Crafting Your Wine List to Match Your Menu
March 2010
By Harry Haff, , CEC, CCA, WSET Advanced Certificate, Chef Instructor,
Le Cordon Bleu, Atlanta
A wine list can present many challenges for a restaurant owner or chef, but when the list is balanced and the wait staff knows the wines and can make knowledgeable recommendations to the guest, it can coax the best out of your menu. Yet many restaurants have wine lists that do not seem designed to compliment or augment the menu, and some servers do not know how to sell the wine.
When these situations occur, too often the result may be poorly selected bottles of wine that do not pair well with the foods ordered, or the guest may select a glass of a house wine that seems safe and the restaurateur loses a potential sale.
How can these situations be avoided and turned into opportunities for greater guest satisfaction and greater sales for the operator?
The menu, whatever it is, should direct how a wine list is developed. There are several menu factors that should influence the wine list: Style of cuisine with compatible wines, calculating the average entrée price and pricing a list to be a reasonable companion to the menu. In addition, a well thought out list provides multiple price points on the wine list for each entrée on the menu, both in wines sold by the bottle and glass.
If your restaurant serves a highly seasoned cuisine, say food from southern Italy, your wine choices should be equally robust to stand up to the flavor and texture levels of the food. This does not mean the list is to have only wines from southern Italy, but the style represented by these Italian wines—full flavor, almost overripe fruit, mouth filling, juicy, chewy—should predominate on your list.
The wine list needs to be balanced by matching food and wine styles. Not everyone likes big wines, so make sure there are some more gentle reds available other than those listed above. After all, not every item on your menu is a blockbuster in the taste and texture department.
As part of a balanced list, make sure there are Old and New World wines fairly and proportionally represented. Remember, the goal is to sell wine to everyone who orders your food, and easily recognizable varietal labels and brand names as well as Old World regional labels can appeal to a broad spectrum of your guests, from the novice to the aficionado.
Knowledge is key to driving your wine sales. Consider the following information compiled by Russell Research in 2006:
• 42% of people who describe themselves as wine drinkers are intimidated by restaurant wine lists
• Of this knowledge group, 43% consider themselves novices
• 63% of the self-named wine drinkers prefer a large selection even though many admit their knowledge level is not great
• Guidance is overwhelmingly important—73% of wine drinkers want more guidance when ordering wine in a restaurant
• And 52% go beyond guidance and want recommendations by the restaurant to assist in making their selections.
Just as there are descriptions of food items on the menu, descriptions on a wine list should provide some information about the taste profile for a wine. Guests and servers can make better wine choices to pair with their already selected food with well-written, short descriptions. This allows wine novices the ability to gain some confidence before ordering.
For the more experienced guest, no one knows all the wines that may be placed on a list. A guest may be tempted to try something a little unfamiliar if he or she has a good reference point for that wine, perhaps by having a short description comparing this wine to one that that may be more well known.
Just as guests look to menu descriptions to assist in making food-ordering choices, so too do guests look for guidance when it comes to knowing something about a wine to be ordered. No one wants to make a mistake when ordering a wine for the table—it makes them assume both a social and financial risk and can negatively affect the dining experience for the host as well as the guests.
Consider choice: When given multiple choices, customers generally up-sell themselves for their choice. But choice can be a double-edged sword: more than 25% of guests ordering wine in restaurants say they are confused and overwhelmed by the variety of choices present. So your list needs to be balanced regarding the number of choices.
The Russell Research study indicated that respondents preferred a list of at least 32 wines. Using the precepts above, discipline yourself to use these 32 selections as a good starting point for matching your wine items with your menu items. If you decide to expand your list, consider:
• Does each addition balance my list in relationship to my menu? Am I adding items to have at least three choices of wines, at different price points, for each entrée?
• If I have a specific theme in my restaurant as reflected by the menu, do my selections on the wine list enhance the dining experience for this cuisine or theme? Does each wine add something to the enjoyment of the menu items?
• Just as I employ cross utilization for ingredients in developing my menu, do I have cross utilization for my wines? Can each wine be a good choice for more than one entrée on my menu?
If I change my menu, I should change at least some selections on my wine list to reflect and compliment changes in my menu. If the chef is crafting a summer menu of lighter salads as entrees, grilled poultry and seafood items with perhaps fruit relishes or salsas, the wine list in my establishment that served so well for hearty winter fare will not be compatible or in balance with my summer offerings.
Unless your theme prohibits change, think about adding rosés from the south of France or even (gasp) white Zinfandels for easy summertime enjoyment. Rosés from Spain and the Loire have inexpensive purchase points, are well matched with warm weather fare and easy to love, due in no small part to their versatility. This type of example can be extended for any seasonal menu changes you might make.
And speaking of, in the Untied States there are more than 40 million people who like white Zinfandel. Think about it. Can the wine that gets no respect be integrated into a respectable wine list? To answer this, simply think about why the wine list is there!
When it comes to price points, all operations are unique so I cannot tell you how to price specific wines, but I do know there needs to be a reasonable relationship between entrée price points and wine price points. For example, if your entrees average $20, a good place to have most of your wines is in the $40 per bottle range, or two times the price of the average entrée. Factored into this relationship will be your purchase point. No one can afford to undercharge for food or wine. Starting with the menu, the wine list prices and purchase points will follow.
Much of what will sell wine in your operation has to do with education and making your guests feel comfortable in the choice of wine they have made to accompany their food. This is where staff training comes in.
Most servers do not know a lot about wine. Just as your chef needs to explain the menu to have servers knowledgeable about the food, so too do they need to be familiar with, and knowledgeable about, the wines that will go with food. If wine follows food, then servers need to know and be comfortable about what it is they are supposed to sell.
Staff tastings with menu items is crucial. When your list has three choices per entrée, taste your staff through each one explaining as you go. Servers sell what they know and are familiar with. It is your job, and the job of the chef, to increase the knowledge of your wait staff on the specific wines on your list and why food and wine pairings work.
If your servers “get it” about how the wine list follows and compliments the menu, they will have the confidence to recommend good choices to your guests, just as they would food items. When that happens, your sales will increase and your customers will return because you are creating a perception of value and trust through your efforts.
Harry Haff teaches Wines and Beverages, Cost Control and a variety of hot foods and baking and pastry classes at Le Cordon Bleu, Atlanta. A hospitality professional for more than 25 years, he has an intense interest in and knowledge of wines and beverages.
