Restaurant Wine Lists Should ‘Go Local’ · and other locales where world-class wines are being made? Yes, I get it that these wines were once second rate, and that they’re tougher

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Spotting, a grassroots organization whose long-range goal is to get a higher percent-age of Finger Lakes wines into New York restaurants. “I feel more strongly than ever that the idea of measuring the percentage of local wines on wine lists is a powerful tool,” Thomas said. Wine Spotting ranks local restaurants according to the share of local wines they offer, and encourages consumers to leave cards in restaurants asking for more New York wines.

The New York Wine and Grape Founda-tion (NYWGF) has taken this concept a step further with their own “leave behind” cards to be used at restaurants. The message

h honey, you don’t want to get that one,” the chirpy waitress told me.

“We have plenty of good California wines. Try one of those.” I was in a small restau-rant in upstate New York, and the glass of wine I wanted to order was a Riesling from a local winery. In fact, it was the only New York wine on the list; and when I finally convinced my server to bring it to me it was, indeed, uninspiring. But the medio-cre quality of the wine wasn’t what really troubled me. What I wondered was why weren’t there more regional wines offered at this restaurant, which was sitting smack in the heart of wine country?

Finding local wines in restaurants in California, Washington or Oregon isn’t an issue, but head east and the picture chang-es. In restaurants almost everywhere else across the continent, regional offerings are rare. I can accept this situation where wine is not part of the local culture and econo-my, but what about places like upstate New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and other locales where world-class wines are being made?

Yes, I get it that these wines were once second rate, and that they’re tougher to sell than California or French selections, but – really? If chefs and sommeliers haven’t made the effort to taste the best current wines from their own regions, they just aren’t doing their job.

LOCAL CRUSADE

I am by no means the only one fretting about all this. Michael Warren Thomas (no relation to me) is a veteran radio talk show host in upstate New York who has been tackling the issue on the air and in print for the past 20-plus years. “New York restau-rants don’t carry more than a token bottle of Finger Lakes wine, if at any at all,” he said. “And if they do, usually it is a semi-dry Riesling, which perpetuates the idea that the Finger Lakes doesn’t make dry wines – or at least not very good ones.”

In 2013, Thomas launched NY Wine

Regional offerings are tough to find in eastern restaurants

Restaurant Wine Lists Should ‘Go Local’

+ It is difficult to find local wines in restaurants that aren’t in Califor-nia, Oregon or Washington.

+ Consumers can play a role by leaving cards in restaurants requesting that local wines be added to the list.

+ Restaurants that take pride in serving locally farmed foods should see the relevance in offering local wines.

+ When chefs and sommeliers take responsibility for learning about local wines, customers will be the ultimate beneficiaries.

AT A GLANCE

The New York Wine and Grape Foundation pro-vides these cards for people to leave behind in local restaurants.

EAST WATCHMARGUERITE THOMAS

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Finger Lakes wines tied in nicely. However, I did need a little push as the customers, as well as myself, needed an education.”

For his “education,” Rogers asked distributors to bring in local wines to taste. Impressed by the high quality of some of them, he read Evan Dawson’s book, “Sum-mer in a Glass: The Coming of Age of Winemaking in the Finger Lakes,” and then began seeking out wines from specific producers. Today Lento’s wine list includes at least 50% Finger Lakes selections, although Rogers admitted that sell-ing them still can be challenging. “Many people still have the idea that they are sweet and mediocre,” he said. But despite such challeng-es, he is optimistic for the future. “The Finger Lakes is on the right path,” he said. “Eventually every-one will come around.”

Dave McIntyre, co-founder of Drink Local Wine, which strives to bring more attention to local U.S.

wines, believes his organization’s efforts are paying off. “I think it's actually gotten a bit better, at least here in the Washington D.C. area,” he said. “A few years ago, chefs complained that they never saw (local) winemakers coming to their restaurants, and that the wines weren't very good. Now, some chefs and sommeliers are making the effort to visit wineries, and the wineries are courting the chefs.

“For Virginia, the advent of a high-quality cult wine that's trendy – i.e. RdV – has helped open the door. In Maryland, you could say the same thing about Black Ankle.”

SETTING AN EXAMPLE

One state where the use of “leave behind” cards seems to have made an impact is Michigan. Consumers can order cards from the Michigan Grape and Wine Industry Council that read: “The meal was fine but would have been

printed on the front of the cards is: “The Meal was Fine – But Where’s the New York Wine?” Inside the card is a space for the customer’s name and contact information. But do consumers really care enough about local wine to go to this trou-ble? Jim Trezise, NYWGF presi-dent, thinks they probably do. While acknowledging that there is no hard data to back up this assumption, he said, “We actually first did these cards about 20 years ago, and have updated and reprinted them at dif-ferent times because we do, in fact, get people asking for them. And I know they use them.”

Art Rogers, who owns Lento, an up-market restaurant in Roches-ter, N.Y., heard the clamor for local wine and followed through. He said that Michael Warren Thomas’ ranking system of local restaurants and the percentage of local wines included convinced him. “Lento had to step up,” he said. “Our whole focus is on local food, so

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more enjoyable if accompanied by a Michigan wine.” On the back of the card is a link to an extensive list of restaurants that serve four or more Michigan wines, plus a link to a list of distributors who carry them.

