In 2012 please bring the 99% something different

There have been a few “New Years” posts that have tried to peer into wine tinted crystal balls and extract ideas of what the new year will bring us. When I say us, I’m referring to the wine world and its future trends, sales and “movements”. Will Bio-D continue to be a force? Will China finally [...]

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Sarah Michelle Gellar Sarah Mutch Sarah Polley Sarah Shahi

And the Winner is...


28 people entered our drawing for a pair of tickets to the 2012 Boston Wine Expo - 25 via comments on this blog post and 3 more via email. I assigned the comments numbers 1 through 25 with the number 1 going to the first comment. Entries 25 through 28 were assigned to the email entries.

The random number drawn was "6":

...so the winner is Glen! I'll reach out via email and connect him with the folks from the Expo to get him his tickets. Congratulations! Enjoy.

Thanks for the participation everyone. For more information and to purchase tickets to the Expo visit their website.


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Mýa Nadine Velazquez Naomi Watts Natalie Imbruglia

10 Tips for Discovering Value on Restaurant Wine Lists

Quick: Look at the Pinot Noir section of this wine list and find the domestic values.

It's not that easy, is it? Unless you really know what you're looking for and have quick familiarity with the street prices of the wines on the list you'll probably do what I do: Have a quick look at prices of the less expensive bottles and bail because the markup is 3 times retail or more.

Let's focus on the California Pinot Noir section of this list. Castle Rock is readily available at retail for $9.99. At $35 that's a 3.5X markup. The Belle Glos Meiomi is a favorite but I have a hard time paying $45 for a wine I see for $16.99 all over town.

However, notice what happens as you push further down the list. The 2008 Paul Hobbs Russian River Valley Pinot Noir at $59 is actually a very good price for an outstanding wine that's been hard to find at retail ever since it landed in Wine Spectator's Top 10 list last year.

And the 2009 Rochioli Russian River Valley Pinot Noir is an absolute steal at $65. I've been looking for Rochioli all over town - and all over the Internet - for months and was thrilled when I found it for $60. A $5 markup over street price in a restaurant for a wine I've been really looking forward to trying? Amazing.

I was going to knock out a quick post saying "Hey! I found a great deal on Rochioli Pinot at Legal Sea Foods in Burlington, MA". But I thought this would be a good time to share some tips on how I determine whether wines are a good deal with a particular focus on navigating restaurant wine lists.

Here are 10 Tips for Discovering Value on Restaurant Wine Lists:

1. Narrow Your Focus

I don't like spending a long time agonizing over whether I'm buying the best value on the wine list. It's rude to disappear mentally from the table just when everyone is getting settled in. And it's no fun. I like to focus on one category that's likely to pair favorably with the general style of cuisine at the restaurant, give the list a look and quickly decide whether to go by the glass or by the bottle.

2. Avoid Pricey Categories

Probably the most uncomfortable thing, especially when you're picking the wine but not picking up the bill, is determining how much is too much. The best way to stay out of trouble is to avoid pricey categories. Unless you're determined to impress someone with a wine from a big-name producer or elite region seek out the more affordable categories.

3. Keep it Mainstream

If you're ordering wine for a mixed group, I'd avoid trying to impress with your knowledge of obscure grapes. Never underestimate how much people like great tasting luscious wines that pair well with food. Unless you really have an angle on a crossover wine that's crowd friendly and a little off the beaten path, stay with food-friendly classics like Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc - depending on the style of cuisine at the restaurant of course.

4. Develop a List of Value Producers

Take Napa Cab producers like Buehler, Honig, and Chappellet. A lot fewer people have heard of them than say Sterling, Mondavi, and Caymus. These lesser known producers tend to put out an excellent product at their price points and since their names aren't as recognizable they can sometimes be had at lower markups than their more famous peers.

5. Ask for Targeted Help Finding Values

I think most of the time, when servers are asked for a recommendation off the wine list, the question is framed in terms of "what's good?", what would go well with a certain dish, or a general request to help find a wine that's aligned with the style of wine one prefers.

