Journo

Wino Forever

Wine snob admits guilt,  asks for more Red Truck

Just when you thought I couldn't possibly be more obnoxious, here I come with another confession: I am a wine snob* and a foodie and I have subscriptions to both Gourmet and Bon Apetit (foodie overkill if ever there was). Recently, I've come to love the cheap bottles of Pinot Noir that seem to dominate the wino-on-a-budget scene: Rex Goliath (Boston folks will recognize the name from the giant ads found at bus stops all last year and the year before), George duBoeuf, Sidewise. But that's for my own kitchen. Dining out, my favorite restaurant cop-out is to glance at the wine list and request the waiter or chef (rarely do I venture to places with an actual sommelier) pick a wine that is either a house favorite or goes well with the meal. In this way I sound like a snob, but a humble one, deferring to the folks who create and serve the food--folks who should, in theory, know of what they speak. And that way, I don't have to ponder the list endlessly and end up drinking crap--I only recently turned 21 and, enthusiast though I may be, I am hardly an expert.

But when a restaurant doesn't offer anything good--or, as is the case with most of the best eateries on the mostly-dry Martha's Vineyard, anything at all--what is a wino to do?

I opened up the pages of February's Food and Wine and found an article on something I had never heard of: corkage. Corkage is the practice of charging clientele a fee (often around $25 but as high as $250 in some swanky places) for bringing their own wines. I understand the charge from a restaurant point of view, but from a customer's perspective I have to wonder what the upside is (a guide by the same author, Lettie Teague, on BYOB can be found here).

Really, now. Have a mixed drink or an iced tea or a glass of inferior, although perfectly adequate, wine (or a water! Mon dieu!) and drink that lovely bottle of wine at home with a nice bar of dark chocolate, watching a movie, cuddled up with your date. Doesn't that sound nice? Nicer, say, than spending $25-250 to buy the bottle and then $25-250 to drink it?

The article points that the line used by many restaurants--bringing outside drink into the restaurant is illegal--is often not the case. It's certainly not the case in Mass or RI, where dry towns and cheap Asian-cuisine places (Galaxie and Noodles in Providence come to mind) make BYOB pretty standard. But at the gastro-pub where I work (heavy on the pub, light on the gastro), managers often look around, confused and terrified, when customers produce a bottle of Champagne to celebrate an event. Waitstaff are told to immediately tell them, "Stop! You can't do that here!"

 But you can. While I wouldn't neccesarily waste my good wine on burgers or a rack of ribs (especially not if I was in a microbrewery, duh), I could see why someone would want to do so. Yes, my restaurant carries Rex Goliath, but the other "labels"--Sycamore Lane? Rodney Strong?--aren't really worth the price. Even if they were, say, free.

So when fancy martinis or craft beers aren't your thing, and the restaurant clearly has no wine list, my choice would be to go elsewhere. I won't pay corkage, but more importantly, a restaurant should be judged not only by its food but by its drink. If the wine list simply sucks, what does that say?

But here in New England, where we don't really do wine and if we do, not very well, it make sense to order off the menu. In places like California, the article mentions, BYOB is much more common, since people are walking right off the vineyards and into their favorite diner.

I expected the article to be snotty, and it was, although not in a terribly annoying way; and I was pleasanlty suprised when, at the conclusion, Teague quoted a resteraunteur praising the $10 Red Truck Pinot Noir (something I buy with seriously frightening regularity). I doubt I'll ever have the wallet or the guts to bring my own bottle to a restaurant, or the forethought (since Teague encourages calling first to make sure BYOB is okay). Plus, the restaurants in Providence and Boston that I love all have good wine lists, and I'd rather spend $20 for two glasses of good wine with dinner than $20 for an average bottle and a corkage fee.

A Brief Guide to Providence-Boston Wine, on a Budget:

Best Cellars: a no-brainer. Located conveniently off the T at Copley Square and only a block or two away from the Back Bay commuter rail station in Boston, the staff are friendly and knowledgable and there's no shame in browsing the $7 bottles--in fact, you'd be hard pressed to find anything more pricey than $10-$15. Perhaps a little gimmicky--trying too hard to cater to the young , broke, and clueless--but still, Best Cellars knows their stuff.

Madiera: a lovely little Mom and Pop liquor store on Ives St. in Providence. Great deals on mixed cases (10% off) and a wide variety of cheap, good stuff. I love the way the owner studied my ID--they clearly don't care to serve underage frat boys. It's nice to browse the wine racks undisturbed, without being interrupted by customers asking where they keep the Jager.

Gasbarro's: avoid. Unless you are in the mob. Located in the historically fussy Federal Hill district of Providence, home to the often underwhelming and overpriced Italian fare that makes it famous, the folks here are knowledgable and not at all snotty. Why, then, did I pay almost twice as much as I should have for a simple Tuscan table wine? It's got to be the high cost of owning or renting on Atwell's Avenue--the store itself is clean but shabby, with boxes on the floor and hardly any display. I'm 5' 8" and hate bending down to read labels. Still, the staff recommendations were right on target. And it's within walking distance. I'm torn.

Citron: a nice wine bar right across from the (<cough> useless </cough>) Capital Grille in downtown Providence. The food is tasty (the Ceasar Salad is great--a weird thing to recommend, but really, it is) and the wine list is really fun. They do wine tastings often or you can order a flight. I've never tried a wine I didn't like at Citron, and their colorful (although very busy and kind of confusing) wine list can be helpful if you already know what you're in the mood for. Their mixed drinks are fancy and pretty good, too.

Okay, I'm done. Now to open a bottle of Red Truck, crack open a romance novel, and enjoy my evening. Corkage free.