Mark Sommelier

Every place is different.

When I was in college in the early 70's, I worked as a waiter in a family place in Brockport, New York. Every Friday was fish fry day. Every Friday, the same four old ladies with hats came for the fish fry. Each one of them neatly tucked a quarter under the plate when they were finished. In retrospect, it was cute.

Just FYI, waiters are paid $3.25 an hour. They are the least expensive employees in a restaurant.

I pour 6 oz. glasses of wine which yields 4 glasses per bottle. We have 9 and 12 course degustation menus which are offered with wine pairings. Needless to say, these pours are smaller - between 3.5- 4 oz. for the tasting menus. As far as stemware goes, I use some very attractive glasses made by Schott-Zwiesel from the Top Ten and Diva lines. These are large glasses, so a 4 oz. pour looks chintzy. Thank God that customers these days understand that 6 oz. of wine, no matter what size the glass, is a decent pour. I remember the old days when older clientele would insist that you fill the glass to the top no matter what the size of the glass - this was always a touchy issue. My restaurant is vastly busier than ADNY, so custom 24% lead crystal glasses, though desirable, are not practical.

Steven, In my opinion, even rich people can see when something is a bad value. I sell Dom Perignon 1995 for $175, at Veritas DP 1990 is $250, at ADNY it is $420. I sell Corton Charlemagne, J-F Coche-Dury for $500, at ADNY it is $1200and at Veritas it is an astonishing $1300. Assuming rich people drink those wines all the time, don't you think they would notice these considerably higher markups than anywhere else they eat? Just curious.

Craig, Certainly it depends where you are dining. If it was where I work, I would have fetched another bottle before the host even tasted it. I don't taste every wine, but I do sniff every cork. The cork always gives it away. Given the scenario you mention, if no savvy sommelier is around, it could be awkward.

File under "I'm not making this up" : Yesterday in the mail I received a flyer from a local Pan-Asian restaurant advertising their new promotion, which they are calling "Funky Sushi". Apparently, for $20 you get a bowl of miso soup and all the "Funky Sushi" you can eat between 5-8 PM . Word to those guys: NO THANKS!!!

Hate to say this but I was in The Hotel Sacher in Vienna on a trip at the beginning of November and my friends and I made a beeline for the venerable place with our Euros clutched in our sweaty little palms ... and we were, to a person, quite disappointed at the great Sacher Torte itself ... actually turned out to be rather dry and not appreciably apricotty ... but the ganache topping and circular chocolate coin decorating the top were quite lovely in flavour and memory .. the schlag itself accompanying our tortes was whipped so stiffly, that one could easily discern each "cell" of fat ... or, dare I say, "globule"? The coffee, on the other hand, as well as the decor, made the visit worth noting ... Connoisseurs agree that the best Sacher Torte is had at Demel's, also in the Ersten Bezirk. Demel's claims to have actually invented it, BTW. The other deadly dessert in Vienna is Palatschinken - crepes filled with sweet farmer cheese, topped with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. MMMMMMMMMMM (Homer Simpson voice). Topfengulatchen run a close second. Something like what we would call a cheese danish. All of these are best enjoyed with a mad Gypsy fiddler playing in your ear.

Olivier Leflaive is a negociant firm and not at all in the same league as Domaine Leflaive.

BD, I like your thinking I must say. Though I would ask one thing: isn't the point of tasting the wine to check it's condition, not whether 'you liked it'? Scott,. That is exactly right. People are funny about this, though. I remember once, years ago, I opened a bottle of Dom Perignon for some boob with the proper "pet de nonne" and he refused the bottle only because there had not been a loud pop. How in the world do you maintain your cool? Craig, Cool is my middle name.

BD, I like your thinking I must say. Though I would ask one thing: isn't the point of tasting the wine to check it's condition, not whether 'you liked it'? Scott,. That is exactly right. People are funny about this, though. I remember once, years ago, I opened a bottle of Dom Perignon for some boob with the proper "pet de nonne" and he refused the bottle only because there had not been a loud pop.

ludja wrote: "(sorry I don't know how to add the accent on the 'e'). " Assuming you are using a Windows PC, hold the ALT key down and type 0233.

Yikes! I started with Bali Hai, then graduated to Boone's Farm Apple Wine. From there it was straight to Lafite.

Wine is white, too. Why don't you start with a good quality Riesling Spätlese from the Mosel Valley? Bernkasteler Doctor 2002, Dr. Thanisch is quite delicious, very well made and extremely food friendly. Worry about red wine later.

