Photos by Iona Renfrew
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| House of Townend Wine Merchants, Melton, East Yorkshire |
Beers and lagers are often seen as the ideal tipple to accompany
curries and spicy food but a good wine list can help restaurants maximise
profits. Stuart Shenton, Manager at House of Townend Wine Merchants in Melton, uncorks the secret of creating the perfect
wine list and recommends six wines that go well with curry …
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| Stuart Shenton, Manager , House of Townend Wine Merchants |
ZR: Stuart, how important is an effective wine list in a restaurant?
SS: In my opinion the wine list is incredibly important. A
quality restaurant spends time creating a fantastic menu, good ingredients and
innovative cooking styles, so I don’t understand why you would want to ruin it
by having a boring, bog standard wine list. Also, customers are drinking better
wine now; you tend to have a lot more wine savvy people out there and putting
together a good quality wine list can really add value.
What’s the optimum number of wines for a restaurant wine list?
I don’t think there’s a blueprint as to number – it all
depends on the size and style of restaurant. If you have a Michelin star type venue,
you’re probably going to want a pretty extensive list with a sommelier who can
talk people through the wines. However, if you’re a small, 20-cover, quick in-and-
out restaurant, you may want something a bit easier. I would say a standard
quality restaurant with 40 seats would be looking at a 20-40 bin wine list. In
my experience people like to be guided so it helps to narrow down choice and
utilise your wine list as much as possible.
How would you advise restaurants to increase their GDP on wine sales?
The majority of restaurants supply a GDP percentage and,
whilst that works well with your house wines, it doesn’t work so well for wines
higher up the list. For example, if you buy your house wine at £4 ex VAT per
bottle, most restaurants would look at making a 65% GP margin. That means you’d
be selling it for £13.95 per bottle which isn’t unreasonable for a good quality
wine. But, if you apply the same 65% per cent margin to classic wines, like a
Chablis or Sancerre, you’d be spending about £9-£10 for a bottle and charging
customers £35 – that sounds an awful lot! My advice would be to charge the
customer around £23 for such wines which would be good value for them and still
profitable for you. It’s a common perception that by having a blanket per cent
margin, you’re going to make loads of money but if you’re not selling it, you’re not making anything either.
One thing that definitely could be done is to offer more
wine by the glass. Most restaurants serve glasses of house wine or maybe a well
known grape variety, but one way to encourage customers to try new wines, would
be to use a special cork which takes the air out of the bottle and reseals it. This
enables you to offer around 20 wines by the glass. You can get up to 10 to 15
days out of the bottle without losing any of the quality – if it takes that
long to finish the bottle!
How can restaurateurs balance their food with wine?
Good food can enhance a great wine and a good wine can
enhance great food. If you spend time creating a quality and diverse menu, the
wine list should reflect the different styles of dishes available. For example,
if your restaurant is well known for a particular style of cooking or signature
dish, make sure your wine list mentions a wine that works really well with that
dish.
Food and wine matching is a fine art, but at the end of the
day, if a customer loves a big Australian Chardonnay, they’re going to enjoy it
no matter what. Nevertheless, if you have signature dishes on your menu, I
would definitely recommend approaching customers with: “Why not try this fresh,
crispy white that goes perfectly with such and such a dish ...?”
How important is it to train your staff about wine?
Staff are your best asset when it comes to getting more from
your customers. Find out what type of training is available from your wine
merchant. Training and tasting programmes give staff that background and
knowledge so that if a customer asks for advice, they feel confident enough to recommend
a certain wine.
In terms of external training, there is the Wine &
Spirits Education Trust examination which can be taken at colleges. This is the
recognised qualification of the wine trade and some restaurateurs fund staff to
go through this at Intermediate or Advanced level.
How would you balance your wine list between old favourites and more
esoteric varieties?
Most people think in terms of the bigger brands like Echo Falls
For any new restaurant wanting 10 reds and 10 whites on
their list, there are some classic elements I could pinpoint straight away. For
example, you’re going to need a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc; a Pinot Grigio; a
Chablis or a Sancerre. These will cover your bases but that’s when you can
afford to go on and add something a little bit more unusual. You need to
balance wine not just in terms of country, but with styles so that you have
something dry, something a bit sweeter, bone dry or medium. Then, if you get
your staff trained up, you can add slightly more esoteric wines so they can
recommend something at a slightly higher price according to the customer’s
preferences.
How can layout and design of the list help?
This is an area where you can definitely improve your wine
list by giving it a more interesting appearance. In a more traditional approach
everything is laid out in terms of bin numbers. That often leads customers to
opt for the House wines because there isn’t enough info or description. A
standard list means people tend to go for the house wine because they’re not
being challenged.
One thing that really works well is to split the list into
styles rather than countries so that, if people come in saying they like crisp,
fruity wines or big full flavoured reds that will be reflected in your choice
of wines. The brands won’t be available in the high street so people won’t
recognise them but what they will recognise is grape variety and style. So, if
they usually like a Pinot Grigio and further up the list you’ve got a Verdicchio
with similar qualities, you’ve got a fair chance of trading your customer up.
Obviously make sure you have a nice looking wine list – get
a professional to design it, taking into account the style and character of
your restaurant i.e; trendy or traditional. Make sure you have got tasting
notes; not huge, in-depth descriptions but may be two or three lines that
reflect the personality of the wine. It’s important to avoid certain terms like
‘acidity’ or ‘tannin’ – replace them with words like crisp, fresh, grassy or
warming, right and fruity. A good quality wine merchant is always worth their
salt just to explain how and why a wine list can be put together.
Finally, which goes
best with Indian food – wine or beer?
Beer and lager go well with Indian food but it all depends
on the restaurant or occasion. Beer is great in certain situations but in my
opinion, for a special occasion in a high quality establishment, a bottle of
wine takes a meal to an entirely different level.
Stuart’s
recommendations for six wines that work with curry? (PRICES MAY VARY)
1. Torrontes
2011, Zohar de Susana Balbo House of Townend price (HOT) £8.35 ex VAT,. Classic
and fragrant grape variety from Argentina .
The aromatics work really well with food that has spice and heat.
2. Basa
2011, Rueda, (HOT price) £6.99 ex VAT A really good Spanish wine from an area in
Rueda. Nice and light, fresh and crisp but also quite elegant. It works really well
with fish. Would probably be a good match for less contemporary style meals,
for example, a buttery style dish.
3. Reisling
2008 (HOT price) £7.58 ex VAT – A wine from Clare
Valley in South Australia
which has some of the best Reisling in the New World .
Again you get lovely aromatics, a bit of lime and lemon but a little drier with
a more refreshing finish.
4. Gaba
do Xil 2009, Valdeorras (HOT price) £7.72 ex VAT Quite an unusual wine from northern
Spain .
The grape variety is Mencia. It’s a really aromatic and fragrant red but has a
little more weight and body than a Beaujolais .
Delicious with any type of spice.
5. Côtes
du Rhône ‘Caprices’ 2010 (HOT price) £7.36 ex VAT - Really classic, popular
wine. Suitable for anyone looking for a more traditional style of wine to go
with the food, Cotes du Rhone has all-round appeal because it has weight and
body but is also quite soft and subtle.
6. ‘Pitch
Fork’ Shiraz 2010 (HOT price )£6.58 ex VAT
– A bit of an old favourite at House of
Townend - a really good quality, big, bold and rich flavoured Shiraz that works
well with a meaty dish or lamb kebabs .
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