Everest Wine List

Asked this question on chowhound, but know many of you don't post on there.

How is the wine list at Everest? They won't allow corkage nor will they release the wine list to me (which I think is kind of rude).

I don't know exactly what is on it, although I know their wine list, containing the largest collection of Alsatian wines in the world, has won numerous awards.

It's been a while since I've gone, but at the time the selection was good but the markup was pretty steep -- somewhat above average, IIRC.

jpschust wrote:How is the wine list at Everest? They won't allow corkage nor will they release the wine list to me (which I think is kind of rude).

Did you mean Everest? As in the place where they have in there employ the only woman master somm (I'm guessing at least six figures) to put together a proprietary wine list. Yeah, I guess you could say it is rude for them not to send the list to you so you could post it on the internet...or maybe just smart.

Not to disparage your wine knowledge, but I think you would be in safe hands with their list.

pd

pdaane wrote:

jpschust wrote:How is the wine list at Everest? They won't allow corkage nor will they release the wine list to me (which I think is kind of rude).

Did you mean Everest? As in the place where they have in there employ the only woman master somm (I'm guessing at least six figures) to put together a proprietary wine list. Yeah, I guess you could say it is rude for them not to send the list to you so you could post it on the internet...or maybe just smart.

This qualifies as the silliest comment I've seen in a while. Ultimately no wine list is proprietary- you establish your list through your links with distributors and growers. The fact that they employ a woman as a somm has no bearing whatsoever on what I order. Not to mention I believe there are a few other women masters in the world- I know Kathy Morgan at 2941 in the DC area just missed the master pass by a point or two and she had mentioned to me that there were others out there who were women who had passed. The fact that she's a woman has little bearing on what I order or how I judge her as a sommolier.

Alpana Singh is no longer the sommelier at Everest, anyway. She's moved to an office position in LEYE (Director of Wine and Spirits).

pdaane wrote:Did you mean Everest? As in the place where they have in there employ the only woman master somm (I'm guessing at least six figures) to put together a proprietary wine list. Yeah, I guess you could say it is rude for them not to send the list to you so you could post it on the internet...or maybe just smart.

pd

Right now there are 13 women Master Sommeliers and 66 men Master Sommeliers in North America.

Also, I'm not sure Alpana Singh (who hasn't worked there since 2005) developed the entire list since I'm sure Jean Joho had a big hand in it.

Alpana Singh aside, I would think that they'd be willing to share their wine list with a potential diner. Obviously many fine dining restaurants post theirs on the internet -- it's not like it's a trade secret.

Ron A. wrote:Alpana Singh aside, I would think that they'd be willing to share their wine list with a potential diner. Obviously many fine dining restaurants post theirs on the internet -- it's not like it's a trade secret.

exactly my view.

jpschust wrote:

Ron A. wrote:Alpana Singh aside, I would think that they'd be willing to share their wine list with a potential diner. Obviously many fine dining restaurants post theirs on the internet -- it's not like it's a trade secret.

exactly my view.

One view might be that it might be a logistics problem for them. I would bet that their wine list is a rather large book (I could be wrong about this) and getting you a copy of each page might take up a lot of someone's time and effort.

Now, I'm sure they're are many people out there who will say that they should put forth the time and effort for the requests of their customers, but, taken from the restaurant's perspective: They put a lot of time and effort into crafting a comprehensive wine list that they believe will satisfy all tastes and pairings at a wide ranged price point. They may simply feel that you should be comfortable leaving yourself in their sommelier's hands, and that the effort of copying and faxing their list is not worth it.

Just a thought.

Best,
Michael

eatchicago wrote:

jpschust wrote:

Ron A. wrote:Alpana Singh aside, I would think that they'd be willing to share their wine list with a potential diner. Obviously many fine dining restaurants post theirs on the internet -- it's not like it's a trade secret.

exactly my view.

One view might be that it might be a logistics problem for them. I would bet that their wine list is a rather large book (I could be wrong about this) and getting you a copy of each page might take up a lot of someone's time and effort.