If you know the category of wine you're interested in try asking: "What are some of your best values on  domestic Pinot Noir by the bottle?" Answering this question effectively requires a familiarity with street/purchase pricing that  your server may not be familiar with. If they seem in doubt and offer up a visit from a  person more familiar with their purchasing decisions take them up on the offer.

6. Ask for the Reserve List

It may seem counter-intuitive to ask to see a list of the expensive stuff when you're looking for value but in my experience this is where the better values often hide. Like retailers, restaurants are often offered closeout pricing on back vintages. Similarly if they have an extensive wine program may be looking to clear inventory.

Not recommended: Trying to play let's make a deal. Unless your server/wine steward/sommelier/GM offers up a treasure that's not on the menu I'd consider it poor form to try to haggle.

7. Start with Spectator

Wine Spectator is a great way to improve your familiarity with top producers. One thing I like about Spectator is that they list the winery-provided production level and release prices for each wine they review. I use this as a starting point when filtering for value. If the production levels are too low (say less than 300 cases) it's unlikely the wine will be available without a lot of work. When production levels get higher (say over 5,000) it's more likely the wine will be across the country.

8. Consult CellarTracker

CellarTracker is most famous for its crowd-sourced wine reviews and cellar record keeping capabilities, but two of its most underrated features are how it lists Community Average Values and the Top Stores selling each specific wine. When users enter a wine into CellarTracker they can optionally indicate how much they paid for a wine -and- where they bought it. I look at the Community Average Value when seeking to determine whether a specific wine regularly sells for less than its release price.

Take for example the 2008 Sette Ponti Toscana Oreno. Wine Spectator lists the release price for Oreno as $110. However, the CellarTracker Community Average is just $59.61 which gives me a sense that the wine is frequently sold at deep discount.

The Top Stores feature can be helpful in finding retailers that offer a wine, but inventory changes frequently so it's not necessarily an efficient way of tracking down a specific wine at retail (more on that in a moment).

I find Top Stores most useful in getting a feel for whether a wine is sold predominantly via mailing list directly from the winery -or- is likely to be available at retail. Take for example the 2009 Rochioli Pinot Noir. The Top Stores on CellarTracker makes it clear Rochioli sells most of their wine directly to consumers via mailing list.

9. Scan Wine-Searcher

On CellarTracker if you click "$ Where to Buy" it takes you to Wine-Searcher.com. CellarTracker pre-populates the search with the wine and vintage you're interested in.

Wine-Searcher.com is the leading site for finding wine availability from retailers and wineries. Since wine isn't sold on Amazon.com, and shopping sites you might use to find other consumer goods aren't tailored to the complexities of wine (bottle size, vintage, confusingly similar bottlings from the same producer, etc) Wine-Searcher can be an excellent resource.

Their information is updated every day or two, and you can filter on the retailers in your state -or- who say they can can ship to your state. From this I can get a sense for the street price of a wine. For example, the 2009 Rochioli Pinot Noir can be had for around $60:


10. Taking it Mobile

Now, I'm not not proposing you do all of this searching at the table while you're making your wine selection. Building up your familiarity with pricing and availability via Wine Spectator, CellarTracker, and Wine-Searcher is a lot of work -- a lifelong endeavor really -- attempted only by the hardest of hardcore wine deal hounds. ;)

That said, A useful mobile application for getting a picture of a specific wine at a glance is Cor.kz. Search for a wine and it can tell you the CellarTracker crowd-sourced Community rating, the Community Average Value, Community recommended drinking windows, and the best prices on Wine-Searcher.com all on one screen:

If the wine has a barcode Corkz can scan it and if it is unique to the wine (which can be problematic) it can take you directly to a list of matching wines. Pretty handy.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Although I hope these tips are helpful, I can't say that I consider myself an expert wine list navigator. There are just too many categories out there I'm not familiar with and I'm sure I'm overlooking some great deals because I'm just not aware of the producers.

