SA wine lists: Fiona McDonald
For once it's not about price, but selection - the variety and choices offered. For Fiona McDonald lacklustre lists are a constant source of irritation and frustration. Illustration by Kian Eriksen.The reservation's made, anticipation is high and you're looking forward to a great evening. Good food is a given - that's why you've chosen to dent your credit card at this restaurant. And the wine? If you've taken your own, you're OK. But if you haven't, you face the perilous task of navigating the winelist…
Nothing is guaranteed to make the blood in my veins fizz more than seeing a winelist that shows zero imagination - and a strong influence from a single, large supplier with multiple brands in its stable.
On the other hand, the lists at Cape Town establishments such as Aubergine, Buitenverwachting, Die Ou Pastorie, one.waterfront, Grande Roche's Bosman's, Cellars-Hohenort's Greenhouse, The Pavilion at Hermanus and Hunter's Country House in Plett make me drool in anticipation.
I love restaurants where time, trouble and effort has gone into the winelist. On page 72 in this issue you'll find WINE magazine recognising not only top restaurants but those with excellent winelists - places like Ritrovo in Pretoria where Fortunato Mazzone's passion shines through in his delightful, sometimes distinctly quirky selections, La Belle Terrasse, Walkersons in Dullstroom and Hartford House in Mooi River.
These are the restaurateurs who realise the benefit of a good winelist, and many of them already boast Diners Club winelist awards or commendations.
Last year Diners Club took the decision to axe its Winelist of the Year competition. While there were howls of indignation from certain quarters (notably consistent award winners) consider the facts: more than 8 000 entry forms were sent out - a paltry 320 submitted their lists for consideration. How's that for apathy?
A decent winelist doesn't have to run to five or 10 pages, it can be a simple A4, front-and-back list of a few dry whites, a few semi-sweets and a couple of dessert wines, then reds by category - blends, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Pinotage…
A well-structured abbreviated winelist is a thing of joy if it offers variety and a short description, indicating someone's taken the trouble to make a note or two after actually tasting the wine. Hell, crib notes from WINE mag if you have to… that's what our judges are here for!
We're told "South Africa is not a nation of wine drinkers". Quite right. Compared with France, Italy, Spain and even the UK where wine is consumed with a meal daily, we're amateurs. Our annual per capita consumption is 9 litres - a drop in the bucket compared with France's 57 litres, Australia's 20 and Luxembourg's whopping 65.
Yet even on those occasions when we do want to push the boat out for a special event, a birthday or anniversary dinner - or even for business entertaining, why should we be assaulted by a winelist that shows an almost total lack of imagination and effort?
Wine is potentially a huge moneyspinner for restaurants - because of the mark-ups they can impose.
How are you going to encourage a wine drinking culture and better turnover by simply offering diners the "usual suspects" - and then still putting a whacking mark-up on them? Even I'd rather drink beer…
"Too many restaurateurs just can be bothered - and don't give a damn," is Siris Vintners' Nigel Cattermole's succinct summation.
Wine suppliers like Siris, Meridian, John Collins, NMK Schulz and Vinimark are only too happy to assist restaurants. They willingly undertake to draw up winelists - naturally featuring some products they offer but usually including a selection of competitors' wines too. This is because they don't have sufficient clients to totally dominate a list and they realise that variety is vital for the establishment and the diner.
"We're the guys with the knowledge - and we'll recommend a particular style of wine suited to the restaurant's style of food, even if it's not one of our clients," says John Collins, another wine merchant and former Grande Roche sommelier. "Restaurateurs are just plain lazy - and they don't want to spend money."
It's "the big boys" who not only compile lists but print them for the restaurateur, offer special branded covers, corkscrews, aprons and other marketing gimmicks.
But there's a dark side to this as well. Unsubstantiated rumours abound of cash kickbacks, free cases of wine depending on purchases and large discounts - again linked to volume buying.
John Collins, Cattermole and Sue Wardrop of Meridian wine merchants all admit they've had restaurateurs asking them for cash incentives, heavy discounts and free stock to list wines.
"It's shocking what's going on," says Wardrop. "You have guys blatantly asking what they'll get for listing a wine."
But the restaurants are equally apathetic, says Cattermole. "They couldn't be bothered with having six or more different suppliers making deliveries. It suits them to have a Distell, for example, supplying Nederburg, Fleur du Cap, Zonnebloem and Graça in one hit. It's one-stop shopping - but it's bloody short-sighted because they're short-changing the consumer, their patrons."
Distell spokesman André Steyn says there is no hard and fast rule governing the compilation of winelists.
"Each one is negotiated individually with the restaurant or outlet. We provide them with branded covers for their lists and also offer assistance in drawing up the list, suggesting food and wine matches and so on."
Branded items such as umbrellas or aprons are also negotiated individually. Steyn made it clear that there was no demand of exclusivity by Distell. "Obviously we have a very wide portfolio (of brands) so could conceivably match any and every need of the restaurant. We also represent a significant proportion of the market. A key thing for Distell is that we have sufficient volumes to ensure continuity of supply."
That's one of the most appealing factors for restaurateurs. Their argument is that patrons are disappointed if a listed wine is sold out. "But it's naïve of restaurateurs to expect their lists to last six months or a year," was Collins's retort. "Go the route of a place like the Savoy Cabbage and have a simple list with the menu on one side and wine on the other. The food changes daily so it's simple enough to amend the winelist according to what's available or suitable.
"If you can only get two cases of a popular wine, sell it for as long as you can - but then amend your list once it's sold out. Winelists shouldn't be written in stone."
Alan Pick of the Butcher Shop and Grill on Sandton Square was the single biggest buyer at the 2003 Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild auction held at Spier in October. He shelled out R235 000 on some of South Africa's top wines, buying multiple case lots to ensure he secured sufficient stocks.
He's a guy who understands the profits to be made on wine… He's probably the largest seller of Ernie Els, a red blend that retails for around R450 but which is on his winelist at over R1 000 a bottle!
Mike van der Spuy of Peddlars on the Bend in Constantia has a refreshingly different attitude. "I put less of a mark-up on the more expensive wines and more on the lower priced wines."
His motive is to encourage people to be adventurous and trade or drink up - to experience wines they wouldn't normally try and discourage them from drinking "run of the mill" stuff.
South African consumers are notoriously reluctant to complain about bad service or bad food, but we owe it to ourselves to become more vocal about bad winelists. Either we bring it to the attention of the manager - or we vote our disapproval by bringing along our own wines.
IS BYO OK?
The practice of Bringing Your Own wine is generally acceptable in Cape Town restaurants, but is viewed with great suspicion and distrust, if not downright malice, in Johannesburg. The argument is that the establishment has taken the time and trouble to select wines that partner the foods, bought sufficient stock and stored it at the correct temperature, printed wine lists, trained staff…
'Scuse my cynicism but "Yeah, right!" How often have you encountered a well-trained, wine-savvy waitron?
