What's Your Biggest Pet Peeve About Drinking Wine In Restaurants?
Hey, I may work restaurants, and because of that I also eat out far more often than the average citizen; and so I have my own pet peeves. My biggest? When you go to a hoity-toity dive and are presented a big book full of the "hottest" names in winemaking, many of which you never heard of. That in itself doesn't bug me (I love hot, new wines); but what does bug me is wine lists that do not give you a hint in the way of descriptions as to what the wines taste like, what they're all about, or why they're so cool. Why am I always forced to refer to servers (with their shaky knowledge), sommeliers (whom I am deathly afraid will try to "sell" me) or condescending managers (I naturally look like an idiot) for information?
Anyway, that's mine. What's yours?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Smoke on -
With this new report out today - "Technomic Sees Alcohol Sales Falling Further in 2010" - might not it be time for restaurants to think differently about their wine lists and pass on value to their customers? This would certainly win me over to buying more wine at restaurants. Thoughts?
Source: Business Wire Nov 2nd
Based on expectations of continued contraction in the restaurant and bar industry in 2010, foodservice consultancy Technomic has issued its forecast for beverage alcohol sales in those channels. Total alcohol sales in all away-from-home venues are expected to decline 2.5 percent in 2010. The biggest declines will be seen in casual full-service restaurants and high-end white tablecloth restaurants.
"Our outlook for alcohol sales is based upon continued weakness in restaurant traffic and further consumer frugality," stated David Henkes, Vice President at Technomic and the director of the firm's on-premise practice. "The overall share of visits that include alcohol has been on a downward slide for several quarters. While next year won't be quite as bad, we don't think we'll begin to see real growth in consumer spending on alcohol again until 2011."
For 2009, Technomic estimates that alcohol sales will end the year down 4.9 percent. This drop in sales is further supported by current data from the Technomic/GuestMetrics partnership which shows check averages are down 6 percent through the third quarter of 2009. On top of declining traffic, overall alcohol sales levels have fallen at a much steeper rate than the decline in food.
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Permalink Reply by David Gaier on -
Randy and Smoke: This is a great follow-up. Casual Dining restaurants (e.g. Applebee's) in particular have a huge opportunity here but they're squandering it.
Go into any casual restaurant, and you'll be hard-pressed to even find the wine "list" if you can call it that, buried under pages of so-called cocktails, blender drinks, specialty coffee drinks and various hard lemonades. It will invariably include one to three White Zinfandels (why, oh why...and three?), a watery, flavorless Merlot, and a sweet, dark, unctuous Chardonnay that tastes like Welch's White Grape Juice with a healthy does of melted caramels and an entire stick of cotton candy tossed in. It will be served in a thick, tiny 6-ounce glass that will be filled to the top and that the waiter will spill as he or she hands it to you from the serving tray.
Wine service and a decent wine list isn't that tough. It just takes some thought, perhaps some professional expertise, and a commitment to make wine part of the meal. Many fine dining places don't do it well, and I haven't found a casual dining place that is even mediocre.
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Permalink Reply by Randy Caparoso on -
Yes, it's sad, David and Smoke... both casual and fast-food restaurants are the one segment of the industry that have the opportunity to revolutionize wine marketing, merchandising, and guest appreciation by nature of their lower cost operations (fine dining restaurants are by and large stuck in their high overheads and markups), but obviously it's an impossibility right now because this segment is also the one part of the industry where wine culture is non-existent.
The only thing that will change this, I'm afraid, is time, and a handful of brave, visionary entrepreuneurs willing to force those changes. Until that happens, it ain't. Know of anyone with the vision and wherewithal willing to step in?
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Permalink Reply by Frankie Hayward on
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Wow this thread is quite popular. Good job Randy!
After reading all 7 pages, I'd like to spare you from redundancy. I have to agree with several comments regarding type of glass, price, temperature, etc. But my number one pet peeve would be not matching the wine to the food.
I love trying new foods and equally love to try new wines. So if I can't seem to find a good wine to go with the signature dish at the restaurant, what in the world are they thinking?
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Permalink Reply by Randy Caparoso on
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Amen, Frankie. It's amazing how few wine and restaurant professionals really understand wine/food matching. They can geek out all day and night about wines, but are still not capable of choosing wines that actually match their dishes as best as possible... someday, I guess, someday...
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Permalink Reply by Roger Mills on -
My pet peeve is they keep taking away the bottle! HEY! Bring that back!
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Permalink Reply by James Matuszewski on -
When you bring is a really special aged wine and they have no idea how to treat it. Most of the time they mess up the simple act of uncorking it and do not take in to consideration that the cork is probably going to be more likely to break apart unless you know how to open it properly/gently.
James
twitter - chief_wino
AccessWineClub.com
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Permalink Reply by Friday Monkey Wines on -
I think the best way, is to ask a bottle and read the tasting note on the back label of the bottle if the wine menu does not have it. That is what I do as I dont want to risk my $100 bottle.
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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Kinkead on -
Finally, I get to complain! What's with the server's pouring a wine glass full to the top? Especially those tiny wine glasses that won't even hold a 5 oz pour! Restaurants, especially those serving local wines from reputed wineries should have the proper glassware and instruct their servers how to pour wine! I've often asked for another 'empty' glass, even in fine restaurants when given a glass pour...just so I can pour it myself and enjoy. Wow, sad, I often dine alone! If I ordered a bottle I probably wouldn't need to complain!
Thanks for the chance to get this off my chest....
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Permalink Reply by Randy Caparoso on
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I feel the same, Kathleen... wassup with that? Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by Andrew Kramer on -
I gotta say ridiculous corkage fees in the region where the wine came from.
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Permalink Reply by Teresa Speer on -
I too work in restaurants. I agree with your comment about descriptions on a wine list. I also hate it when I cannot find a good middle of the road wine for a descent price. Restaurants jack-up their prices and then expect me to pay them for an inferior glass of wine. You are also right about staff not being knowledgeable enough. I don't mind paying a little more for a glass of wine if it i s a good glass of wine.
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