That said, some restaurants don't give us much of a fighting chance with massive markups across the board. Kudos to Legal Sea Foods for offering some fantastic wines at fair prices. Their VP of Beverage Operations Sandy Block does an amazing job finding flavorful delicious wines that pair well with the food they serve.

The '09 Rochioli Pinot Noir lived up to my high hopes. A classic flavorful California Pinot Noir that paired brilliantly with a variety of dishes. It was a treat to find, especially at a reasonable price.

But what was as interesting as the wine was seeing the variable markup levels depending on the price of the wines on the list. I'll take a closer look at wine lists in the future - I don't know that I've seen this trend so strikingly elsewhere. 

Question of the Day: What tips would you share for navigating restaurant wine lists more effectively?

I'd love it if you subscribed to The Wellesley Wine Press so we can keep in touch.


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Marley Shelton Mary Elizabeth Winstead Megan Ewing Megan Fox

Enjoy the Oceanic atmosphere at the steakhouse at 21 Oceanfront Restaurant

A grand elegance reflects from the century old McFaden Building where the spectacular 21 Oceanfront Restaurant is located, which is one of the best dining areas in Newport Beach. This is one of the favourite eateries for many meat lovers because this gastronomic enclave is famous for its delicious preparations of fresh seafood and solid [...]

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Lisa Snowdon Liz Phair Lokelani McMichael Lori Heuring

Details Revealed for Cochon 555 Boston 2012

Cochon 555, a culinary competition and tasting event celebrating heritage breed pigs, returns to Boston this year. The event is Sunday March 25, 2012 at 5 pm at the Mandarin Oriental Boston.

Here's an event report I wrote up last year to give you a feel for what to expect at Cochon 555

And here's more information on this year's event:

WHAT: Cochon 555 ? five chefs, five pigs, five winemakers ? is a one-of-a-kind traveling culinary competition and tasting event to promote sustainable farming of heritage breed pigs. Cochon 555 Boston, presented by Infiniti and media partner Boston Magazine, will challenge five local chefs to prepare a menu created from heritage breed pigs, nose-to-tail, for an audience of pork-loving epicureans.

WHO: 2012 Boston competing chefs include Jamie Bissonette of Coppa and Toro, Tim Cushman of O Ya, Barbara Lynch of Menton, Barry Maiden of Hungry Mother, and Steve "Nookie" Postal of Fenway Park.

DETAILS: Guests will be treated to a epic pork feast of five whole heritage pigs prepared by five chefs and wines from five family wineries, including Buty Winery, Elk Cove Vineyards, Syncline Wines, Sokol Blosser, Chehalem Wines, and K Vintners. The evening will also include wines by SALDO, an interactive tasting contest with Matt Jennings of Farmstead and Le Creuset, Anchor Brew, tastings of ChinacoTequila and the "Perfect Manhattan" Cochon 555 Bar with Daniel Hyatt of Alembic featuring five craft American spirits, and Domaine Serene of Oregon paired with Iberico De Bellota by Fermin. Joshua Smith from TICO will host a Heritage BBQ whole hog family meal after the completion of the voting.  The night will conclude with a special 25th anniversary champagne toast to the James Beard Foundation, sponsored by Laurent-Perrier Champagne, now celebrating its 200th year; and dessert samples of exclusive chocolate bar flavors from Xocolatl de David, paired with cold-brew Safari Cup Coffee.

At the end of the night, attendees and local judges will select the Prince or Princess of Porc. The winning chef will go on to compete against other regional winners at the finale Grand Cochon event at the FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen, June 17, 2012.

WHEN: Sunday, March 25th
     4 pm VIP opening; 5 pm general admission

WHERE: Mandarin Oriental Boston
     776 Boylston Street
     Boston

TICKETS: $125 per person for general admission;  $200 for VIP, which includes one hour early access to sample dishes from three of the competing chef stations, welcome cocktails from The King's Ginger, artisan cheeses from Formaggio Kitchen and Murray'sCheese, and Island Creek Oysters.

