I am speaking to "good quality restaurants" and I am not being overly picky here at all. There are certain things I expect when I go out. I know I am spending $1.75 for a coke, $5 - $7 for a beer and so on. I also know I am spending 2 - 2 1/2 times retail for most wines. The ratio on a restaurant list can be smaller for expensive bottles and greater for cheaper bottles.
Selection
I live in New York, so the best restaurants should have the best wine lists with the best selections where BYO shouldn't be needed right? Well - most of the time...no. I have found that most restaurants buy from the 2 or 3 big liquor distributors in the state and most of them have much of the same stuff - on the higher end at least. The selection on the US premium wine end is the most predictable in selection and the most frustrating. Let's take the over $40 retail market for Napa Cabernet for instance. If you are in a good steakhouse (and New York has plenty of great ones), a nice Napa Cab can really do the trick. Sure paying $45 for a T-Bone steak a la carte sucks, but a prime dry aged steak is something special that I usually have no problem paying up for.
What IS the problem? The wine list. The selection more often than not comes down to large production of overrated (for price to quality mostly) known labels: Silver Oak, Silverado, Opus, Frog's Leap, Mondavi Reserve and maybe 3 or 4 others usually. Most of these in good vintages are quite good, but the predictability of these names at double or more retail - sometimes $125 or more for many just doesn't work. When you actually collect wine and you have aged it and know they are better than what you are being offered, I'd rather BYO and pay the corkage. Restaurants do not lose money allowing people who bring good wine to a restaurant vs. buying from their list. The truth is - we come back and I just will not buy an off vintage 2003 Silver Oak for $125. I would rather bring a 1999 Switchback, Pride or other superior cult cab I may have paid $50-$75 for and pay the $20 corkage, and it's a better wine too. It's not really about the money with me when I look at list (most of the time). It's about quality and a list that has thought put into it. I have little kids. I don't get out THAT much, so I want the lists of where I dine to be pretty nice and hopefully offer different or better bottles than what I have at home. Not a lot to ask right? This one of the reasons I BYO.
Vintage
Wow! I have a few pet peeves on this one. Again - not sure how many others do...or care! The first just gets me riled up right away: not having the vintage year on the wine list a restaurant is handing you. Oh man - that just pisses me off to know end. It's actually funny when my wife is with me as she is not the wino geek I am so I try not to overly "Niles Crane" the scene but even if I just say very casually, "I'd like this wine if it is the 2002 or 2001" and the server comes back with a bottle saying "I'm sorry we only have the 2006!", I almost have to laugh and feel like I am on another planet as the waiter AND my wife give me that look of "what's the difference?" WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?!
The other big issue with vintage of wine on most restaurant lists is the fact that many show off vintages of popular names. It's rarely a 2002 Opus (I wouldn't buy that either), it's a 2003 - an inferior vintage, for the same price. Why? Because there are tons of it around and it is a sexy sell for the distributor and most restaurant owners want the hot names on their list and really don't know wine.
The 3rd bad wine vintage issue on restaurant lists is that few carry older vintages. Sure, some classic restaurants do, but most will not carry even 1995 Bordeaux - much less 1989 or 1986. Just trying to find a 2001 Napa Cabernet is a struggle. 2001! That vintage is just starting to drink well - at least on the premium wineries.
The vintage issues is a HUGE reason why I like to BYO.
List Prices
I listed prices last because it really is not the most important reason to bring good wine bottles to restaurants. I understand why a list doubles the retail price for a bottle or more - it certainly does that with food. I doubt a 1 1/2 pound lobster at the fish store costs $32! so I get much of it. I just don't like the gouging and many not even notice it. But when the pricing is really out of whack, it can set me off. Seeing a bottle of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, which is a very good white wine from New Zealand going for $36 on a list when it retails for $12 or less will send my wine list blood pressure soaring!
So much of this wine list rant may seem like a group of wine snoot peeves run amuck, but when you have really good wine at home and take the care to hold it to maturity or near in drinking window, you'd like to have some wine choices when you eat out. I usually do and it's not always a problem, but BYO is a nice way to go. Of course even BYO has some basic rules of politeness: Don't bring cheap or overly available wines or wines that are already on their list. I find that to be pretty rude and just screams of cheapness. Most state allow for BYO but it pays to handle it right. Calling ahead and saying "Can we bring our own wine?" is not the right move. It's too easy to say no for them and you sound like, well - a cheapo who may bring in a liter of $5 jug quality wine. "I'd like to bring a special bottle that I have in my cellar to have with dinner, is that ok?" is a much better way to go.
Many restaurants do take the time to put thought into their list - I have several places that do and if you live in Napa or in a top NYC French restaurant, you have no problems with any of this. But, if this rant makes you feel not so alone when you are quietly having a wine snooting rage next to your wife or other non-wino - I'm glad to give you some company!
Nick Hunter is a multiple website owner, consultant and Internet author. He is the owner of Nick's Wine World, an entertaining blog of wine tasting notes from unique and lesser known cult wineries. He also has written many articles on the subject including a piece on How To Buy Wine Online
