Gerald O'Kennard

What factors contribute most to the success of a restaurant? An ideal location? Great food? How about a perfect wine list? Your wine list should be a major profit center for your business, regardless of your mark-up policy. If you already have a great wine list, you know what I mean. You're probably already experiencing wine sales that account for 20% or more of your bottom line. If you don't have a great list, let's examine how to get one by taking a close look at some of the best. Fortunately, we have this year's winners of the 16th Annual RH Wine List Competition to learn from. No matter what kind of restaurant you have, the principles of a successful list will apply to you. Each year, the competition receives wine lists from around the country entered into three categories: international lists, U.S. lists and short lists. This year's winners are:

Internationally Known
In years past, encyclopedia-like international wine lists were the badges of success that restaurateurs strived to attain. While impressive, these huge lists have become a very expensive and difficult-to-manage proposition in today's market. In the international category, one expects to see a strong representation of wines from classic producers in France, Italy, California and Australia. What sets this year's winning lists apart is the selection from novel, smaller producers in up-and-coming wine regions. By offering a relatively smaller selection with more focus on interesting, lesser-known producers and a greater sense of individuality, these international lists have the breadth and the "wow" factor while being manageable and profitable.

The first place winning international wine list, from the internationally renowned Charlie Trotter's, has all the "wow" a restaurant could possibly want (see the sidebar) for some amazing highlights and rarities. As judges, we were impressed by the selections,the creativity and the very readable presentation-of the list.

Trotter's list is divided up into basic sections, such as "White Burgundy" or "American Cabernet Sauvignon," and each section is introduced by a paragraph or two of informative history of the region and its wines, highlights of distinguishing characteristics and specialties of the region or grape, and a few food—matching suggestions. This is concluded with an inspirational wine quote from a famous historical figure.

The descriptions are basic primers that capture the essence of the category and empower less experienced wine drinkers to try something they may not have had before. They also convey a sense that this is a very well-thought-out and carefully selected list that lets diners feel confident that they can't go wrong with any selection. This is particularly important in an upscale restaurant setting because it sets the tone that there are no stuffy rules, just fun and pleasure. Kudos to such a worldfamous, high-end restaurant that can create this kind of approachable wine atmosphere.

Another feature that really impressed the judges was Trotter's amazing examples of food and wine pairing in the ongoing wine degustation menus. The combination of the hyper-creative food and ultra-exotic wines, each tailored to a particular "food theme" or customer preference, creates an opportunity for what may well be an amazing dining experience. Going beyond the call of duty, Trotter will even adjust his regular menu on the fly to suit the wine choices of his guests—another rare treat that proves a total commitment to his customers and the ultimate food and wine experience.

One thing that many of the wine list winners shared was a well-planned and inviting wine dinner program. Whether it was monthly wine and food tasting menus, wine dinners with the winemakers, or more educational food and wine events, the ability to engage, entertain, and educate diners with special wine events creates excitement and interest in your restaurant that will pay you back many times the additional costs.

US Wine Bonds
The Northwest-focused wine list at the Herbfarm is a truly amazing thing. And not just because it's a great wine list, but because it is a great wine book! We never would have believed it, but we found ourselves unable to put it down because it was so fascinating and informative to read. Almost every page is filled with tasteful photographs and illuminating mini-bios of featured winemakers and wineries. And not just press kit material of famous big wineries that you could get from your wine distributor, but well-researched and seemingly original written expositions of winemakers at wineries big, small and even extinct.

The feeling you get looking at this list is that there is a lot about Northwest wines that you don't know, but it's okay because this restaurant really knows these wines and the winemakers. You get a sense from the Herbfarm's wine list that it cares tremendously about the wines from its region, not just because the restaurant is located there, but because its philosophy of food and wine is simply that local wines are the best compliment to cuisine prepared with fresh local ingredients.

It's refreshing to see such a philosophy executed without compromise in such a stylish, intelligent, and comprehensive way through a wine list. Even if you go into the Herbfarm questioning or disagreeing with the local-food-with-local-wine thesis at the core of this restaurant, it's likely that you will come out, at a bare minimum, with a great meal and lot of respect for the conviction with which they pursue this tenet. More likely you will become an instant convert. And if you don't, it also offers a fantastic selection of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone, Italian, Australian, Spanish and California Cabernet-based wines. You are bound to find something you like.

