For The Love Of Port

At my house, the woman drinks all the wine.

Eva and I have only partially overlapping tastes in wine. We both taste when the bottle is opened (Eva is more sensitive to TCA) and discuss. Rarely we will disagree on whether we like it and then usually keep the bottle and have the other one order something by the glass or another bottle. Even with Michigan's generally repressive alcohol laws, we can at least recork and take home unfinished bottles. But generally at any restaurant where we are not well-known, the list gets handed to me. I like exploring new lists; Eva prefers to order known favorites. OTOH, when Eva is out with friends, they almost always pass the list to her.

Despite her renown — the American Sommelier Association declared her the Best Sommelier in the World in 2002 — she said her fellow male Master Sommeliers pounce on the list.

Good for her. There are several assumptions I could make about why the list is usually handed to the man, or why the man is usually the one to reach for it--could be simply an old tradition that is still followed, or could have to do with personality traits that might be considered more dominant in men than women. But I will leave that one alone.

I think I am fairly unusual in that I do drink wine but my husband drinks essentially not at all. I can't remember him ever being handed a wine list, but then it's not something that's a big deal to me, and I don't think I would take it as an insult.

I have to say that there have been situations where friends and I have asked for extra copies of the wine list, or gone into a huddle over the list. The inclination to "grab" or "pounce" is strong at times.

"EVVV'rybody wants to be parta da act!" (Jimmy Durante)

It infuriates my wife when I spend time in the wine list before ever looking at the menu. Choosing food before wine just seems backwards. Afterall, are you going out to a restaurant to drink or eat?

Peter, that brings up a point I hadn't considered before--why is there ever only one copy of a wine list per table? I mean, everybody gets their own menu, why wouldn't everyone get their own wine list? I realize that usually everyone at a table isn't picking out their own individual bottle, but at least that way everyone could have input and be a part of the discussion (or a part of the act, as you say). I know some restaurants have their wine list included in the menu, but I don't think that's the case at the majority of places.

I agree, Roy. I always order the wine first and taste it before I begin looking at the foods available. I have even ordered a second bottle to try to get something to go with what has caught my eye from the food menu that doesn't go with the first wine I ordered. And, yes, restaurants are a pleasant place to drink wine, with something to go along with it if you get hungry. Or make so-called food wines tolerable. Of course, among food-oriented people, I say just the opposite. (But I still order the wine first.)

Melanie, the downside of having lots of wine lists is that my very favorite kinds of wine restaurants often have fairly fast-changing wine lists. It's a lot of amending or reprinting as the selection changes. If they have a fairly stable wine list and a not-too-expensive (no leather covers the size of USA-today) presentation, then plenty of wine lists could be reasonable. Raised printing directly on the leather --- well maybe they can get along with one wine list for the entire restaurant.

I guess I'm just more of a foodie than a wino, because to me one goes to a restaurant for the food and then you pick the wine to accompany your food selection. Or in my case, I ask for the dessert menu so that I can check to see if they even have Port that I can order with my dinner.

I've always thought that one wine list per table was strange, too. If I were doing it, I'd have by-the-glass wines (which are presumably the big sellers) on the menu and then a separate by-the-bottle wine list on the side. That way people could order by the glass easily yet you'd still have fewer wine lists to update when your cellar changed.