History of Riesling

[Randy Caparoso]

Yikes, Foodie, I can see that I'm not communicating with YOU. I understand your point, and of course, I'm disputing it based upon the fact that to a large extent restaurants like ours HAVE to sell wines that people run over to the supermarket or discount stores and buy large quantitities of. It's like Absolut, or Bud Lite -- many of our places find that we need to carry Ferrari-Carano and Chalk Hill Chardonnay, B.V. Tapestry, Rosemount Shiraz, etc. because specific guests are basically demanding it. This, in my mind, is being very much a "barometer." We can clearly see what the market is like at all times. I think you have our restaurants mixed up with many of the more insular, high-falootin' ones in Manhattan, or the totally cool, ultra-hip ones in San Francisco, Chicago or L.A. We may not be a Denny's, but we do have to be bit more populist because we cater to a broad cross-section of customers.

Where we are less of a barometer, I will freely admit, is in the curves we may throw at a guest. Someone may ask for, say, a Robert Mondavi Chardonnay because they've had it a zillion times, since it's always on special at Costco. We might say that we don't have the Mondavi, but this lesser known Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay which Robert Mondavi helped "discover," or this new one from tiny, little Baystone in Sonoma, which you may find to be just as lush, rich, and enjoyable as what you are used to. Or, you might consider this dry style "Critique of Pure Riesling" made by a Santa Cruz crazy as a completely different alternative. Like I said, we sell what they like, but we recommend new things when we can.