The Herbfarm offers an incredible wine list, one of the best we've ever seen. Even the most seasoned wine expert would find new information and obscure wines that they have never tried. And for the neophyte, it's like the map of a wine amusement park— everything looks incredibly fun and inviting. The lesson here is that doing you homework, following your culinary convictions, and being creative, detailed, and informative with your list will captivate and inspire you customer to have some great and unique (maybe even local) bottles of wine with their meal. We wondered, however, if the wine list was so captivating that people would spend the whole evening just reading it! But, a quick look at the Herbfarm's wine sales figures of 30% of the bottom line assured us that a lot of wine was being discovered and sold.

Short But Not Forgotten
The short list category is for wine lists with fewer than 100 selections. This category would include the largest group of restaurants in the country and, for this reason, the lessons learned from the short-list winners are probably the most applicable for the broadest range of restaurants. Among the entrants, we saw a lot of smaller Italian restaurants with lots of Italian wines on their lists. This is good and to be expected. The problem with many was that the lists were serviceable, but did not display much creativity or originality, either in the selection of the wines or presentation of the list. Some were obviously influenced by distributors looking to "move some wine" and didn't have a distinctive selection or original point of view that customers could get into.

The winners of the short list category and particularly the 1st place winner, Southpark Seafood Grill, explored a diverse and exciting range of wines within a fun and creative presentation. The Southpark list was last year's winner and it remains head and shoulders above the competition this year.

It is, in short, a wine poem from the restaurant to the customer. The defining characteristic of this poem is that it adroitly communicates to the customer how to order wine through brief food-and-flavor-based descriptions and organization. It does this by first organizing the wines into broad categories of style: "Modern, New World Style Whites-Rounded, Rich Fruit" or "European Style Reds that Show Fidelity to the Soil."

Then, within these styles, it gives a carefully selected and geographically diverse set of choices from generally smaller and lesser-known producers starting with lighter wine and progressing to richer wines. The wines names are supplemented by the grape varietal names so that people, who don't know the European nomenclature, can find the wine grape they like to drink. This is a good idea that others should follow. Lesson: the easier that you can make it to order the wine, the better.

Speaking of easy ordering, it takes real guts to have a short wine list without a lot of big, well-known, volume brands. What you're saying to customer is that you are not painting your list by the numbers; that you are tasting a lot of wines to find the best fit for your menu; and that you don't care if the wine's name is instantly recognized. You know the wines are exceptional and if you present them as informatively and creatively as Southpark has, you will create an atmosphere of curiosity and exploration. Your customers will learn to trust your selections and buy more wine—maybe even more expensive wine.

In addition to the list's economical and illustrative organization, there are other creative flourishes. Sections of "Terrific Wines You've Never Heard Of" and "Everyday Wine Snob Corner"; multi-national wine flight explorations of a single grape (fun!); and numerous special selections "that may result in extreme euphoria." The latter are accompanied by colorful, paragraph-long descriptions that delight the imagination and entice the palate. Throughout the list, you get the sense that they are having a good time and they want you to have fun, too. All this is accomplished in only two single-sided oversized pages. Amazing!

In summary, we found that a collection of famous wines is not necessarily the same thing as a great wine list. You must find a diverse assortment of well-known and unique wines that work brilliantly with your cuisine and will appeal to a broad range of customer tastes. This is the starting point. A great wine list, through its presentation, elaboration, and style, will illuminate these remarkable wines and invite guests to have great experiences. The fine balance between matching a menu with a focused diversity of wines, price, style, and presentation is what makes a wine list great. It's also what separates restaurants with 10-15% of their total f&b sales in wine from those with 20%, 30%, 40%, and even higher. We congratulate this year's winners and hope that the ideas and principles expounded by their hard work will benefit you.

Photo Credit: The Walt Disney Company/Epcot Food and Wine Festival
Photo Credit: Randy Keppel