Craig Camp
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Posts posted by Craig Camp
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By that argument you should never eat in a restaurant either. You can certainly prepare the same dish at home for far less than you would pay in a restaurant.
While restaurants shouldn't gouge, they are entitled to their mark-up. To have a good wine list means an investment in inventory and time. If it is a good restaurant that also means a large investment in glassware and possibly a sommelier. Many restaurants invest significant time and effort in choosing the "alcohol" as you refer to it. Yes they prepare the food and don't make the wine, but a thoughtful selection is an essential part of creating a fine dining restaurant and the costs of making that selection, buying it, maintaining and serving it justifies their mark-up.
It is also true that many restaurants use their wine and spirit profits to keep their menu prices down. So it is very likely that the profit they make on your glass of wine is keeping the menu price on your main course down a dollar or two. If nobody ordered wine they would have to increase their prices.
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Pocket Coffee is simply chocolate with a shot of espresso inside - like the rum in a rum ball. It is a favorite pick-me-up for drivers.
Pocket Coffee does not disappear in the summer - they move it to the coolers so it does not melt.
Do not leave them in your car during the daytime - it's a mess.
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I'm also thrifty as hell and I'm not willing to pay the markup for the alcohol. The food, yes. Time and effort went into its preparation and I'm more than willing to pay a pretty penny for it.
I take it you have not visited a winery and seen the time and effort that goes into making wine. It only takes a whole growing season to make a wine and if you blow it you have to wait another whole year for your next try. Not many restaurants would survive if they made a meal tonight and could not sell it for 3 years or more.
This also goes for many spirits - take 12 year old Scotch for example. I'd say 12 years counts for time and effort.
It most of the wine drinking world, wine is not thought of as something to go with food, but a food itself. For myself I cannot separate wine and food. As much as I obviously love wine I do not drink still table wine as a cocktail on its own - although I do enjoy sparkling wine or dry Sherry as a cocktail or apertif.
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It is worth noting that the best NM houses are all small. The big houses are without a doubt blending in too much soft, inferior wine to cut costs and increase production. Just open a bottle of any major producers Brut NV to taste the results. The steady decline of Veuve Cliquot Brut NV over the last decades as the brand increased in popularity and production is a perfect example of this.
The thing is just open a bottle of Veuve at a party and watch how much everyone is impressed by the label and loves the wine. I guess they know what they are doing.
The sad thing is that 20 years ago no wine region in the world had such a high overall level of quality as Champagne. Certainly they can no longer stake this claim.
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Looks like tough times ahead for New York's Italian restaurants.
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It seems a shame to automatically write-off big NM producers. They represent the classic concept of blending wines from different zones to create a more complex wine. Of course the NM producers only have themselves to blame for the surge in popularity of RM Champagne. Most NM houses have concentrated on raising prices and elaborate promotional programs, while all the while lowering quality to increase profitability. Just try a glass of Mumm's NV Brut to see the sad results of this kind policy - it is a pity to see such wine under the grand name of Champagne.
However, RM producers are certainly not automatically better than the NM houses. A majority of RM wines would be better off in blends as their vineyards and winemaking skills do not warrant separate bottling. Champagne is traditionally the home of great blenders who by blending wines of different zones, varieties and vintages created wines that are greater than they were on their own. These expert blenders are true artists. For instance, to create over 1 million bottles of Dom Perignon at that quality level is a true achievement to be admired.
The growth of RM wines has added a new dimension and excitement to the Champagne market and I also enjoy the wines listed by Brad and Rieslingfan. Yet I think explosion in popularity in RM wines is because wine drinkers today perceive single vineyard/estate wines to be superior in quality to blended wines. In the case of Champagne this is clearly not always the case. I would concur with Chris's list of top NM producers and add Bollinger as wines not surpassed in quality by RM wines. Another reason for the increased popularity in RM brands was that they were not represented by large importers and could be purchased semi-directly by large retailers who wanted to offer Champagne at lower prices while maintaining or increasing their profit margins. This combination of lower price (with more profit) and an "estate bottled" image has fueled the dramatic increase in the sales of RM wines.
I have tasted many insipid wines from both NM and RM producers and faced with a choice between Bollinger NV Brut and an unknown RM wine I will still take the Bollinger - even for a few more dollars a bottle.
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Any recs on pink sparklers? Maybe it's a girl thing, but I love pink with bubbles.
I've always thought of rose Champagne as macho.
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Please post your personal reviews of restaurants in Florence and Siena here. This is not meant to be a debate about individual restaurants but a compendium of dining experiences. The more detailed these descriptions are the better. If you wish to debate a particular restaurant or dish please start a new thread for that discussion.
