Restaurant Wine, Issue 73 (Sept/Oct 1999)

Menu-Friendly Wine List Issue

Profile: Very few wine lists are actually developed around, and in harmony with, a restaurant's menu. But at this unuusal restaurant, the wine buyer's theme is: "If it doesn't go with the menu, I can't use it." A remarkable story of an operation which puts menu affinity ahead of brand and consumer preferences--and has seen its wine sales increase by nearly 40% in the past 18 months...

Wine Consultant Mark Ellenbogen: This consultant does the wine buying for 5 Bay Area restaurants. Here are several of his current lists...

Promotion: This is perhaps the ideal Halloween wine promotion--although it could be adapted and used at other fun times of the year...

Wine Reviews: 155 wines from around the world are recommended, including exceptional 1997 California Chardonnays; outstanding 1996 Cabernet Sauvignons from Napa Valley and Sonoma County; stunning Pinot Noirs from the Russian River Valley; great value Cabernet Sauvignon from Argentina; some of the best newly released Australian wines available (Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay, Shiraz); excellent 1998 German Rieslings; and superb moderately-priced wines from Italy.