Ever go out to a restaurant and want a bottle of wine but are given a list so long you forget whether you&rsquo;re ordering a beverage or studying for a master&rsquo;s degree? Wine lists are often awarded accolades by various publications like Wine Spectator, but what does any of it really mean? For a lot of magazines and newspapers, wine lists are judged on the scope and depth of the list; meaning how many bottles are carried in house, the range of both classics (French Burgundy) and out-of-the-box options (Spanish Monastrell), as well as verticals (multiple vintage offerings of the same wine). But for you, as the consumer, does this really matter? What does, in fact, make a great wine list? I polled some of my sommelier colleagues to find out.

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VARIETY OF PRICE POINTS

As a sommelier, I notice that guests at the restaurant are sometimes scared to talk to me. Other than feeling intimidated about the subject matter, I often find it&rsquo;s because they are afraid I&rsquo;m going to only recommend $200 + bottles. This is not the case! While I would love to sell you a rare 1995 Opus One for $900, that is definitely not my go to. I always offer a low, mid, and high-range bottle. I also ask if there is a price point in mind before offering recommendations. A great wine list should have tasty bottles at all levels.

Andrew Pettingell, beverage director at Otium in downtown LA, echoes my sentiment. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like lists that only have cheap bottles or only expensive bottles,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have to have a lot of bottles at every price point, just some.&rdquo; This gives the guest flexibility. If a high end restaurant only has wines over $200 it can discourage people from coming back or trying a new wine. On the flip side, if a list only has $50 bottles it robs them of the opportunity to try a special occasion wine they may not be able to buy anywhere else.

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AVAILABILITY OF WINE

While having a lot of wines on your list is fun (the list I work with at 71 Above showcases 865 bottles), make sure the list is current! There is nothing more frustrating than ordering a bottle of wine only to be told it&rsquo;s not available, then ordering a second bottle and also not having that one in stock. This is one of the easiest ways to lose repeat patrons. Cristie Norman, wine director at Delilah in Las Vegas says, &ldquo;I believe that 80% of a wine director&rsquo;s role is making wines available to the guest, so take the time to add and remove wines ASAP. I&rsquo;m doing a full reprint once a week, so that I know for sure if a guest orders a wine that we have it.&rdquo;

Of course, as every sommelier knows, as soon as you print a new list it&rsquo;s inevitable for someone to order the last bottle. There will always be a couple wines that are out, so a good sommelier should have an alternative ready to suggest at all times. Vintages (the year the wine was made) are also constantly changing, so it&rsquo;s important to update that as much as possible and communicate to a guest right away if there is a discrepancy. Lack of communication on the list comes off as superior (&ldquo;They won&rsquo;t notice anyway.&rdquo;) or uncaring (&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll have to take whatever we have.&rdquo;).

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CREATIVITY

In my opinion, creativity on a wine list is the most important consideration. It&rsquo;s what separates the cream of the crop from the rest of the pack. Anyone can carry Caymus or Duckhorn. But what makes a wine experience truly memorable? Rebecca Rose Philips of Vintage Wine + Eats in Sherman Oaks, CA runs a smaller wine bar with an affordable price point for her neighborhood patrons. She says she loves to &ldquo;give the people what they want but in a way they didn&rsquo;t know they wanted it.&rdquo; For example, her clientele loves Napa Cab but she rarely has one on the by-the-glass list because the price point is too expensive. So instead, she offers a local LA red blend by Byron Blatty or an oaked Sangiovese from Los Olivos, CA. &ldquo;I make sure to have a big, bold red on the list but it&rsquo;s something completely unexpected,&rdquo; Philips says. &ldquo;It keeps guests excited, they learn something new, and allows us to be creative.&rdquo;

One of the first things I ask guests after white or red and light or full bodied, is if they&rsquo;re feeling adventurous. If a guest tells me that they want a full bodied white, it&rsquo;s easy to point them to Chardonnay. But a good list has some out-of-the-box options. I could also offer them a Savagnin from the Jura in France with nutty, oxidative flavors that build on a traditional California Chardonnay&rsquo;s butter. Or a Palomino from Priorat Spain that is almost sherry like. A good list has both safe and creative options to give guests whichever experience they desire.