Make the first line of the post only the name of the restaurant. Phone and fax numbers are always appreciated and be sure to include the date of your experience. Please make each restaurant an individual post and you are encouraged to update your comments on your post (with date) as you visit these restaurants again.
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He could always try Aglianico as well. Hailing from Basilicata, I consider good examples the "Barbaresco of the South."
Try d'Angelo's Aglianico del Vulture or Canneto offerings. They should be somewhat available in the US.
I'll second Aglianico del Vulture and also recommend Paternoster.
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The Zardetto is a very nice wine usually at a VERY nice price. However it does not have quite the depth of wines like Col Vetoraz or Bellenda. However you will have to pay several dollars more a bottle for them than the still very charming Zardetto. They were selling that wine at Cost Plus for $7 US - very tasty wine at that price.
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What does French have to do with it?
We are writing about Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, German and every type of wine you can think of - French rules or thinking would have no more weight than any others.
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Welcome blil - hope you join us often.
I went to a nice wine bar last year in downtown Milwaukee across from a steak house of the same name, but can't remember either. Do you know which place I am talking about?
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A beautiful early spring day took us down to the lake for lunch today and the menu of carpaccio, rucola and fresh cheeses seemed to call for the bottle of 2003 D'Alfonso del Sordo, Posta Arignano, San Severo Rosato (montepulciano/sangiovese) that was waiting at cool cellar temperature. The match was perfect with the bright dry fruity flavors matching perfectly with the food.
I have become a true convert to the robust, dry rose wines from Puglia, Abruzzo and Sicilia and have loved the great pink wines of Tavel and Bandol for decades.
What are your favorite rose wines? Confess your pink passions.
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Red - I live just an hour and a half from Barolo and Barbaresco and 30 minutes from Gattinara and Fara.
But seriously white has its place and I prefer fresh whites, but I never find the depth of complexity (with exception noted for Lafon and such) that I experience from red wine. I almost always think of white as a prelude with red as the main event. My favorite whites (Pieropan Soave and a long list of Friuli wines plus Vouvray, Sancerre/Pouilly Fume, Muscadet and all Alsatian wines that aren't made into white port) are defined by their fruit and acidity so that is clearly what I enjoy in white wines. However, my religious experiences for dry wines have been 95% red with the exception of a few truly exceptional whites. I usually only choose white wine when the menu demands.
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The style of wine varietal name publication seems to be all over the place on the matter of what is or isn't in lower case when it comes to wine varietals and wine names. Place-names are of course always capitalized.
My understanding is that generic mentions of varietals are lower case and specific are capitalized. Thus:
cabernet sauvignon
Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon
pinot noir
Saintsbury Pinot Noir
chardonnay
Bollini Chardonnay
nebbiolo
Nebbiolo d'Alba
Comments from the language experts out there would be appreciated.
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Beaujolais Villages - slightly chilled. A fruity style of Cotes du Rhone would also work well.
No one ever seems to think of Beaujolais anymore these days.
For spicy or spiced foods wines that have fresh fruit sweetness and/or some residual sugar match best. You want to avoid high tannin or high alcohol as these aspects are accentuated by spicy foods.
Thanks. we carried a Louis Jadot but patrons tend to stick to the cabs, merlots and the chards
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
Customers insisting on drinking wines that are bad matches with the food they are eating is more of a problem with spicy and/or spiced foods than it is with more bland dishes. What dry red wine doesn't go with a steak?
The only answer is a very patient sommelier.
I remember watching people drink red wines at our local BYO sushi bar when I lived in Chicago. The idea of uni with a good dose of wasabi followed by a red wine is well...I don't want to talk about it.
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Marco_Polo,
Thanks for the great notes. Cartizze is indeed special. What do these wines go for in the UK?
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The choice is not which is better, Champagne, Cava or Prosecco, but which is better for the moment and, of course the budget. Prosecco is a fruit driven wine and it is the quality of the fruit flavors that define the best wines from this region. These easy fruit flavors make Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene the perfect choice when you are looking for refreshment and one of the best of choices for brunch - Easter or not.
Click here for 2003 Bellenda Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, Brut
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No one ever seems to think of Beaujolais anymore these days.
No one, amigo?
You don't read my notes, do you?
Best, Jim
OK I stand technically corrected. There is at least one person who thinks about Beaujolais, but you are a lonely one Jim.
Wine without food
in Wine
Posted
It is not an issue of mark-ups. The mark-ups on food as related to quality vary just as much as they do wine. The issue is that a restaurant has unique needs that a retailer does not have when setting the price. If it is only an issue of price then you would always eat at home and buy wine at retail.