Had a lovely meal at a wine-centric restaurant recently. The company was extremely good, and included a winemaker who brought one of his very nice Syrahs. The food was fine, but to be honest the thing that has stuck with me days later is the waiter. Mr. Winemaker asked him to decant the Syrah and asked to see the wine list for a white to start with. The waiter's response: "I'm intimate with the wine list." (Hmm, better bring a moist towelette.) Mr. Winemaker was polite and asked to see the list anyway. To make matters worse, the waiter then insisted that we have a white of his recommendation rather than the one ordered by the editor of a national wine magazine. I assume the waiter didn't know the editor's identity, but it wouldn't have mattered. That Mr. Editor had expressed an interest in something dry and minerally also didn't seem relevant, because the wine that arrived was mildly interesting, but not dry. None of us drank much of it, not that Mr. Waiter noticed. When we ordered a light red to replace it, he again tried to steer us to another producer. This time we wouldn't back down. Four voices arose as one: No, no, the Morgon will be fine; Mmm, yes, let's try that; Definitely, sounds good; Been curious about that vintage. We'd been in the restaurant for almost two hours, and we were ready to taste that Syrah, hand-carried across the country. Flagged down and asked to fetch that wine, Mr. Waiter said, "Sure, but I just decanted it." And this is how they do it in a restaurant that takes its wine seriously? Lord Bacchus help us. Oh yes, the Syrah was delicious, once it opened up.
Pinterest
