. And, as a parent of a picky teenager, I've stopped trying to broaden her palate after spending plenty of money on uneaten pates of food, and have had to suck it up taking her to places whose door this food snob never thought he'd darken. Travel also provides us an analogy. I'm sure you know plenty of people who have the means to travel to a foreign country, but would never do it.

Welcome to eGullet, jessejesse. I'm not sure I fully understand the question, but. . . As someone who works in a wine shop, you probably have several "goals," some of which you are paid for, and maybe some of which you are not. 1) You are hired to sell wine. 2) You are hired to make customers happy. You are probably not hired to educate, "enlighten," or otherwise resuce customers from themselves unless it leads to the accomplish of 1 or 2. The customer who purchases Yellow Tail Shiraz at your shop will come back to purchase more provided the price is fair, it's convenient to shop there, etc. Eventually the customer will purchase other tiems, too. The argument against stocking Yellow Tail is if the shop is targeting a different clientele for whom the presence of Yellow Tail would say "this isn't a serious wine shop." Maybe there's yet an underserved market of that type of customer in NYC, I don't know. A more legitimate reason not to carry Yellow Tail might be if the shop is a niche shop (such as Chambers Street Wines, which specializes in small production wines from around the world). For many, however, I would think Yellow Tail sales would allow them to stay in business and serve other customers who are looking for other wines. But it depends on the business model your employers have chosen to embrace. In NYC, there may be enough customer niches. for many reatilers across the U.S., though, there is a wider range of customer palates they must pay attention to. And those include palates that prefer Yellow Tail, palates influenced only by media critics, and more "refined" palates (whatever that means). Is the United States "afraid" of wine? No. I think some are "intimidated" by wine (and wine snobs, whether they work in wine shops or not). I think many are "uneducated" about wine, and not necessarily up for doing anything about it. And I think others have different priorities, which is perfectly okay. Your service with a smile approach sounds like a good one -- as long as it's not a condescending smile.

I hope they were stored on their sides.

I don't get an opportunity to try many Portuguese wines since very few are distributed to where I live. I have enjoyed a couple of reds from the Alentejo region, but I don't recognize any names on the Tintol list. Regarding whites, I have had alvarinho and vinho verde wines. But autumn is coming on, and you might be in a red mood. from the Spanish glass offerings, I've had the Finca Luzon, the Emilio Moro, and the Borsao. The glass prices appear to be what the entire bottle probably cost wholesale, which is fairly typical. From the Spanish bottle offerings, I've had Muga, Remelluri, Altos, El Chaparral, Termes, and Torres. Prices are about three times retail, which is also typical. Many like the Termes wine, and it's good if you like a modern style of wine. I'm afraid that's not much help. But there is a good chance that the bartender will let you have a small taste of a wine or two before you order an entire glass. It never hurts to ask.

2003 Arnaldo Caprai "Poggio Belvedere," Umbria IGT. Here is my first tasting note on this wine from back in April: 80% sangiovese, 20% ciliegiolo. Fermentation and aging in stainless steel (some additional aging in bottle). Caprai is primarily known for Monefalco DOC and Sagrantino di Montefalco DOCG wines. Those who are waiting for the tannins in the Sagrantino to mellow (which seems like it can take forever) will want to stock up on the Poggio Belvedere to enjoy during the wait. This wine does a very nice job of giving off both fresh berries and spice at the same time with secondary floral tones. There's a nice level of acidity to keep everything bright. It may be a tiny bit hollow in the midpalate, but I think it needs a bit of air to fully flesh out. I had another bottle of this last night. Similarly enjoyable. My wife, who usually doesn't comment much on whatever wine I opened, made more than two comments about how much she liked it. It's a very forward, immediately pleasing wine. I do need to revisit my last sentence in the note above, however. I wouldn't give this wine a whole helluva lot of air time. After about 45 minutes, its brightness and vitality were turning flabby. If you have a number of guests, this is a good wine to open because everyone will get an enjoyable glass before the wine starts to break apart.

I use spicy to denote any spice-like flavor or sensation in the wine. Pepper is a spice. Cinnamon is a spice. Clove is a spice. Etc. On most days, I'm not keen enough to pick out a specific spice (although pepper is pretty easy), but a wine I'm tasting may definitely have a spice-driven component to it. This can be true for both whites and reds. As far as Gewurztraiminer wines are concerned, the term "spicy" is a common desciptor used. And, when tasted side by side with many other white varietal wines, most Gewurztraminers are going to appear to have more spice stuff going on. Similarly, the word "herbal" shows up from time to time in tasting notes. Sometimes its a specific herb, like basil or mint, but usually use of the term refers to an herbal sensation. See also, vegetal, meaty, earthy, and so on.

Offer tastes if a patron is unsure about what beer on tap or wine by the glass to order. This may depend on the establishment more that the bartender, but if I'm sitting at the bar and not eating food, I generally prefer to pay by the drink in cash rather than start a tab. I don't like having to get the bartender's attention when I'm ready to leave. If I've already paid, I'm good to go. So offer me a choice. Again, may have more to do with the establishment than the bartender, but if I'm in the lounge having a drink before dinner, transfer my tab. Don't inconvenience me because you and the server can't decide who gets what portion of the tip. Some people don't like being given ten dollars change in a combination of a five and five singles. They feel the bartender is hinting for a tip. I personally don't mind this practice. But some people do mind.

Mano, Good catch on the Pennsylvania thing. I've been to one of the state shops in Philadelphia. Selection likely varies from store to store, but I noticed the prices seemed to be higher than perhaps they should be. phlox, I suggest popping on on the Pennsylvania Forum, and seeing where people like to buy wine around Pittsburgh. Also, eG team member KatieLoeb is familiar with the PLCB, and can offer you some suggestions. There is currently a 29 page thread here that discusses wine bargains at the PLCB. You've probably already seen it. I don't know if you'd find more variety in Wheeling or Youngstown, but it may be worth checking out wine stores in those cities when you're in those areas.