Wine list- more opacity needed.

I’m sure someone here can easily decode this. They probably need to remove some clues.

P Hickner

Far and away the most pretentious and dumbest wine list that I have ever seen. I would refuse to order wine on principle alone.

Hipster list.

I’m not sure more opacity is possible!

No surprise it’s in Los Angeles. Every new “hip” restaurant that opens in LA I cringe when I look at the wine lists. Common grape regions? no thanks, obscure shit you can make up 3x and no one knows is where it’s at. But typical Los Angeles, each new list is trying to out hip the next person. “have you tried this sparking rose made from barely fermented mutated pinot juice from random eastern euro block country? IT IS DARLING”

Of course my favorite thing about all somms at these restaurants is that their instagram is littered with photos of trophy bottles the diners bring in to drink as they pretend they opened them and were part of the experience and not just the leftovers.

/rant over

In regards to this list: I like Max and he knows his wine, but I think he’s trying to be way too cool for school.

Well then let’s go for more clarity. [snort.gif]

Wow. Even where the producer is listed it requires interrogating the sommelier. Which 2013 Montescondo? Makes a big difference whether it’s their Chianti or their amphora bottling.

Really annoying.

Stupid. Going to be cool start with prices. LCF Jambalaya Rouge and Scholium Gardens both 2.5X retail.

I’m not sure it’s significantly more opaque than “carrots, 5 ways” on a menu. I’m still going to have to ask about that too.

But only to berserkers would the actual descriptions of the wines be any help. Most dinners’ eyes would glaze over even if all the details were there, so the goofy names just stand in for obscure Belgian Siegerrebe? I’m ok with that.

For me, this is a result of trying to get more and more obscure with wine lists. It doesn’t bother me because I’d probably enjoy quizzing them (on every single wine) but I could see how it would frustrate the “don’t sit too close to the TV” crowd.

That’s the whole point, the more obscure you get, the cheaper the whole sale but you can mark it up to pricing that people still find acceptable. But since it’s so obscure they wouldn’t know what regular retail pricing would be.

Ridiculous…

“Vielle Vignes, $48.” It is an insult to the intelligence of the diner

If I know I’m guessing others do too but I get your point.

If you’re gonna put (what I’m guessing should be) a Weiser-Kunstler Enkircher Ellergrub and just want to write Enkircher Ellergrub, at least spell it right.

But they do give you a key to tell if it is red or white. You can’t be that particular about the grape!

I’d be tempted to have the server recite the producer, full wine name, and vineyard if relevant, for the whole list, and then ask for it all to be repeated. After that we could get down to the whole story of some of the wines, the history, the soil, the vineyard aspect, how it expresses typicity, terroir, and the philosophy of the grower and winemaker. After an hour or so, I’d ask to see a food menu as well.

P Hickner

. . . and then order a beer

It takes all of the pleasure out of reading a wine list. Even if you figure out what SOME of the wines are, it’s the equivalent of, “We’re not going to tell you what half the wines we offer even are, so you’ll have no idea if you’re making the best choice for your purposes.”

I’d also expect the sommelier to be a complete unpleasant dick.

PeterH’s first sentence is an exactly appropriate action quite seriously.

At least the typography is better than Terroirs’ list here in NYC.

This. :wink:

A couple of things:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/fbh/5187585719.html

And

On past menus they have suggested texting Adam with questions. Why not go ahead and do it now? 310- 694-1292