What Makes A Wine List Good?

Air Date:
Heard On The Larry Meiller Show

Larry Meiller learns that more doesn’t necessarily mean better when it comes to a wine list.

Featured in this Show

  • With Wine Lists, Bigger Isn’t Always Better

    Even if someone isn’t a gourmet chef, chances are that they can read a food menu and zero in on things that they’ll enjoy and ingredients that they like to eat.

    But a lot of people get a lot more nervous when it comes to looking at a wine list. It can feel stressful to try to figure out how to choose the right bottle to go with a meal, and that’s not going to break the bank.

    Jessica Bell said that not only does that not need to be the case, it’s worth it to step outside of that comfort zone. Bell is the founder and CEO of My Wine School, based in Chicago and Milwaukee. She said she sees a wine list as an opportunity, not an obstacle.

    “If people don’t ask about wine lists, they’re really missing out,” she said.

    In her experience, Bell said that people will steer away from a lesser-known wine “because they don’t recognize the grape or the place,” but in the process they can miss out on a great wine at a great price.

    To illustrate her point, Bell brought a bottle of Macedonian wine, made from Vranac grapes. This bottle sells for $32 on a Milwaukee restaurant’s list, but Bell said that it drinks more like a bottle twice the price.

    “I think a lot of people miss out on great wines because they’re afraid to ask,” she said.

    Knowing who to ask and what is important as well. Bell said that in Madison and Milwaukee, few restaurants will have a dedicated sommelier to provide wine consultation, but that means that the server should be trained on the wine list and be able to help.

    Having a variety of choices is great, but Bell said that a larger wine list doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a better wine list. A restaurant should only have as many wines as they can manage well, and for Bell, that means an ability to “translate that wine list into a favorable and memorable experience. Just to have a showpiece wine list does the diners no good.”

    Having too many wines on the list also makes it less likely that the staff is well-versed on all of the options.

    “A wine list has to match the resources of a restaurant,” Bell said.

    When Bell dines out, her preference is smaller, more intimate and less-formal restaurants. She said that she expects a smaller, but well-curated wine list in those establishments.

    “That’s not to say that it’s going to compromise in any way my experience, though,” she added.

    How can restaurants deal with that challenge? Bell said, “It takes work. They have to make their wine list very diverse, which takes knowledge … but they also have to have a dynamic wine list. One that’s constantly changing. So, every time that I come in, I might see a new wine that piques my interest, and the servers know about it.”

    Bell said that that level of commitment to a wine list means time taken every week to taste wines, decide what will rotate onto and off of the list, and educating the staff on the changes. While not all restaurants make that a priority, Bell said that Madison and Milwaukee both have several that have risen to the challenge of “responsible wine list making,” as Bell coined it.

    In the U.S., Bell said, most wine lists are organized by the type of grape, because that is how we are used to thinking of wines. Others, on a more European model, are organized according to region. Others will approach the list by style.

    In preparing for a dinner out that might include purchasing a bottle of wine, Bell said to go in knowing about how much one is willing to spend. She said that people tend to hesitate about telling the server what their budget is for a bottle of wine, but that they shouldn’t be embarrassed. As Bell pointed out, consumers don’t go into a store without an idea of what they want to spend, so buying a bottle of wine shouldn’t be any different.

    Next, decide on red or white. That’s as much a matter a preference as anything, so you can have an idea of that before you even see the menu. Taking budget and color into account will narrow down the list considerably.

    Bell said that the next step for her is to focus on regions that are known for the value of their wines. She includes Spain, Chile, Argentina and Washington state in that category.

    “Those are really crowd-pleasing, high value wines,” she said.

    Those three elements should bring the options down to just a few, but if people still need a bit of help, vintage can be another point. Bell said that with reds, people likely don’t want a bottle that is more than five to six years old, and for whites, aim for less than three or four. Specific vintages for particular wines only become really important when the price is $100 or more per bottle.

    Of course, not everyone at the table will order the same meal. To please the most people, Bell recommended a lighter-bodied, lower tannin red. Pinot Noir and Grenache are both good wines to please a variety of palettes and to complement different dishes.

    “I think those are really food-friendly because the tannins are low, and they’ll still go really nicely with fish dishes,” she said.

    If the group prefers a white, Bell said to go with fuller-bodied choices, like a Chardonnay, Viognier, or Marsanne.

    “Or, you could do what I do,” she said,” and go with a sparkling wine. If your table’s open to it, a sparkling wine is good across the board. Even a dry rosé sparkling wine is a lot of fun.”

    Bell wrote a recent article about wine lists for M, Milwaukee’s lifestyle magazine.

Episode Credits

  • Larry Meiller Host
  • Judith Siers-Poisson Producer
  • Jessica Bell Guest

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