Sommeliers’ Love + Hate - Find. Eat. Drink.

Sommelier’s Love + Hate - Find. Eat. Drink.

Sommelier, Wine List, Love, Hate, Michael Madrigale, Bar Boulud, Boulud Sud, Jeremy Parzen, Caroline Styne, Pascaline Lepeltier, Cat Silirie, Tom Cregan, Christopher Sealy, Wine Lists Sommeliers Love, What Sommeliers Love, What Sommelier’s Hate, Great Wine Lists, Horrible Wine Lists

Michael Madrigale

Bar Boulud and Boulud Sud in NYC

What makes a sommelier love or hate someone else’s wine program? From breath and depth to the way wine is stored to championing the underdogs, top sommeliers weigh in on what gets them excited and what drives them nuts.

Sommeliers’ Love + Hate

October 24, 2013

What Sommeliers Love and Hate About Wine Lists

- Where & How To Drink Sherry

- Pearl & Ash | Patrick Cappiello

- Sommelier Pascaline Lepeltier

- Wine Director Ashley Santoro

- Wine Director Caroline Styne

- Wine Director Raj Parr | RN 74

- The Find. Eat. Drink. Guide

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- Where & How To Drink Sherry

- Pearl & Ash | Patrick Cappiello

- Sommelier Pascaline Lepeltier

- Wine Director Ashley Santoro

- Wine Director Caroline Styne

- Wine Director Raj Parr | RN 74

- The Find. Eat. Drink. Guide

Lists With Attitude

What makes me excited are wine lists with a mark and the attitude of the one who put it together. A wine list where you can tell that the sommelier truly loves wine. Wine lists with a collection of the most sought after wines do not impress me. Neither do lists that reflect what’s hot in the market at the moment.

Under $100

Wine lists that are well thought out with a deep selection, but do not have wines that are ready to drink for under $100.

Jeremy Parzen

Sotto in Los Angeles

Talk To Sommeliers

I love talking to sommeliers. They know what's ‘drinking well’ on their lists and they know what the best values are. Most of the time, I describe my palate to the sommelier and tell her/him my price point. And then I just let them do their job.

Monochromatic Lists

Wine lists are expressions of people and their sensibility. Show me a monochromatic wine list and I'll show you someone I probably don't want to have dinner with.

Caroline Styne

Lucques, A.O.C. & Tavern in Los Angeles

Adventure

I get really excited by a list that has wines on it that I have never tasted. After tasting so many wines on such a regular basis, it can sometimes feel like ‘been there, done that.’ I'm usually up for a wine adventure when I'm out, so if I can taste something I've never had and learn something new, I'm thrilled.

Wines By the Glass

My husband doesn't drink alcohol, so when we dine out together alone, I end up ordering a glass of wine rather than a bottle since I can't bear letting a mostly full bottle of wine go to waste. So, I have to say that my biggest wine list pet peeve is a wine list that has poor quality selections by the glass. So many restaurants view their by the glass selection as a place to feature their least expensive and most pedestrian selections.

Pascaline Lepeltier

Rouge Tomate in NYC

Underdogs

A great, open-minded list with lots of ‘underdogs.’

Cat Silirie

Barbara Lynch Gruppo in Boston

A Point Of View

A sense of their point of view, a hand behind it. Something that shows there is a passion, rather than a ‘correct’ wine list.

The Pleasers

Wine lists that feel like they have to have something for everybody and they don’t do anything with a full court press, just do a little here and a little there. Too many brand names they think they have to have, then they try to be creative in this little other category and it is just not working.

Tom Cregan

Rouge et Blanc in NYC

Storage

When a restaurant stores the wine correctly and at the right temperature.

Temperature

When you see the red wine by the glass standing behind the bar or stored on the floor and it's 70 degrees, so the wine is 70 degrees, when it should be 62. Even if they're good wines, they're not going to taste good. And the whites are often served at 40 degrees, which is too cold.

Christopher Sealy

Midfield Tavern in Toronto

Identity

When there is a clear identity of the list that works well with the concept of the restaurant. The wine list, like the food menu and the staff and the space, are like children of the restaurant, reflecting the restaurant/parent group but are still unique and can stand alone having its own identity. I am so willing to pay for a half glass or full glass of things I've never tried or getting into the classics that represent a region.

Laziness

Wine lists that are a combination of a lazy list and exaggerated prices. Now I understand the economics of a wine list and its role as a generator of income for the restaurant. What annoys me is listing 'filler' wines to cover regions just for the sake of listing them because you think and know clients want this. Chianti, Napa Cab, Barossa Shiraz are amazing and historical wine regions, but do a bit of work to list either quality bench mark wines or great value wines that represent a regions. There is so much ‘high volume’ wines listed that a wine experience can be so disappointing when the food and space are good to great. You owe it to the public and the perception of your restaurant.