Now, I'm sure they're are many people out there who will say that they should put forth the time and effort for the requests of their customers, but, taken from the restaurant's perspective: They put a lot of time and effort into crafting a comprehensive wine list that they believe will satisfy all tastes and pairings at a wide ranged price point. They may simply feel that you should be comfortable leaving yourself in their sommelier's hands, and that the effort of copying and faxing their list is not worth it.

Just a thought.

Best,
Michael

I'm just going to take a wild guess that somewhere it's on a computer and they can e-mail it to me. If I get there and I'm wrong as it's handwritten on scrolls then I'll eat my words.

jpschust wrote:I'm just going to take a wild guess that somewhere it's on a computer and they can e-mail it to me. If I get there and I'm wrong as it's handwritten on scrolls then I'll eat my words.

You're probably right about that, but somewhere on a computer doesn't necessarily mean that it's easy to access. It could be at the LEYE corporate office, it could be at the sommelier's house, or it could have been pulled out of a merge from a complex spreadsheet that includes costs that they don't want to email to you.

I'm just trying to offer a little perspective.

It's actually a very big wine list. It was so big that the list was actually a "book", and quite a large volume at that.

It was so large that I didn't want to spend an hour going through it. So after 15 minutes of looking at some really interesting bottles I talked with the sommolier for a couple recommendations. His picks were spot-on and we were really happy (can't for the life of me remember what we had exactly, except that I was not familiar with the vinyard...though that's not saying much.)

jpschust wrote:

Ron A. wrote:Alpana Singh aside, I would think that they'd be willing to share their wine list with a potential diner. Obviously many fine dining restaurants post theirs on the internet -- it's not like it's a trade secret.

exactly my view.

My opinion is (and remains): given that the Everest has invested a considerable amount in developing its wine list, I don't think it is rude not to share it with potential diners who could publish the information, even though it may be available to actual diners and other restaurants do share their wine lists.

pdaane wrote:

jpschust wrote:

Ron A. wrote:Alpana Singh aside, I would think that they'd be willing to share their wine list with a potential diner. Obviously many fine dining restaurants post theirs on the internet -- it's not like it's a trade secret.

exactly my view.

My opinion is (and remains): given that the Everest has invested a considerable amount in developing its wine list, I don't think it is rude not to share it with potential diners who could publish the information, even though it may be available to actual diners and other restaurants do share their wine lists.

I don't necessarily think it's rude, but I think it's odd. However, I agree that it could be difficult, burdensome, and impractical for Everest to fax the wine list to everyone who asks for it (assuming they don't have it in electronic format -- PDF, etc.). The fact that they have invested a considerable amount in developing their list seems immaterial to me -- if anything, I would think that they'd want to share their amazing list with potential customers, as a selling point.

To answer the original question, while I don't claim to be an expert, I thought they had a very impressive wine list. The pairings with the pre-theater tasting when we went were excellent, and the pink sparkler with the first course was especially memorable (though I regret I don't remember the name).

I think you'll be okay with the list.

It has been a while, but I always found them to have excellent wine choices, but I am quite fond of Alsatian wines. At least as good, and probably even better, is the selection of Eaux de Vie. I seem to recall a blissful Framboises. Nothing quite like a noseful of sweet fruit, followed by a swig of lighter fluid with a trace of fruity perfume, if you like that type of thing. I do.

As to the availability of the wine list, I must admit I have never actually requested a wine list, though I do check them out when I find them on the Internet. The downside of the Internet-posted lists is that they are never totally up to date, to be polite.

Have you guys asked for lists at other places and found them forthcoming? I know a lot of places have some form of electronic list to be used in planning group dinners, and I would think Everest would have some way of dealing with that.

Any restaurant where I have aksed for a list in the past has been extremely forthcoming- though I'll admit I've never encountered a restaurant where they have said "we refuse to allow any outside bottles." The closest I get is where they allow a very high corkage ($50) as long as the bottle isn't on their list. I'm fine with paying a high corkage as any wine I'm bringing to your restaurant is going to be far more expensive than that as it's coming out of my cellar and not some factory fizz or something like that.

