Drinking and Eating
What should you drink with what you eat?
Choosing a beverage is like choosing your restaurant - it depends how much you want to spend, in what company you are consuming it and what the occasion is.
But aside from your mood and your pocket, what about the food flavours and how can you match them with beverages?
Some restaurants do the work for you, suggesting wines, and sometimes beers, to match their dishes. When there are unfamiliar ingredients involved, this can be very helpful. Long ago, Mask of China was one of the first Chinese restaurants to suggest wines by the glass with dishes, it's now being done by many others, including the Japanese Aya. Amongst Western restaurants, Blakes were forerunners in offering a glass of wine or a beer with every one of their dishes. Along the river The Duck now offers more than 60 wines by the glass along with very well chosen wines to go with each of their dishes. An abundance of wines by the glass is becoming common practise but one which is fraught with danger. Too many bottles open at once and either the restaurant loses much needed profits in wastage or customers get to drink too many wines out of condition. Whilst the addition of nitrogen or the extraction of air by pumping helps to some extend to prevent oxidisation, it can deaden flavours. However, if a restaurant is always busy and the bottles get used quickly, then this is a great way to taste lots.
Some restaurants seem to choose only the cheapest wines to put on by the glass, perhaps on the assumption that people who just want a glass aren't serious wine drinkers. Whilst places likeB.coz, Charcoal Grill on the Hill, est est est and One Fitzroy Street seem to assume that every glass should be an interesting and valuable experience and have some real gems available. Not quite sure what happens with the rest of the 1995 Vieux Chateau Certan. (on offer at Charcoal Grill on the Hill for $65 per 250 ml) after one glass has been poured. Perhaps the assumption is that you'll be tempted into having another. At One Fitzroy Street quite a lot of top end wines are available in half bottles, a great solution for the lone diners. Amongst the huge list at Hermann SchneiderSyracuse, there are also a significant number of halves, big bottles (magnums) and a strong list of dessert wines from Australia, France, Italy and Hungary. Here there are also nine digestivi, half a dozen grappas as well as cognacs, ports and armagnacs.
At Mink, there are more than 40 vodkas on offer and the opportunity to taste a grouping of six for $32. The actual list here is presented in stylish format with its Russian themed typeface and 'mink coated' cover. Interesting long mixed cocktails include Apple Crumble (zuchowka apple juice and fresh lime) and Siberian Iced Tea. For 'classics' drinkers there are premium champagnes and other imported wines, notably Chateau d'Yquem; a large range of cognacs, armagnac, calvados, eaux de vies, single malts, bourbons and beers on tap.
The Gate has a grand total of 45 imported, and 21 Australian, beers along with a choice of sakes and eight varietes of schnapps. It is one of the more interesting beverage lists with its range of Vietnamese drinks including juice from a whole coconut, soya bean and 'long grain' drinks as well as a "4 Colours Drink" with red beans, jelly, palm seeds and tapioca drops in coconut milk.
If its schnapps you want, there are 19 different 'snaps' on the list at Akvavit along with a small range of beers and wines.
Sherries are particularly well represented atB.coz, est est est and Syracuse. To finish your meal, B. coz has a good range of single malts, whiskies, fortifieds and ports. At est est est, there are 24 fortifieds and 15 eaux de vies for a fresh and heady finish to the meal.
The list of French wines at France Soir is vast. There are no bargains but it certainly offers the most comprehensive collection whilst at Jacques Reymond there is a treasure trove of individual wine maker Burgundies. Jacques selected them himself and left them to mature in the French vineyards cellars until shipping them out last year to mark the 10th Anniversary of the restaurant.
At the top end restaurants, vegetarians don't often feel they are well catered for. But at Shakahari there are some exceptional dishes and a wine list to match with some unusual small wine makers featured. There are reasonably priced wines by the glass as well as a range of beers (local and imported) and a non alcoholic selection . Teas include a herbal range as well as more than a dozen black, green and scented teas, three grains inflused - plunger style. Interestingly, there is only one coffee choice - the house blend espresso.
As well as wines by the glass,Langton's also offers groupings of three wines to be tasted in small measures - so you can try three Rhone varietals for $10, three premium chardonnays for $12 . Interesting at the wine bar here, the glass usually costs more than the dish with which it is matched. All a matter of priorities.
Owner and wine auctioneer Stewart Langton has constructed several lists for Langton's. There are the wine bar choices, the Concise Wine List which is presented with the big food menu and, the Classic Wine List. The latter is very large and informative. Bit hard to read some of the advice with its coloured print. It is something to take away from the dining table and study. The value judgements made are particularly interesting as is the discussion of regional qualities in Australian wines.
Out of town Adams of North Riding has a relatively short but well priced and very thoughtful list of wines by the glass along with a formidable list of Champagnes and other fine wines. Arthurs is a well balanced list representative of the Mornington area but including some fine imported wines. Fisherman's Pier at Geelong offers numerous local wines as does Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld and the Queenscliff Hotel which pioneered the Peninsulas' wine list.
Victorian wines feature on the Argo Hotel list which is not huge but priced very fairly. Also proving that size is not everything is that of Italy 1 in the city. Designed to suit the pocket size restaurant the selection is compact but offers an adequate range from $19.50 with most wines under $30, the highest price being $42.50.
As well as size and price there is the information passed on through a good wine list. Readable explanations in short 'grabs' can be very helpful. The list at Isis has lots of little tips about wine, chatty advice along with reasonable prices. Dogs Bar and the Melbourne Wine Room Bar also offer very accessible, cheery lists. Their wines by the glass change regularly yet the staff somehow keep up with it all, particularly at the Wine Room.
Becco has a popular bar in the city adjoining its restaurant with 36 wines on offer by the glass. Wines are fairly priced and a good selection.
At China Max, William Lee continues to offer excellent value on a list which includes French Champagnes from Piper Heidsieck NV, $47 to 1985 Moet at $78, 1996 Eileen Hardy Chardonnay for $40, Henschke Mount Edelston Shiraz 1993 at $49 and 1992 Mt Mary Cabernet at $85, the price at auction is $102.
Where you have a restaurant's list tied in with retail outlets, there can be great benefits for consumers. The Duck benefits from the buying power and experience of Philllip Murphy with his many retail outlets. Similarly at Circa, the very comprehensive list is linked with an excellent wine store, The Prince (which benefits too from the industry experience of its manager, who worked with the same Mr Murphy) .
Some lists, such as Circa's are so big they allow room only for the lines of names and $'s. Its straight to business. They assume customers who know their vintage years, wine makers and styles. For those drinkers who don't, there seem to be too few service staff able to offer proper advice. Christian Maier at the Sofitel's Le Restaurant is an exception. Often it is a case of time to train and update staff about the lists. It's an enormous task to keep up with what's on offer just on the Australian wine market - let alone the imported. And because of the pressure on restaurants to keep prices down, numbers of staff and of dedicated training time given to this updating, tends to be reduced. The price of good wine in a restaurant should somehow fit in the cost of holding the stock, providing the glassware, refrigeration and bar facilities, as well as hours of wages in training.
It rarely does and this is what makes the drinking part of Eating & Drinking in Melbourne, so important..
As you study wine lists, its individuality and passion that counts. It's the character and preferences of their makers. Much as drinking wine tells you about the vignerons. There are personal biases and tastes which shape the products. May it always be so. Let taste rule.