While a range of wines is important, a lot of sommeliers get caught up only in wines that speak to their inner geek like orange or natural wines. But having sweet whites and reds are also something that people ask for. If the list uses creative solutions like carrying Lambrusco, a sweet, sparkling red wine, they can both give the people what they want and teach them about a new style. A good list should carry at least one example of all the major varietals of the world. Johnnie Oberg of Maestro&rsquo;s Ocean Club in Malibu states, &ldquo;If we serve oysters and don&rsquo;t have an Albarino by the glass but have nine Chardonnays, it&rsquo;s a missed opportunity.&rdquo; Likewise, going to a French restaurant that only serves American wine seems uninspired. Matching wine to food is one of the most special things a sommelier can do.

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FOOD AND WINE CONNECTION

Speaking of food and wine pairings, a good wine list always takes its food menu into consideration. This can be obvious in situations like Nathaniel Munoz&rsquo;s list at Osteria Mozza, where Italian food has ample Italian wine options, or Courtney Kaplan&rsquo;s vast sake list at Japanese izakaya restaurant Tsubaki. But what about restaurants where the theme is a little less on the nose?

At The Girl and the Goat, an eclectic restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, the food theme is less obvious. Menu items infuse food with unexpected flavors, like Hamachi crudo in browned goat butter or an Asian style duck tartar. Due to the varying flavors and types of food, Wine Director Kristinah Kim curates her list around versatile wines that complement a variety of dishes like a valdigue by Cruse Wine Co. The wine&rsquo;s light berry fruit has a slight earthy quality that can pair with dishes from the beet salad to the skirt steak.

Kim also focuses on sustainable farming to match the menu&rsquo;s farmer&rsquo;s market vibe, noting that, &ldquo;We highlight biodiverse and outside-the-mold winemakers. The list brings attention to regions of incredible value such as Ribeiro Galicia and Patagonia, and is rounded out with my favorite grower Champagnes, classic producers, and Loire pioneers. I look to bring the question of what exactly does &quot;natural&quot; mean in a vineyard and agricultural setting, and hopefully answer it with some lively, pure expressions that also compliment the food!&rdquo;

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DOES DRC AND VERTICAL VINTAGES MATTER?

DRC stands for Domaine Romanee-Conti, a producer in Burgundy that makes some of the most expensive wine in the world. In fact, they smashed the world record for most expensive bottle of wine when two bottles of 1945 Romanee-Conti sold for $558,000 and $496,000 at Sotheby&rsquo;s New York in 2018! This is because these bottles are incredibly rare and difficult to obtain. They only made 600 bottles of the 1945. Today, the average bottle of the current vintage goes for $23,066.

But when I polled sommeliers about their importance I found a different story.&nbsp; Andrew Pettingell states, &ldquo;DRC the wine? Definitely not important. I personally don&rsquo;t like anything where companies make you buy a bunch of other wines to receive it. There&rsquo;s too much great wine out there.&rdquo; Pettingell is referring to a phenomenon where wine companies make demands of restaurants so they can be lucky enough to buy one bottle of DRC. For example, a restaurant may have to carry 3-6 of the company&rsquo;s lesser wines on their by-the-glass list at all times in order to get one bottle of DRC a year. This is a great money maker for the wine companies but sommeliers are often forced to carry wines they don&rsquo;t love.

