In these recessionary (depressionary?) times, lets see a show of hands. How many of you are still going out to eat on a regular basis? Sadly, and perhaps stupidly, mine is high above my head – and yes, I am typing with one hand…
Granted, some of these meals are at Chili’s with the kids, where the wine choices run the wide spectrum of quality, from Yellow Tail Shiraz to Yellow Tail Chardonnay, to some Pinot I can’t recall, so off in color I could have sworn they poured Ben’s fruit punch in a wine glass by mistake.
Many of these meals though are at fine dining establishments where, as the resident wine “expert” among my circle of friends, the task of picking a wine for the table usually falls on me. Now I can look at this as a compliment, this assurance that I will take good care of everyone and their wine enjoyment needs. But for me, now more than ever, it’s a pressure I could easily do without.
Call me a wine snob but I just cannot bring myself to order a Ravenswood Zinfandel at a nice restaurant. It’s a wine I’d gladly bring home to make with veggie pepper steak and mashed potatoes any night of the week, but when I’m out to dinner, my eyes always fall on the Gevrey Chambertin’s or Brunello’s. They just do.
And while this is a boon for the restaurant, it’s often an ethical battle for me. For what exactly constitutes spending too much on a bottle of wine when eating out? For me, spending $75.00 (on a roughly $30.00 bottle when buying retail) is not much of a stretch. Not from a financial standpoint, I’m by no means rich, but I know at somewhere between $50.00-75.00, I’m going to get a good bottle of wine that will go well with the food we’re ordering. But what of the people you’re dining with who don’t drink a lot of wine, who might not feel so wonderful in dropping that kind of money (usually times two before the meal is over) putting the bill at $150.00 before the food is even figured in?
So I sit looking at the list, then back at my dining companions, trying to size up their pain threshhold (read: financial health) and order accordingly. I’ve even been known to tell a sommelier, give me your best bottle of wine under three figures. That actually works well since now I’ve put the burden on them. Sure, he or she could come back with a $99.00 bottle, fully within my parameters, but more likely, they end up pretty much where I was, $50-75.00.
Now, I know what you’re saying, “Hey, Daddy Winebucks, why don’t you just bring your own wine?” Good question. I do it all the time. But because I am the way I am, and because lets be honest, my living is largely made on the backs of restaurant sales, I always buy a bottle of wine off the menu as well, thereby placing me in the throes of my dining out dilemma.
So what’s a guy like me to do, when people all across the financial pie chart are looking to save money? Well if I listen to that little voice inside my head, or even the actual voice I’ve used to discuss this subject with my wife, I’m thinking this:
Go out less, but order good wine more.
How’s that for a little homespun Franklinesque wisdom?