Two words : DELIRIUM NOCTURNUM

This practice occurs two ways. One way is for a small independant restaurant to choose one wholesaler to select, provide, inventory and maintain the winelist with their exclusive products. This saves the restaurateur the expense of paying someone with wine knowledge. The second way I see this practice occur is at the chain level where the corporate headquarters dictate a "core" winelist that each unit must maintain. This is commonly seen at places such as Ruth's Chris, Outback, Capitol Grill, Smith & Wollensky, Olive Garden and so forth. These deals are cut at the national supplier or producer level involving such giants as Gallo, Mondavi, Southcorp, Brown Forman and Diageo. In both cases the distributor/supplier usually picks up the cost of printing the list and promotional material. The problem Steven mentions, called "tie-ins", happens more often in large markets like New York and LA. This involves linking products, and is a game I studiously avoid.

I have heard stories of restaurants pumping up their lists with dream bottles to win dubious awards that certain wine publications sell...OOPS.....bestow. The sad fact is that the majority of restaurants don't have someone who knows or cares that much about wine. Add to that the bean counter mentality most places use toward wine where the cost of every wine on the list from cheapest to most expensive is multiplied by 3.33333333, and selections are made at the lowest common denominator or chosen by committee. The easy (and fun) part of my job is working the floor at night in the restaurant. The work part consists of managing the 7,000 bottle inventory, maintaining the winelist, searching for new wines and devising plans to move inventory. The payoff for the restaurant is the P&L statement at the end of the year.

Charlie Palmer has a restaurant here that uses an eWinelist. I've played with it a few times and personally believe that the technology is not quite there yet.

morela scripsit: "My spoon goes in, and I have to stop and think. It’s steamy, the creamy turnip is smooth and rich... and beautifully holds the wonders of bacon. “Mmmmm, this is delicious.” I spoon right into that float; the realness of homemade bacon and eggs, that creamy base, subtle sweetness in the turnip, a taste of chive. Heaven right there. It’s a feeling from childhood, a comfort zone. A pre-obligation, pre-worload kind of bliss." By the shore of Creamy Turnip, By the shining Steaming Cauldron Stood the Wigwam of morela, Daughter of the Soup, morela Her soup canoe she paddles With her silver soup companion....... (Apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

I have seen this before, most often performed by a clueless waitron. It is usually found in silly chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Outback. The equivalent of human "stupid pet tricks". JUST MY OPINION, OF COURSE.

Normal retail price equals wholesale price times 1.5. $800 wholesale in a retail store should be $1200. The more common example is the ocean of wine that importers/suppliers/distributors sell for $6.66. Intended retail is - tada!! - $9.99. I have tasted Montrachet, Domaine de la Romanée Conti (DRC, Michael) many times. It is indeed sublime. Haven't tasted the 2001 yet.

I am not sure why you think Pinot Grigio or American wines like Pinot Gris made from the US grapes are lousy. Perhaps some of them are - but a lot aren't. And they don't - like most of the over oaky Chardonnays that are on restaurant menus these days - overpower the food you're eating. I - unlike a lot "wine people" - have a funny philosophy about stuff you drink with food (whether it's alcoholic or non). It should complement it - not dominate it. I don't know much about zinfandels - but I wound up drinking a riesling which I wouldn't have ordered on my own (it was recommended by staff) at Alain Ducasse - and it was fabulous (at $130/bottle - it should have been fabulous). I will reserve the more dominating wines to be drunk alone - or perhaps with a bit of fruit and cheese. And some really extraordinary wines - like some really big whites - should only be had on special occasions like when you're eating the best appetizer in the world in a 3 star restaurant in Paris. In more pedestrian circumstances - please tell me what's wrong with a King Estates Pinot Gris? Robyn The by far most extravagant mark-ups in this country can be seen at Alain Ducasse in New York. Google it for the winelst.

Yes, that seems to be the most reliable method. On larger tables of conventioneers, the list gets placed in the middle of the table.

Simple. The captain is told by the maitre d' who the host is. The menus are presented and the host is asked if he/she would like the wine list. The host is then the one who either accepts the list or delegates. My list, though fairly large, is pretty straightforward: the first half is white wine, the second half is red wine. I am also a maniac about keeping the list up to date. I print pages almost daily to reflect new products, out of stocks and vintgage/price changes, so that most common ritual I find in virtually every restaurant I dine in, that of the waiter returning to tell me my choice is not available almost never happens in my establishment. If the wine is on the list, I have it. Most people never notice this small fact, but to me, it is very important.

Most of my customers at least know what they like. That's a good start for me. My passion happens to be Burgundy and I enjoy showing people who ask for chardonnay what a great white Burgundy can taste like and how it can actually match with food. My list only contains domaine bottled examples of both red and white Burgs, so when someone says "I don't recognize any of these. Which one tastes like Louis Jadot?", thats where I swing into action and show them that Jadot, Latour, Drouhin are sort of entry level examples of the real thing. Sure, we serve white zin by the glass, but I also always offer both dry and sweet rieslings by the glass and bottle like Sam said. There's nothing wrong with preferring sweet wine. I get satisfaction from showing people a marvelous Mosel wine where sweet is only one dimension of the total flavor in addition to fruit, proper acidity, minerality, length and finish.