The other problem with DRC is that most sommeliers have never tasted it. Beverage directors are definitely not tasting it ahead of purchase like they do with other wine, nor will sommeliers taste the bottle when it is in house. Therefore, guests are buying a wine because it&rsquo;s a commodity, not because a sommelier is genuinely passionate about it. &ldquo;I hate when I look at a list and can tell they are buying from the same three reps,&rdquo; Pettingell continues. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s lazy. It shows me that the list is more about supporting the book than trying to find the best wines.&rdquo;

As for vertical vintages, it&rsquo;s a fun concept to have if you have a large list and can afford it. I love getting the chance to sell a group two bottles of the same wine with a 20 year age difference, like our 2000 vintage of Spring Mountain Cabernet next to the current release. It&rsquo;s a unique experience that can&rsquo;t be created at home. But 71 Above is a large restaurant with a cellar that houses over 4,500 wines and buys from over 130 wine reps. 99% of restaurants can&rsquo;t work off of that model and that doesn&rsquo;t mean that they can&rsquo;t have a great wine list. Nor are the majority of guests buying that kind of experience on the average night out.

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A Little Research Makes All the Difference

The good news is that a great wine list can be found in a diverse amount of venues. If a list is current, creative, and food focused then it can shine whether it has 30 wines or 300. But always research the lists before you go! Decide what it is you want on any given occasion. Do you want to try something new? What about that new natural wine bar? Are you looking for an intimate setting with affordable, local wines? Try a smaller wine bar. Are you wanting to impress your date on an anniversary? Check out a fine dining restaurant. Assess the range of prices and styles ahead of time to make sure that they have what you&rsquo;re looking for.

Also, feel free to call ahead! A restaurant&rsquo;s beverage director is always happy to chat with you beforehand, especially if you would like to pick out a bottle as a surprise for your party. Personally, my goal as a sommelier is to give you the best drinking experience possible. Because what makes a wine list good to me, is its satisfied patrons.

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Wine lists are often awarded accolades by various publications like Wine Spectator, but what does any of it really mean? I polled some of my sommelier colleagues to find out.

What Makes A Great Wine List?

Wines from grapes grown in higher altitude areas with cooler climate has become quite the trend recently. This specific growing environment gives intense flavor but elegance and freshness to the final wines. To highlight and champion these conditions more and more winemakers are starting to use alto as a marketing and labelling term to show their grapes were grown in high altitude vineyards.

Decoding the wine label: Alto

Brut is a word often seen on labels for different kinds of sparkling wine. As you may have discovered when drinking these wines, it indicates that the wine is dry, meaning there is no perceived sweetness in the wine. But how about Extra Brut or Dry, what do they mean and are they the same as Brut?

Decoding the wine label: Brut

Semi-sweet Riesling, a type of wine falling out of style. It’s a shame, since these wines are perfect to pair with flavorful cuisines like Asian or Mexican, or simply drink as they come under the summer sun. The higher level of sugar left in the wine also means that the alcoholic fermentation was stopped before finishing, providing a wine with lower alcohol level and therefor easier grabbing a second glass of.

Decoding the wine label: Spätlese

Have you ever heard the word Xinomavro? Most have not. It is however a word on many sommeliers’ lips today, as it happens to be considered the grape variety with the highest quality in Greece, and one that is trending at the moment. The fact that Greece have been making wine for a long time comes as no surprise, but they have never exported an amount to make sure wine lovers around the globe tried it. With the growing wine tourism many have discovered these wines and are serving them in wine bars and restaurants in many countries today.

Decoding the wine label: Xinomavro

Chianti Classico, Valpolicella Classico, Soave Classico… Why do all these Italian wine regions have the Classico addendum and what does it mean? What is the difference for wines labeled as Classico?

Classico is a wine term in Italy seen on a few wine labels and it indicates that the wine’s from the historic center of the region, the heart. Using Chianti and Chianti Classico and their Sangiovese-based red wines as an example, Chianti is a rather large wine district within the Tuscany region. Chianti Classico is located withing Chianti as the central part and the one that originally existed. Back then this smaller region was actually called Chianti, but as the region grew the quality of the wine plummeted and the well-known characteristics of these red wines were watered down. The reputation took a hit and sales diminished. Eventually this led to the creation of Chianti Classico, which would be drawn from the original Chianti borders to recover the typicity of these wines. Today the quality of both Chianti and Chianti Classico have risen a lot due to modern techniques and knowledge about pruning, planting and temperature control in the winery.

