This issue pops up from time to time in articles I write, but it should appear in local print more often than it does.
Why is it that local restaurants--even the newer, "nicer" ones--choose to serve wine at less than ideal temperatures? White wines are usually too cold, red wines too warm. (The issue is more problematic with reds, as a glass/bottle of white can be "cradled" until it warms up; but short of an ice cube--and don't you dare!--there's nothing that can be done with an off-temp glass of red.)
This concern is top of mind this morning because it happened again last night, at a popular restaurant in Clayton.
Restaurateurs don't seem to have a problem charging customers $14 a glass for a nice Cab, yet don't care enough to serve it optimally (at "cellar" temperatures for reds), as the winemaker painstakingly intended. That disconnect, especially in better restaurants, is inexplicable. It confounds me. One might suspect whether such shortsightedness has crept into the kitchen as well.
The issue involves full bottles, to be sure, but just as much the by-the-glass wines, the ones poured from partial bottles stored on the back bar and for God knows how long. In that warm environment, red wines become partially oxidized in a day and are undrinkable in two. I can't tell you how many glasses of red I've sent back for that reason. And the excuse of "we always sell them before they go bad" is, with rare exception, simply untrue, a cop-out for "we're selling wine, we really don't care." Small, temperature-controlled wine cabinets are inexpensive and readily available, yet most local restaurants still choose not to use them. The excuse of "there's no room" rings hollow as well. Try losing a few dozen of those dead-wood trendy spirits or goofy-flavored vodkas, pal. There. Now you have room.
The practice is so pervasive in St. Louis that it's now pretty much accepted by the local populace, even those who know better. Case in point: a wine bar opened up in an upscale suburb here just a few years ago and it offered a selection of nicely-curated red wines...full and partial bottles all stored on the back bar. Mind you, this is a wine bar!
So I wonder if it's a general lack of knowledge, of basic wine savvy, or simply that one strain of what I call "St. Louis-itis" has taken over: an affliction that causes nice-guy local diners to say (or at least think) "oh, it's no big deal," or "this wine'll be just fine," even though the converse may be true.
It's not that way in San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, or any city with high culinary standards. Like serving hot food good-and-hot, and cold food cold, it's simply the way it's done: it's proper, it's the norm. And it is a big deal.
St. Louisans can continue to accept the status quo and keep drinking inferior wine, like we've done for years. Or...we could speak up and simply demand better. Register some displeasure: Send back any glass (or bottle) that's too warm; send back any wine that seems off or oxidized (because it probably is). Then order something else, maybe a cheaper glass of white or a top-shelf, low-profit fancytini. A continuous one-two punch aimed at the restaurateur's pocketbook might just elicit that necessary change in policy.
Restaurants say they earn respect "one guest at a time." It's time we treat our wine-serving restaurants exacty the same way.
(Unfortunately, this wine service beast has another arm, one I'll wrestle in a future post.)