I'm sorry, can you clarify the reason you want their wine list? I'm having trouble figuring it out a little bit. If it is for pairing wines with food in advance of your meal (to allow a little more time), you might want to go physically in beforehand and talk briefly with a sommelier. In particular, you seem to be talking about very fancy/expensive wines and if you are spending similarly on your meal, they would likely be glad to find you something from their reserves that would be pleasing to you. If you're bringing in a particularly interesting or rare vintage that you've been saving (something the chefs would likely never have seen before), this is also something

But the first place my mind went to was "I want something with a similar flavor profile to what you offer which can be purchased for half the price retail", which is not nice and I doubt is your original intent.

muddpuddle wrote:I'm sorry, can you clarify the reason you want their wine list? I'm having trouble figuring it out a little bit. If it is for pairing wines with food in advance of your meal (to allow a little more time), you might want to go physically in beforehand and talk briefly with a sommelier. In particular, you seem to be talking about very fancy/expensive wines and if you are spending similarly on your meal, they would likely be glad to find you something from their reserves that would be pleasing to you. If you're bringing in a particularly interesting or rare vintage that you've been saving (something the chefs would likely never have seen before), this is also something

But the first place my mind went to was "I want something with a similar flavor profile to what you offer which can be purchased for half the price retail", which is not nice and I doubt is your original intent.

Here's where this started- I've got 2 bottles we wanted to bring in for the 6 of us- a 1990 bottle of Ridge Montebello and a 1993 Corison Cab Sav. These are both wines that I came upon while they were still aging and have cellared them for quite some time now and they are good to go. We want to get a feel for their list to see if it matches some of the flavor profiles of the folks going to the restaurant- one of the individuals has very very specific tastes. Additionally, we want to see what their markup is. I've got no problem paying 100-200% markup on certain bottles, but we want to see how reasonable it is.

FYI, they sent me their wine list via e-mail, thus all my qualms are settled and we have decided to dine there on Tuesday. We look forward to it

FWIW, I don't find their markup to be too bad considering its location and the type of restaurant.

dicksond wrote: Nothing quite like a noseful of sweet fruit, followed by a swig of lighter fluid with a trace of fruity perfume, if you like that type of thing. I do.

sounds like a Turley Zin.....

So we went last night, and the wine list is good, though pleasing the group was difficult, thus after cocktails we drank some 98 Roederer Estate Champagne and then I just had folks order by the glass.

As far as food, Everest is just ok. It's not mindblowingly good or bad at all, but just ok. The amuse consisted of a cod and potato foam that had basically no flavor, a small cup of artichoke soup with little flavor and served luke warm, and a small bit of fried pheasant that was good. For dinner I had what one might call a rabbit gelatin terrine. Preparation was beautiful to look at but without much flavor whatsoever. For my entree I had Colorado rack of lamb prepared medium rare. Perfectly prepared, the highlight of the evening. We had cheese + soufflés and both were good, though nothing to write home about. Food wise, just ok.

Two separate notes:

Atmosphere. Somewhere amidst the altitude, Everest is stuffy and pretentious. It walks a fine line of gracious and pretentious, but ultimately falls down on the side of overly stuffy. The decor in this room needs some serious help, too.

Service. The service we had was fair to poor. Our waiter broke into our conversations at least 4-5 times to take orders or speak to us. This is fine for TGI Fridays, but not ok for fine dining. Additionally he had little sense of humor and difficulty explaining complex preparations to my mother who is not particularly a goodie, but knows fine dining very well. The sommelier quickly figured out that pouring from the right when pouring across a conversation isn't acceptable, and thus no one would care if he poured from the left to not be seen when refilling. The sommelier was possibly the best server there.

All in all, good but not great. Was it a waste of money? That's probably going a bit far, but I won't be going back.

I just came to this thread which I read from beginning to end in one go. I am curious for one piece of information: what happened between the original refusal and the e-mail? If they refused--for a good, bad, or otherwise reason--to send it initially, why the (apparently) sudden about-face?

Gypsy Boy wrote:I just came to this thread which I read from beginning to end in one go. I am curious for one piece of information: what happened between the original refusal and the e-mail? If they refused--for a good, bad, or otherwise reason--to send it initially, why the (apparently) sudden about-face?

Basically nothing except me getting it via e-mail- i had given them my e-mail to send it if they chose and eventually they just sent it.