I’m part consumer, part critic, part supporter of local business. And also frugal. Given these parameters, how do I approach a wine list? Looking at two popular establishments.
Wine Lists: American Hotel, Q
Few of us go to a restaurant primarily for its wine list, but since wine is usually a significant part of a restaurant tab, the type and cost of the wines should be a consideration. I am sometimes asked about the high price of wines in restaurants. The simple answer is that wines are profitable and consumers have come to accept the current price levels. A retail store will typically mark up a bottle of wine by 50 percent over wholesale cost; a restaurant may mark up wines by 300 per cent or more. As a result, you will generally pay at least twice the retail store price.
A very few restaurants in New York City have taken a different approach. Landmarc, in Tribeca, for example, sells wines at only slightly more than store prices, making up in volume what it misses in markups. And a few other restaurants have tried standard markups of about $15 a bottle, which is a terrific bargain for consumers ordering wines from the high end of the list.
Restaurants in Eastern Long Island have not attempted anything like this. I would guess that in season they have no need to lure in diners with lower prices on wine, or food for that matter. But even in the winter, when virtually every restaurant offers prix fix specials, they don’t (with rare exceptions) offer any bargains on wine. I find it annoying to go out for a casual winter mid-week dinner, order the prix fix, and then spend $50 or $60 for the wine. How nice it would be if they had a house wine for $25 on those evenings to go with the meal. But maybe I am being too frugal.
I recently worked my way—reading not drinking—through some local restaurant wine lists to see how much of a draw they are aside from the food and ambience. The American Hotel stands out for the comprehensiveness of its list. I trust the quality of the wines on their large list because I know that they have had an important cellar for many years, and it is not, as I sometimes see, simply overreaching.
Q restaurant, in Quogue, seemed to me a good reflection of tastes and prices in the area. It is a popular restaurant with a big bar and cocktail lounge, and they offer several beverage menus. A cocktail menu is very youthful and fashionable, driven by fruit and chocolate combinations with vodka, rum or tequila. As I said, it’s youthful. A separate menu for sparkling wines and dessert wines featured the blue chips—a bottle of Cristal for $400 and a half bottle of Chateau d’Yquem at $300—and also had quite a few appealing cognacs and cordials and scotch by the glass.
Their white wine list ranged from $30 to $200, with most clustered in the $45 to $85 bracket. Several California whites under $50 would have been my choice with a meal. The reds that appealed to me were mostly north of $60, but a Beaujolais Village at $32 would be fine with most summer foods. Many people, however, hesitate to order the least expensive wine on a list.
Overall, the Q wine list seems a good indicator of life in the Hamptons in the summer of 07. Most East End visitors and summer residents come for a luxurious, sybaritic life, and they can afford the indulgences.