Trattoria Stella and The Frank-lin, both in Traverse City, Mich., are great examples of how local wines can be effectively integrated into restaurant lists. The former, a sophisticated Italian restaurant, weaves some the state’s top-tier wines in among classy Italian selec-tions. While Trattoria Stella concen-trates on Italy and Michigan, The Franklin’s broad wine list roams the world, with Michigan a significant player in it. Both restaurants are co-owned by Amanda Danielson, who also directs their beverage pro-grams. This past June, Danielson presented the wines of Michigan’s Old Mission Peninsula at the James Beard House, when Trattoria Stel-la’s Myles Anton was the featured chef there.

“At both Trattoria Stella and The Franklin, we encounter mostly positive reactions (about the Michi-

camp recognizes the education and expertise behind our bever-age programs, and they place their trust in us to feature only wines – regardless of place of origin – that we have deemed delicious and are proud to sell.”

Do Danielson and her staff have to work harder to sell Michigan

gan selections) from two different camps of guests,” she said. “The first camp thinks that we carry local wines out of obligation due to our proximity to the Leelanau Peninsula and Old Mission Peninsula wine regions; and they appreciate that we offer the wines even if they are reluctant to try them. The other

Michigan restaurateur Amanda Daniel-son does an impressive job of integrat-ing local wines into her restaurants’ international wine lists.

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wines? “This is a mixed bag,” she admitted. “We feature wines from our peninsulas alongside those from around the world, and we sell them from that context.” It isn’t so much about selling Michigan wine, she explained, but more about matching the wine to the guest, and trying to find the wine that will be just the right match for a particular table at a particular time – and some-times that wine happens to be from Michigan.

Danielson shared an interest-ing anecdote. Over the years, she said, guests have asked for wines from many diverse regions, from Oregon Pinot Noir to New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Occasionally she will offer them a taste of a wine from a different region. “I’ll give them a wine from outside their comfort zone, but one that bears

a structural similarity to the wine they requested, perhaps even a Michigan wine,” she explained. “In 11 years at Trattoria Stella, only once has someone recog-nized a wine as local and asked for something else. It turned out that they had been at the win-ery that day and had a case of the very same wine I’d offered them in their car.”

A HARD SELL

In Washington, D.C., res-taurants are starting to carry more wines from Virginia, where wine country begins less than an hour’s drive from the city. But even with more local options showing up on wine lists, getting customers to order them isn’t necessarily a slam-dunk, according to Nikki Gulick, service director at Res-taurant Eve in Alexandria, Va.,

Nikki Gulick, of Restaurant Eve in Virginia, says local wines can be a hard sell.

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just outside Washington. “Like our menu, the wine list changes often, which keeps it fun for our guests, and for us,” Gulick said. “I train the staff and work the floor during ser-vice, and I would say that, generally speaking, Virginia wines are a hard sell. But to counter that, about 95% of the people who taste them are pleasantly surprised.”

Gulick prepares a selection of wines to accompany the restau-rant’s five-to-nine-course tasting menu every night. “In general, I try to keep the list global, like our regu-lar wine list. But we almost always – especially lately – include a Virgin-ia wine in the pairing. We also have two Virginia wines on our by-the-glass list.”

Having looked at Restaurant Eve’s list myself, I can see why customers who taste them might be enthusiastic about the local offerings. They are among Vir-ginia’s most delicious and presti-

gious wines, from producers such as RdV, Thibaut-Jannisson and Michael Shaps. But including Virgin-ia wines on the list is about more than just selling another bottle of expensive wine. It also represents an across-the-board commitment to supporting a vibrant and viable local industry, and to expanding custom-ers’ knowledge and enjoyment.

Or as Gulick put it, “It’s so important to support our local com-munity, as they support us; plus there’s some amazing wine right in our backyard!” Her boss, Cathal Armstrong, who also is Restaurant Eve’s chef, has helped set the tone there. “It’s been exciting to watch the progress of these amazing wine producers,” he said. “I am honored to be able to include their wines alongside dishes featuring produce and meats from local farmers.”

If only every chef and sommelier shared these sentiments. Regretta-bly, we have a long way to go before

this attitude becomes widespread. The New York Wine and Grape Foundation’s Jim Trezise summed up the situation aptly: “While many restaurant wine lists are still woe-fully inadequate in terms of serving local wines, there has been quite a bit or progress – I think largely because of consumer demand.

“The problem has been and always will be the distributors, combined with lazy restaurant own-ers who know nothing about wine.”

Marguerite Thomas is a Bal-t imore -based jou rna l i s t and photographer who contributes wine-related articles to several national and international publi-cations. She is the author of the books “Wineries of the Eastern States” and “Visiting East Coast Wineries.”

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Restaurant Wine Lists Should ‘Go Local’ · and other locales where world-class wines are being made? Yes, I get it that these wines were once second rate, and that they’re tougher