For more information and to purchase tickets:


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Monet Mazur Monica Bellucci Monica Keena Monica Potter

Somm ? another wine geek film coming soon

SOMM Documentary Trailer 1 from Forgotten Man Films on Vimeo. Somm is the story of four Sommeliers attempting to pass the Prestigious Master Sommelier Exam, a test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world. The exam covers literally anything having to do with the entire world of wine and that is just [...]

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Katharine McPhee Katharine Towne Katherine Heigl Katie Cassidy

Value Alert: 2007 Atlas Peak Napa Cab

I stopped in to pick up some wine at The Wine Cellar of Stoneham today. Before going I spoke with Mike Reardon on the phone and asked him if he had anything new or interesting I should check out. He mentioned this wine - the 2007 Atlas Peak Cabernet Sauvignon.

There is an ocean of wine looking to get our attention at any given moment. After a while the names start to blur together. Avalon. Geyser Peak. Atlas Peak. Without knowing any better I start to assume they'll all be servicable but otherwise non-descript juicy red wines. But this one was special.

Atlas Peak is all about producing wine from mountainside sites in Napa Valley: Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, and Spring Mountain. They produce bottlings from each of these sites in the $60 range. The Napa Valley wine retails for $38.

Here are my thoughts on their 2007 Napa Cab. I think it could do really well in a blind tasting with wines costing up to $60.

2007 Atlas Peak Napa Valley Cabernet
$38 Release Price
14.5% Alcohol
$19.99 at the Wine Cellar of Stoneham

What a beautifully balanced, flavorful, and enjoyable Napa Cab. Very aromatic right upon opening. On the nose I get dried blackberries, supporting savory notes and a little perfume in the background. Mouth-filling with slightly sweet chalky tannins and a milk chocolate after taste. Good grip, a touch of a acid, and nice length. An impressive accomplishment at or around $20. If you like Honig Cab (which I do) I think you'll like this too.

92/100 WWP: Outstanding

Next Steps:

I've been tasting a lot of wines lately I'm looking forward to writing about. I'd love it if you subscribed to The Wellesley Wine Press so we can keep in touch.


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Melissa Sagemiller Mena Suvari Mia Kirshner Mía Maestro

Value Alert: 2007 Atlas Peak Napa Cab

I stopped in to pick up some wine at The Wine Cellar of Stoneham today. Before going I spoke with Mike Reardon on the phone and asked him if he had anything new or interesting I should check out. He mentioned this wine - the 2007 Atlas Peak Cabernet Sauvignon.

There is an ocean of wine looking to get our attention at any given moment. After a while the names start to blur together. Avalon. Geyser Peak. Atlas Peak. Without knowing any better I start to assume they'll all be servicable but otherwise non-descript juicy red wines. But this one was special.

Atlas Peak is all about producing wine from mountainside sites in Napa Valley: Howell Mountain, Mount Veeder, and Spring Mountain. They produce bottlings from each of these sites in the $60 range. The Napa Valley wine retails for $38.

Here are my thoughts on their 2007 Napa Cab. I think it could do really well in a blind tasting with wines costing up to $60.

2007 Atlas Peak Napa Valley Cabernet
$38 Release Price
14.5% Alcohol
$19.99 at the Wine Cellar of Stoneham

What a beautifully balanced, flavorful, and enjoyable Napa Cab. Very aromatic right upon opening. On the nose I get dried blackberries, supporting savory notes and a little perfume in the background. Mouth-filling with slightly sweet chalky tannins and a milk chocolate after taste. Good grip, a touch of a acid, and nice length. An impressive accomplishment at or around $20. If you like Honig Cab (which I do) I think you'll like this too.

92/100 WWP: Outstanding

Next Steps:

I've been tasting a lot of wines lately I'm looking forward to writing about. I'd love it if you subscribed to The Wellesley Wine Press so we can keep in touch.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/XKuYiafr7Zs/value-alert-2007-atlas-peak-napa-cab.html

Paulina Rubio Paz Vega Penélope Cruz Pink