Bill Daley's Nov 4 Column on Wine Service

Was wondering if anyone caught Daley's column today on very questionable (at best) wine service practices.

While I guess I understand his unwillingness to "out" these restaurants, I'd be very interested in knowing to what establishments were referenced in the letters.

I find these practices abhorrent and would like know so that I can avoid patronizing these places in the future.

Cheers!

scopar1 wrote:Was wondering if anyone caught Daley's column today on very questionable (at best) wine service practices.

While I guess I understand his unwillingness to "out" these restaurants, I'd be very interested in knowing to what establishments were referenced in the letters.

I find these practices abhorrent and would like know so that I can avoid patronizing these places in the future.

Cheers!

Without knowing for sure I've got some ideas as to which places these might be, but for those that don't know here are the keys to being a patron when ordering wine.

1. If you don't know, ask. If they can't explain to your liking, don't order based on their suggestion.

2. The very easy way to do a pairing is this: drink the wine from where your food is coming. If you're eating at Bacala (no more, I know) and your food is to be from piedmont, you aren't going to go wrong drinking a wine from piedmont.

3. When you order a bottle the bottle should be brought to your table and you should be shown an unopened bottle. This is your time to confirm the vintage and bottle. CHECK CLOSELY. I can't tell you how many times even at the best restaurants the wrong vintage has shown up at my table. 50% of the time it's newer, 50% of the time it's older (all in cases where it's wrong, I'd say 85+% of the time I get the right bottle). If you confirm this is what you ordered and its opened that's what you get.

4. when the wine is uncorked (if the bottle is one with a cork in it, not a screwtop) you have the right to inspect the cork. The cork contains some good clues as to how the bottle was stored. Look for a cork that is certainly moist at the bottom where it should have been against the wine. Don't smell the cork. It's not going to tell you anything. Do look for discoloration. You aren't going to learn much from the cork though.

5. You have the right to send a bottle back if it is "corked". The general rule if it's corked is that it will smell and taste like wet cardboard. Good sommeliers will smell the bottle after opening.

6. You have the right to taste it before it's poured for the table. A taste is a 1-2 oz pour at MOST. Swirl the wine (except for sparkling wine), look at the color, take a deep smell and put it in your mouth. Coat your tongue and swallow.

7. If the wine is not to your liking and the restaurant suggested it you have every right to send it back, though often times it's worth letting the bottle sit out and "breathe" for a bit. In older wines this will change the flavors immensely. If you do not like it at first, do tell your server so it's known.

8. You have the right to have the wine poured for you. If you want to pour it yourself you also have the right to waive off having it poured for you. If your glass is empty and they are pouring for you then it should be refilled. If it's not refilled you're receiving poor wine service.

These are very general rules, and there's more to wine service than this. There are plenty of great places to drink wine in Chicago, but as we've found out there are plenty of places to skip the wine all together.

Places in Wicker Park/Bucktown I'd drink wine: Vintage (a lot of gems on this list), Enotecca Roma (wonderfully priced italian list), Bin Wine Cafe (very cheap to drink very drinkable solid wines), Bluebird (maybe the best wine list in the area), Le Bouchon (highly affordable french list), and Spring (some great stuff on this list).

Places in Wicker Park/Bucktown I'll never drink wine: Via Carducci (most overpriced wine list in the area), Violet Hour (the few wines they have are just ok, and not up to par with the cocktails), Club Lucky (do they buy their wine from the Jewel around the corner?).

Here is a link to the article.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... 935.column

The first complaint about pouring wine away from the table is just bizarre. I have never seen that. The second complaint about the bait and switch vintages is probably fairly common. I suppose it is incumbent upon the server or steward to point out that the vintage differs from the list, but I don't think it is a hanging offense, as long as the price is adjusted accordingly. To try to conceal the vintage, though, is dishonest. I suppose if one specifies the vintage when ordering, and the server does not point out the discrepancy then there is a problem. Since I am not that familiar with various vintages, I usually don't remember what year was actually listed by the time the bottle arrives. I will have to pay more attention from now on.

I've definitely had a LOT of times when I get a glass and never see the bottle. And a lot of times with bottles when they don't bring the year listed, and seem surprised when you are not just "whatever" and want to order something else instead.

leek wrote:I've definitely had a LOT of times when I get a glass and never see the bottle. And a lot of times with bottles when they don't bring the year listed, and seem surprised when you are not just "whatever" and want to order something else instead.

I missed the part where he was talking about ordering wine by the glass. In that case, yes, it happens more often than not that you never see the bottle. I was referring to the practice of removing a bottle from the table to pour a glass out of the customer's sight. That is just odd.