Decoding the wine label: Classico

In the rarefied world of fine wine, where bottles can command prices equivalent to luxury cars, authenticity is everything. Laurent Ponsot's gripping memoir "FBI: Fake Bottle Investigation" reads more like a high-stakes thriller than a traditional wine book, chronicling his relentless pursuit of one of the wine world's most infamous counterfeiters, Rudy Kurniawan.

From Burgundy's Vineyards to the FBI's Most Wanted: A Winemaker's Quest for Justice

Chablis – one of the more popular styles of wine today and a region known by many. Most are familiar with the word Chablis and the light, fresh white wine with a touch of minerality it brings. Even though it’s a renowned wine, few knows what it really is.

Decoding the wine label: Chablis

Many grape varieties around the world of wine have names local to the region or country they’re grown in, even though they’re exactly the same. The most famous example would be Syrah in France where the same grape is named Shiraz in Australia. Another variety with two names is Pinot Grigio, or Pinot Gris.

Decoding the wine label: Pinot Grigio

Have you ever seen the term sur lie on a wine label? It’s not a grape and not a wine region, but a winemaking method used to give certain styles of white wine a rounder texture and a more complex flavor profile.

Decoding the wine label: Sur lie

Certified sommelier Michaela Quinlan, and Robert Tas review the wine list at The Red Fox, a restaurant renowned for locally sourced, four-course dining with local wine pairings. 

Wine List Review of The Red Fox, Virginia

Michaela Quinlan

The Red Fox

Red Fox Inn

<a href="https://www.redfox.com/menus/WineList-1-19.pdf">https://www.redfox.com/menus/WineList-1-19.pdf</a>

RT: Hello and welcome to CorkRules!&nbsp;

A podcast where, in each episode,&nbsp;we will review a wine list from your favorite restaurants.

I&rsquo;m your host Robert Tas along with Michaela Quinlan, certified sommelier.

Hello Michaela,&nbsp;it&rsquo;s great to be back together for another episode.

MQ: Hi Robert!

RT: Before we jump in, let&rsquo;s talk about CorkRules.

We created CorkRules our mobile app and our podcast&rsquo;s to demystify wine lists because we know from experience, that sometimes when we get that&nbsp; list handed to us, well&hellip; it can be intimidating, and even a little daunting.

Our aim is to help prepare you to navigate that list, find those hidden gems, or value wines or that special bottle that will take your dining experience over the top.

RT:&nbsp;So, sit back and listen as we review your favorite wine list.

RT: Today we are talking about the Red Fox Inn and Tavern, part of Virginia&rsquo;s Hunt Country, in Middleburg, VA. Located one hour West of Washington DC, the historic Red Fox Inn and Tavern has been operating since 1728, and is truly a must visit.

Michaela, I can&rsquo;t wait to hear what you think of their wine list.

MQ: The Red Fox features locally sourced, four-course dining with local wine pairings, along with Pub fare and their exceptional wine list. Today we will be featuring a number of local wines, along with Old and new World favorites.

RT: That&rsquo;s really great. As you looked at the list did you see anything jump out at you?

MQ: We must begin with a local white wine. Consider the 2020 Pollak Vineyards Viognier from Greenwood, VA. With origins in Southern France, Viognier thrives in Virginia. This aromatic white wine features ripe green apple, dried apricot, ripe peach, with bright acidity and a creamy finish, as a&nbsp; small portion of the wine ferments in barrel. This Viognier is a perfect companion to herb-roasted chicken and salmon.

RT: That is for sure unique. Did you find any others that caught your eye right away?

MQ: Another local consideration would be the 2021 Early Mountain Vineyards, Shenandoah Valley Cabernet Franc from Madison, VA. Aromatic as well, this Cabernet Franc is well-balanced featuring notes of ripe blackberries, and black cherries, with black pepper, earth, mushrooms, ripe tannins, and a long finish. Cabernet Franc is an excellent pairing with herbed and savory dishes.

RT: So Michaela, their list seems to have lots of range but was there anything that you would say is a &ldquo;must-try&rdquo;?

