For their March edition of their Chef Talk series, Wine Spectator Online interviewed Thomas Keller of Napa's French Laundry and New York's Per Se, the only chef in the US to have two three-star Michelin restaurants. It's a great piece, covering his philosophy of wine at his restaurants, how his personal wine cellar is stocked (a Zinfandel man!), and the 20 guest room inn he's looking to open across the street from the French Laundry, but to me his thoughts on having choices made for you was the most interesting part:
WS: What advice would you give to a diner who's intimidated by a large list like the ones at French Laundry and Per Se?
TK: That's a real dilemma for us. It's great to see that in our country, we've become more knowledgeable—yet the result is more choices, which can be confusing and overwhelming. I think the best way to go is with the sommeliers. As we've been seeing a resurgent interest in cooking and great American chefs, now we're seeing a resurgent interest in wine, and great American sommeliers. What I would like to see happen at our restaurants is no menu, no wine list. [The staff] would talk to our guests, find out what they want, and talk with the chef. It's about talking to the guest and finding out what flavor profiles they like, and choosing some options for them, both from a varietal point of view as well as from a cost point of view. Wine lists are intimidating, they're so big and take so much time to review that you're actually forcing your guest to be rude to the rest of his party … When you go to someone's house who knows wine and has a decent cellar and knows how to cook, you're going there to have that experience. You're not going to choose the wine from his cellar; he's going to choose it for you, because that's what he wants you to drink. It's a really wonderful experience to have someone do that for you.
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