line of the day – N/A

Episode didn’t work too well as hushed tones don’t go hand in hand with GV! Camera out of focus on menu and sound went dodgy when camera switched to guest. One thing to take out of it is Gary’s wine knowledge – it’s absolutely RIDONCULOUS

Grower Champagnes is a big problem on wine lists, as is carrying a lot of name wines and being to fearful of branching out which is where you find your real deals. However that’s not always the fault of the wine director. Sometimes it’s the owner who has his hand in that and is trying to go with what he thinks is a safe bet. This causes all those wonderful lesser known wines to fall by the wayside and is also undermining your guests in my opinion.
With that being said I still see a ton of diners out there who will never stray from traditional French or Napa and turn their nose up at anything else. they usually love to name drop the wines they’ve had and try to impress the other guests at their table. It’s obvious that sort of diner would never branch out even when polite suggestions are made. However I’d bet in a blind tasting it would be quite easy to introduce them to something they’d never order in a million years that they’d love over their “safe bet” name recognition French and Napa wines.