Reader Nicole wrote us with a question after our Corkage Week post on dos and don’ts: if one is going to a restaurant that features a geographic-based wine list (in her example, she chose an LA spot that has only Italian wines) and she wants to bring her own bottle, is it impolite to bring a wine that is regionally off-topic? She’d like to bring a Cali Cab.
In all honesty, we’re not sure how to answer this question so we think this is the perfect time for a poll (and please leave comments, since there are so many nuances to this topic!).
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Personally, we think that it could go any of these three ways. Clearly bringing a Cali Cab would be following the “don’t bring a wine that’s already on the list” tip, so that’s a plus. But the restaurant clearly has a strong POV (Italian wine with Italian food) so maybe somehow they’d be offended to see a non-Italian wine come through their doors.
However, if you were to bring a bottle of Italian wine that wasn’t extremely special…maybe they’d be more offended, since they spent so much time selecting an array of Italian wines appropriate for the food they serve that it might seem a slap in the face for one to drop in with something that is more or less the equivalent of wine they already serve.
Mostly, we lean to the rights of the customer: you’re paying, so you should get to do what makes you happiest (but be aware that these issues might crop up!).
What do you think?
Sorry for the short notice on this one…but come join us this Friday evening (May 1, 2009) for a casual tasting of the wines of Cantine A Casa, at Campanile. The winemaker will be there, and for a mere $19 (tax and service included) you will receive three small bites that have been specially prepared to match the Sannio Falanghina, the Greco di Tufo and the Fiano Di Avelino wines that will be poured.
