Carrying on with a series of ideas on how we
interpret the commodity of wine, we have wine and the restaurant. As I said in the
consumer-based post, there are a much higher percentage of people that are open
to trying something new. Because most people treat dining out as a ‘new
experience’ they become more open to the inspirations and suggestions of their
fellow diners and service staff.
This gives us the ability to discuss, segue and over all generate
conversation over a bottle, or glass, of wine and is an often-utilized tactic
with people that you may not know or like. How do I know? Because I’ve used it.
For a restaurant there are many things to
consider for their wine service, from staff knowledge and incentive to sell,
wine makers dinners and tastings, the actually wine list and wine availability
and how it goes together with their menu and atmosphere.
A restaurants service staff is like its front
lines. They immediately reflect how much time and care the establishment has
put into their wine. You want them trained, in how to serve wine, not just
properly but with style, you want them knowledgeable and most importantly you
want them to SELL. And I say that with no shame. Wine is a commodity, just as cars,
paintings and toilet paper is. So you just gotta sell it.
So how do restaurants sell it? First and foremost
you want your staff to know about the wines that you carry. From my personal experience
in this side of the industry I know that most of the restaurants that pride
themselves on their wine list will do tastings with their staff on all their
wines by the glass. They can have different companies, some retailers and some
importers, that will come in and train them on wines that they do by the
bottle. I LOVED these events, and
quite honestly it’s where I started. I feel that providing staff training is
not only good for sales but also very much drives staff moral. ‘Cause who
wouldn’t want a glass of wine after work once a week? During these tastings we
can also address staff incentive – “ if you sell the most glasses of XYZ wine
then you get a free bottle to take home”. Uhhh Score! This is even more
motivation for the staff to get out there, get educated and sell it to the
patrons.
But how does the specific selling work? Way
back when I was a server *insert flash back sequences here* I would often start
out by trying to get to know my customer, seeing what they were in the mood
for, even if they didn’t know the what they were ordering to eat yet. From
there I would make a few suggestions and tell them why. This is where a lot of food pairing
knowledge came in handy. But more often than not it didn’t matter what they
were having as long as I knew about the wine. For example (and I don’t mean to
step on any toes here) the wines produced by Blasted
Church in BC, were super easy to sell because they blew up a church; hence
the name. Of course, my selling it was much more then “it got blowed up” but it
made for a nifty story. And stories lead to conversation, conversations lead to
memorable experiences and now suddenly you have a restaurant that has become a
part of an experience. What greater publicity can you ask for?
Now, depending on the restaurant, there may
be the possibility of wine makers dinners. This is where a wine maker, or
producer actually comes in to the restaurant and host a dinner for 10 – 25
people. Typically the menu is crafted to specifically match the wines that the
host represents. They are an immense
amount of fun and incredibly informative. If you ever get the chance to go to
one of these – JUMP ON IT. You won’t regret it, I promise. Typically tickets to these events are
all inclusive. As in, they include dinner, drinks and typically as well
gratuity.
The most essential item that a restaurant has
in selling wine, aside from their staff, is their wine list. Just in case you
don’t know what a wine list is lets go to wiki for a definition.
“A wine list is a menu of wine selections for
purchase, typically in a restaurant setting. A restaurant may include a list of
available wines on its main menu, but usually provides a separate menu just for
wines. Wine lists in the form of tasting menus and wines for purchase are also
offered by wineries and wine stores.”
Typically a wine list is built by the
restaurants’ sommelier but there are some companies that offer this services to
places that don’t employ sommeliers. Over all, an effective wine list covers
all counties and appellations - within reason - and it accents, highlights and
in some cases, compensates for their food menu. For example, if there is a lot
of red meat on the menu, then you wont see a lot of white wine on the list. If
there is a lot of spicy food, then you’re going to see a higher proportion of
sweet wines on the list.
The retailer(s) the restaurants buy their
wine from and also the availability to get the wines in the province (or state)
can limit a wine list. However, a good wine list will have enough selection to
compensate in the event of a shortage, or it should be updated to include wines
that they can get. Over all a wine list is can be viewed like the restaurants
resume of wines.
In general for what a wine is to a restaurant
is still a commodity, but just like a painting it needs to fit with is
surrounds and accent the decorum. A lot of time and preparation goes into the
training of the people who sell and serve it, its availability to be sold and
the way it interacts with the other components of the diners’ experience.
Finely picked and cared for it can truly make a great restaurant exceptional.
Cheers!
This
wine is 100% Chardonnay sourced
out of the Oak Knoll district of Napa.
They use yeast that’s present in the vineyard and facilities and they use 100%
French Oak to age for 14 months. Now I have a bit of an opinion on American
wine (and Canadian wine too for that matter). Its considered new world, because we haven’t been making
wine for as long as the rest of the world has. I’m sure there is a more
technical reason for it but that’s basically what it equates to. Because we
haven’t been doing it as long we don’t know what exactly which grapes work in
all the different regions we have here. Which is fine. But I think a lot of the
California producers have jumped on this Chardonnay bandwagon for the instant
revenue when they should be trying to branch out to varietals that would better
suit their land and help thin out an already saturated market. Every ones got
an oaky Chardonnay in Napa. Everyone. Its like going through your sex ed. class
in high school. We’re not really sure how putting the rubber on a banana is
helpful but everyone has done it. 
