Wines at Chez Panisse

[helenas]

"Jonathan Waters [sommelier of Chez Panisse] seeks out in wine the simplicity that Alice Waters captures in her cuisine.

Unfortunately, there has been a linking in this country between great wine and strong wine, and that is just not true, especially if the wine is to accompany a variety of elegantly flavored dishes," he says. "

(Seeking the essence at Chez Panisse

[ngatti]

I found the $46.00 median price of a 205 bottle list to be interesting.

At least 103 bottles less than $50.00.

Nick

[sam_harmon]

I couldn't agree more! Jonathon Waters is not only one of the most talented restaurant wine professionals in the country; he accomplishes this with an utter lack of pretension or ego.

[marcus]

I don't know anything about Jonathan Waters, but when I had dinner in the Chez Panisse restaurant a couple of months ago on a Saturday evening, there was nobody in the restaurant available to explain the wine list other than the waitperson. She was not sufficiently knowledgeable and made a poor recommendation. Isn't this a responsibility of the sommelier to train the people? Overall I found the wines on the list to be too young, does anyone believe that a 1998 Chateau Rayas is ready or a 1996 Chave. Why would anyone find a 1981 Leoville Barton for $210 to be appealing. Overall, although the average price on the list was relatively low, the wines were priced at full restaurant markup, although certainly not as onerous as many restaurants in NY. Overall, my reaction to the wine list was that it was perfunctoy.

[Beachfan]

It's all about options. A normal restaurant markup on inexpensive wines makes sense. It's when restaurants have a uniform (or close to it) markup no matter what the price is what gives such outrageous results.

How were the selections under $50?

[chantrelle]

They have a sample of their winelist on their site:

http://www.chezpanisse.com/winelist.html

I honestly cannot remember what we drank last time I was there and it's not in my FoodPorn review either (bad, bad Chantrelle!!!)

[Really Nice!]

A group of us ate there in September. We had a bottle of Willakenzie Pinot Noir that I really didn't like. I suspected it was corked, but the sommelier disagreed and said that this particular wine had that. We went back and forth in discussing it, and he generously offered to let us select something else, but we stuck with it. After constantly swirling it for 15 minutes or so, I noticed that it started to open up.

We stopped at McMinnville OR on our way home to Seattle and I wanted to stop by Willakenzie for a tasting to see if all their wines tasted corked, but their tasting room was closed for the season.

The other bottle we had (for dessert) was a 2000 Domaine de Durban Muscat Beaumes-de-Venise. It was wonderful. So much so that Marlarky hunted down a case of the stuff.

[chantrelle]

2000 Domaine de Durban Muscat Beaumes-de-Venise

Oooh, i love this stuff! We split a case w/ friends...luckily Kermit is so close to Chez Panisse, makes the purchase convenient!