MQ: A classic producer to consider would be the JJ Prum, Graacher Himmelreich, Spatlese Riesling from Mosel, Germany. Spatlese means &lsquo;late harvest&rsquo;, which indicates this Riesling is on the sweeter end of the spectrum. Keep in mind Kabinet is less sweet, and Trocken indicates a drier Riesling. This Spatlese balances sweetness with tropical fruit, ripe peach, and cantaloupe. Fresh acidity with white flowers and a saline note on the finish add to the pleasure of this wine. Pair this Riesling with charcuterie and spicy dishes.

RT: These are some great calls.

So you know I&rsquo;m getting thirsty and will need to order a bottle with my dinner, where would you guide us?

MQ: Another classic producer to consider to pair with dinner is the 95-point rated Ridge Vineyards, Lytton Springs, from Healdsburg, CA. This remarkable blend of Zinfandel, Petit Sirah, and Carignane is rich and full-bodied with notes of ripe red cherries, ripe raspberries, plumb, black pepper, and lavender, with round tannins and a mineral finish. Pair this rich red with proteins such as beef and lamb.

RT: Ooh, Terrific.

Michaela, speaking of price, sometimes people have a budget in mind.&nbsp; Any other great value wines you&rsquo;d point us to?&nbsp;

MQ:&nbsp; If you are seeking a quality/value white wine to pair with seafood, cheese, or as a refreshing aperitif, consider the 2021 Argiolas, Costamolino Vermentino from Southern Italy. This light, fresh white wine is a beautiful alternative for fans of Sauvignon Blanc. With bright acidity, lime zest, ripe peach, Meyer lemon, grapefruit, with a note of saline on the finish. This is truly a crowd-pleasing white wine.

RT: That sounds great. What is your other value selection?

MQ: For the bold red wine drinkers in search of that hidden quality/value bottle, consider the 2017 Gimenez Mendez, Alta Reserva Tennat from Uruguay. This well-balanced, robust red features firm tannins, ripe red cherries, blackberries, and plumb, along with earth, mushroom, black pepper, clove, and nutmeg on the lingering finish. An excellent companion to all richly sauced proteins and pasta.&nbsp;

RT: Now Michaela, what if I have a big client dinner or special occasion where I want to take it up a notch?

MQ: To add to your dining experience at this beautiful, historic inn, consider the classic 2017 Le Pauillac de Chateau Latour in Bordeaux, France. First crafted in 1989, the Pauillac de Latour ages beautifully, but is also stellar when enjoyed young. This Left Bank blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Petit Verdot, showcases your classic Bordeaux characteristics, such as ripe black cherries, currants, cassis, leather, vanilla, and cigar smoke, with ripe, round tannins. This iconic producer never fails to impress. Enjoy this standout bottle during any special occasion, or your next trip to Hunt Country.

RT: Michaela Thank you so much for all your great suggestions and helping us navigate Red Fox Inn&rsquo;s wine list. I can&rsquo;t wait to go try them myself.&nbsp;

To our audience, thank you all for joining us here on CorkRules.

If you would like us to review one of your favorite restaurants, please send us email to: <a href="mailto:Info@corkrules.Com">Info@CorkRules.Com</a> or visit our web website or app where we have a request form available and we will do our best to get it in the queue as quickly as possible.

We are looking forward to being with you on another CorkRules episode soon. In the meantime, please check out our CorkRules app that has all your favorite restaurants wine lists with personalized recommendations and you can connect with your friends.

And finally, drink what you love and please make sure you drink responsibly.

Thank you.

&nbsp;

End

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Matteo's

Dry Creek Vineyard is a family-owned winery located in the heart of California's Sonoma County. Founded in 1972 by David S. Stare, the winery has gained a reputation for producing exceptional wines that showcase the unique terroir of the region. With a commitment to sustainable farming practices, Dry Creek Vineyard is dedicated to preserving the land for generations to come.

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CorkRules application allows you to discover wines at your favorite restaurants, learn with friends and be confident with price transparency. Order wine with confidence at restaurants and retailers. Get personalized recommendations. #DrinkWhatYouLove

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