The Food and Beverage industry grows 5% every year. No matter if you go to a fine dining or to your local farm to table restaurant around the corner, the majority of restaurants offer a selection of wines. The list can be longer or shorter depending on the restaurant.

If you look at the wine list of a fine dining restaurant, such as Asiate, you will find yourself immersed in a 60 pages wine list. Nonetheless, if you look for the wine list of Serafina, you will see a simple one page list.

Zagat, which is a guide for restaurant reviews, describes Asiate as an “Elegant, calm surroundings and spectacular views over Central Park make an incomparable backdrop for the exquisite New American cuisine at this special-occasion go-to atop the Mandarin Oriental”. The wine list of Asiate is neat and easy to read. You can notice that they segment their list in four categories:

• White wine (the majority of the wines come from Burgundy followed by the Loire Valle, Côtes du Jura, which is an appellation of the Jura region, Alsace, Corsica, the Rhône Valley & Bordeaux)
• Red wine (mostly from France and Italy)
• Sweet and Fortified wines

Another noticeable aspect of Asiate’s wine list is that some of the wines they offer do not have a vintage, and are marked as NV. In their list, there is a dessert wine vintage 1889 from Hungary. And, a high quality wine “Giacomo Borgogno, Riserva”, Barolo DOCG, which is a red Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin wine made in the region Piedmont in Italy.

A third observation that captures my attention is the use of the words “Champagne” and “Sparkling Wine”. Even though they both refer to the same type of wine, I know that wines listed under “Champagne” come from the Champagne region of France. Whoever, the wines listed as “Sparkling Wine” can come from anywhere.

In contrast to Asiate, Serafina is a quiet, family style pizza restaurant. With over 5 locations in New York City, Serafina offers a very simple wine list. The first thing you notice is the length of their wine list; one page. Another compelling observation is the use of “BTG” and “BTB”, referring to “By the glass”, and “By the bottle”. The third observation is the use of “Champagne” to refer to Prosecco, which is Italian sparkling wine, when they are not supposed to.

The similarities and differences between the two are evident. The wine lists are similar in the layout and segments. In addition to that, the two lists mention the prices of the wines. On the other hand, Asiate’s wine list mentions the vintage of the wines while Serafina’s does not. Besides that, Asiate offers wine from around the word, while Serafina only sells wines from Italy.

Looking at two totally different wine lists allowed me to see how much effort restaurants put into their businesses, specifically in wine. I noticed that wines from France and Italy are pretty popular among wine lists. I observed how words that might mean the same were used in an incorrect way. I analyzed an extensive and a short wine list, saw the vintages, crus, appellations, PDO’s, PGI’S, DOCG, DOC without being lost because #IStudyWine.

Direct links to the wine lists:

Asiate: https://photos.mandarinoriental.com/is/content/MandarinOriental/new-york-restaurant-asiate-wine-list?_ga=2.169036257.1523833812.1585000070-1899301768.1585000070&_ijcid=1585009384494|50.1871910342.1585000070724.3449b4d1

Serafina: https://media-cdn.getbento.com/accounts/430c847cc42df774cae8a25fd92f0517/media/menus_files/vgB3zszuSmeq3NQINGhK_tcaE1O1RLiTW9mIThpmg_MASTER_WINE_B_WAY_Jan_28_2018.pdf

Citations

About: Serafina in New York, NY. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2020, from               https://www.serafinarestaurant.com/about/

Asiate. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2020, from https://www.zagat.com/r/asiate-new-york

Asiate – Restaurants In Manhattan: Mandarin Oriental, New York. (2020, February 11). Retrieved March 23, 2020, from https://www.mandarinoriental.com/new-                         york/manhattan/finedining/restaurants/american-cuisine/asiate

Growing Futures. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2020, from             https://www.plantandfood.co.nz/growingfutures/food

The world is full of wine, from red, white, and rosé. Some people may enjoy just a character in a wine. It could be a simple as the amount of sweetness, or it may also be as complex as the appellation. We, New Yorkers, are fortunate to have hundreds of restaurants providing wine for all people.

I will introduce you to two different restaurant that includes a wine menu. A casual dining restaurant called Carmine’s Italian and Del Posto, which is considered as a fine dining restaurant. Both restaurants are Italian but they also have their differences.

Carmine’s Italian Restaurant causality leans towards the vaudeville era. Its menu looks festive and a reminder of you being here for loud joy. The beverage menu holds everything from soft drinks, wines and beer. Their Trebbiano & Montepulciano is listed under Carmine’s Wine which would be considered as their house wine. Their sangria is listed as just Carmine’s Signature, it does not specify which wine was used for it, but instead which fruit they are using for the red and white. The red uses berries and the white cantaloupe. Finally, the last category of wine listed under Carmine’s Legacy Wines. The restaurant mentions that those wines are made by Carmine’s Italian families. You may chose from their white, Chardonnay, Trentino DOC by Lechthaler or Sauvignon Blanc, Fruili Colli Orientali DOC by Ronchi Di Manzano. There are 4 choices of red which included Amarone Della Valpolicella DOCG by SalvaTerra Winery. One of the reds was interesting as they introduced an American blend of Cabernet and Sangiovese.

Del Posto Restaurant menu format is very simple. It consists of 245 pages of the beverage list. The centered layout and the way it is categorized shouts fancy. Unlike Carmine’s, they do not introduce any wine that is not Italian. For the assurance of not being lost in the menu, it holds a table of contents on the first couple of pages. If the table of content is not as specific for a guest, the page that follows offers a table of content in categories such as sweet wine, port or in sizes such as half bottle, magnums, jeroboams and other large formats. If you would like to start a wine with your appetizers, it offers a list that will go with it. Their glasses of wine range from $12 to $45, the sparkling glasses from $20 to $40. Another category includes wines that are macerated on the skins, wine pairing and at the coravin glass and many other categories. Some are sold by bottle that range from $104 to a $6,000 1961 Grande Cuvée or a $7,000 2013 Masseto. If your pocket can’t every be empty, you may also order a $18,000 Tenuta Dell’ornellaia.

Rich or not, if I had the option to drink at either place, it would not be a frequent visitor at Del Posto. Their wine list is mostly for experts that want to experience some wine or just to add it to your I did it status. It is too complicated, and your meal might get cold by the time you decide which wine you want to drink.

(n.d.). Carmine’s Italian Restaurant | Order Delivery & Take-Out Now. https://www.carminesnyc.com/

(2014, August 4). Del Posto. https://delposto.com/