What Makes a Perfect Wine List?

In addition to looking forward to eating great food, I also look forward to perusing the wine lists at the restaurants we visit. But truth be told, the wine list is often either an afterthought for the restaurant, or an overthought, ridiculous tome with an overwhelming number of choices. To fix this problem, I’ve developed the necessary characteristics for the perfect restaurant wine list!

Wine is a critical component to a great meal. When paired well with a dish, wine enhances the flavors of the food and makes any meal an occasion for celebration. Restaurants who invest time and resources into developing a well-curated wine program recognize the critical role wine plays in creating an unforgettable dining experience.

All that said, I’m constantly amazed at how many restaurants, many of them self-described as “fine dining” restaurants, have pedestrian, uninspired wine lists that consist of a slim selection of cheap, easily available, and incredibly overpriced wines. I view it as a personal insult when I see such a list, and it is usually an indication of a restaurant that has either stopped trying, or never cared much in the first place. Alternatively, there are restaurants that oftentimes take things too far and overplay their hand by maintaining a cellar and wine collection that is overwhelming and extreme.

For example, the vaunted Bern’s Steak House in Tampa, FL has over half a million bottles of wine in their cellar, including more than 6,800 choices – absolutely insane. A list that large only serves as a distraction and makes it almost impossible to choose when confronted with the leather bound 100-page list.

So, what makes for a perfect restaurant wine list? Let’s take a look at one and break it down a bit! The wine list below is from State Street Eating House in downtown, Sarasota, one of our favorite restaurants in the area. The food is incredibly fresh and innovative, and the cocktails are creative and absolutely delicious. And the wine list? Perfection!

First and foremost, a perfect wine list is artfully and thoughtfully curated. But what does that actually mean? Most importantly, it means that the list includes a nice mix of popular and unique grape varieties or blends along with interesting, somewhat rare and hard-to-find wines. Notice that the State Street list includes five different white varieties, including two that are extremely popular and well-known (Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay), along with lesser-known varieties like Pinot Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and Riesling. The same goes for the red wine selections – Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel are on the list, but it also includes the rarer Cabernet Franc (two choices!), Malbec, and a Grenache-Pinot Noir blend – plenty of interesting and unusual choices to choose from.

A well-curated wine list is also globally focused, with choices of wine from around the world. While the State Street list focuses on wines from the US and France (due to the type of food they serve), the options are varied, with US wines from New York, Oregon, California, New Mexico, and Washington, and French wines from Bordeaux, Burgandy, Alsace, Sancerre, and Cahors.

Finally, an artfully and thoughtfully curated wine list includes a range of price options to accommodate different budgets. The State Street wine list has bottles priced from $39 to $150, with 12 bottles listed at $50 or less.

Besides being artfully and thoughtfully curated, a perfect wine list is well-tailored to the menu and complementary to the fare being served. State Street’s menu is somewhat eclectic, with a wide range of options for the adventurous and casual diner – think pork ragu, wagyu steak frites, shrimp and grits, crispy skin salmon, southern chicken sandwich, and a classic smash burger to name a few. Looking back at the menu, they offer tailored selections and perfect pairings for each of these dishes (six different Pinot Noirs for the salmon, 10 different Cabernets or red blends for the steak, 3 different Chardonnays and two Blanc wines for the shrimp and grits, and 3 spicy reds for the burger and other sandwiches).

Perfect wine lists are also “right-sized” – they include a reasonable number of selections, but not too few and not too many. For me, the sweet spot is no less than 25 options and no more than 50 options. Anything less than that and I’m feeling somewhat constrained, and anything more feels a bit excessive. The State Street wine list includes 38 different options, with 6 of those being sparkling wine, 9 being white or rose, and 23 red wine options. It’s easy to zero in on the likely options on this list for your dinner dish and then tailor your choice to the food and your wine variety preferences.

A perfect wine list also includes a robust wines-by-the-glass selection. This is important because unless you are dining alone, more often than not your dining companions will be ordering a dish that differs from yours in terms of potential wine matches. For example, when Laurie and I go out to enjoy a nice meal, I’ll usually default to beef or pork, while Laurie usually goes the fish or seafood route. Trying to find a bottle that accommodates both can be challenging, and oftentimes Laurie only wants one glass of wine with dinner so it doesn’t make sense to buy an entire bottle. For the State Street wine list, they offer 15 different wines by the glass, slightly less than half of their entire wine list. And that list of wines by the glass nicely cover the traditional and unique varieties offered on the longer list as well.

Finally, a perfect wine list provides reasonable value for the price, which means no excessive markups for bottles or for wines offered by the glass. To me, that means keeping mark ups for bottles below 150% of the typical retail price for the wine, and preferably no more than 100%. For glasses of wine, a reasonable markup for me is between 150 and 200 percent. Let’s see how State Street does on their mark ups – take the Bonny Doon “Vin Gris De Cigare” wine. They offer a glass for $11, and a bottle for $39. Retail, this wine sells on average for between $15 and $19 a bottle. That means the mark up for the bottle is between 105 and 160 percent, while the markup for a glass is between 130 and 190 percent, both within my target zone.

As another example, the Chappellet Mountain Cuvee Red Blend runs about $50 a bottle retail – State Street sells theirs for $72 a bottle. That’s less than a 45% markup and fantastic value for the price. As a final example, the Schramsberg Rose sparkling wine retails for around $42, while State Street offers a bottle on their wine list for $92, a 120 percent markup – perfectly reasonable in my book!

As it turns out, there are two features of a perfect wine list that State Street’s list doesn’t include. First, I always appreciate a selection of half bottles on the list – these are perfect when the dishes selected by a dining party require different wine choices. I wish more restaurants would offer this option. And lastly, I also really appreciate it when restaurants offer different size pours for their wines by the glass. That means offering the standard 6 oz. pour (anything less than that is a ripoff, and I don’t care how much your markup is!), as well as a larger 9 oz. pour.

So, what are your thoughts on my description of a perfect wine list? I’d love to hear from you!