Chaoming Wu

HMGT 2402

Professor

Profesor Dragorn

Wine List Analysis

When I study Hospitality Management, I haven’t had red wine. Because I’m allergic.But I can try a little be.this is ok. When I take this class, I have discovered wine is not just an alcoholic drink, Food and wine pairings allow chefs and sommeliers to pair individual dishes with different wines in hopes of enhancing the flavor of both the food and the beverage. So, wine becomes a significant item for the restaurant industry., I will compare the wine lists from River cafe and Daniel Brasserie restaurants.

The River cafe is located in one of New York’s most unique and romantic settings, and is well known around the world as a wonderful culinary destination.Nestled riverside under the Brooklyn Bridge, The River Café exudes romance with its breathtaking NYC skyline views, gorgeous atmosphere and above all our classic American cuisine. At The River Cafe, they serve brunch, lunch and dinner at a fixed price.The River Café’s wine program, since 1977, is one of the most respected in the country. he River Café believes in long term cellaring and after thirty years has created one of the best international wine lists to be found anywhere. Some of the world’s greatest and most sought after wines, including Chateau Reyas, Chateau Petrus, Domaine Ramonet, Neillon, Vega Sicilia and Domaine de La Romanee Conti, are available in multiple vintages at The River Café.

Daniel is a French restaurant located at 60 East 65th Street on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, in New York City. Since opening in 1993, Daniel has earned its place among the pillars of New York City’s bustling dining scene, receiving numerous accolades for its refined European cuisine, world-class cellar and gracious hospitality. The restaurant Boasting more than 25,000 bottles, our cellar ranges from exceptional old-world wines to innovative offerings by young vignerons. Daniel presents 25,000 bottles into the wine list . Wines are categorized into the region and going along with appellations. but this menu didn’t show any information for each wine.

All in all, both restaurants are different styles of presenting the wine list, But I think The River cafe menu is better. They do a good job in all. and They also have a better dining environment and food is also very good

Wine List Analysis

When it comes to living in New York City we have many options for so many different things. For example, if you want pizza it ranges from a simple $1 slice of pizza to a $7 slice of artichoke pizza. Another example would be with restaurants, you can have the traditional fast food restaurant like McDonalds or a 5 star Michelin restaurant like Batard Tribeca NYC. The same concept pertains to the wine lists of the restaurant establishments throughout the NYC. The evidence is there with over 3,000 restaurants having extensive wine lists in NYC. I will be comparing the wine list of 2 restaurants that I have visited which are The River Café and Gramercy Tavern.

Both of these establishments are fine dining restaurants but are each individually different. The River Café, as the name suggest sits right on the East River overlooking an amazing view of the city highline. It has more of an upbeat vibrant feeling with live music and a flowery scenery surrounding you. This type of environment can make it conducive to wine drinkers who would like to sit by the water and consume wine. On the other hand, the Gramercy Tavern fits the fine dining experience with a dim lit, reserved classic look which can also be conducive to wine consumers as well. As for the wine list of each restaurant, there are many similarities and differences. On both wine list you can find comprehensive list of champagne, sparkling wines as well as white and red wines. Other similarities they share are the countries and regions they come. For example, both restaurants acquire their wines from the United States more specifically the California Napa Valley and the New York Finger lakes. Other countries include France and some of its regions like Loire Valley, Alsace, and Bordeaux.  They also acquire wine from Italy and its regions such as Piedmont, Tuscany, and Veneto. They also acquire wines from Germany and Austria. In terms of pouring, both restaurants offer wine by glasses, half bottles, and full bottles. A difference between the two restaurants is The River Café gets most of its wine from France with California while The Gramercy Tavern gets most of its wine abroad at France and Italy. The River Café also has a more extensive list of Grand and Premier Cru than The Gramercy Tavern. A major difference is The River Café has a special collection which The Gramercy Tavern nor any other restaurant does not have, which is the Madeira Collection. This is a special collection of wine that comes from Madeira, which is a small volcanic island off the port of Portugal which was also used by Christopher Columbus.

After reviewing, both restaurants and wine list I would pick The River Café as a better option over the Gramercy Tavern. The River Café has a broader spectrum of wine which allows for people who are experienced or not experienced in wine to be able to choose a wine. Personally, overlooking a beautiful city highline and sharing a glass of red wine with your love one isn’t bad either

  Wine has been around humans from the moment homosapinas were able to ferment and realize the full potential of what small little grapes can do with a little bit of help.As the decades come about we see not only fine dining establishments accompany their exquisite food with wine , but also casual dining restaurants.One very known Michelin star location is the River Cafe where we have a sommelier who even teaches at Citytech. On the other hand we have Blue Ribbon as a casual restaurant.

  The River Cafe is located near the riverside of the Brooklyn Bridge. It is known for its wonderful view of the sky-liners, boats passing by and the sunset as the day goes on.Open in 1977, the elegant location with a strict dress code has lived up to its reputation of having a  Michelin star.The wine selection that they have is extensive and is quite renowned for having some of the most sought after wine around the world. Blue Ribbon has been open for over 26 years and allows their location to contribute with their aesthetics.If you were to Google Blue Ribbon you would see that they are known for being wide awake at 3am for a bite which helped its reputation. 

    The wine list is not as extensive as The River Cafe but does come with a nice list for people to choose from.Unlike the River Cafe that has a list that runs over 10 pages , Blue Ribbon has a nice little selection of 4 pages.Both of the wine lists tells the consumer the location where the wine was from, the year that it was created and what type of grape that was used. The River Cafe listing has a higher price range which as little as $25 but can go as high as 9,000.Comparing that  to Blue Ribbon which goes from $8 dollars for a glass up to $100 the price difference can speak up for the rarity or quality of the wine.Something else that I noticed was that they separated the type of wines that they have from white,red,spirit, and sparkling.These wine list makes sure to compliment what both restaurants seems to be mainly serving.This makes it easier for the guest to make a choice that accommodates what they are ordering to eat also. These restaurant have different standards but makes sure that they are equipped with wine that can help better their restaurant.

New York has a variety of different restaurants throughout the five boroughs. I’ve always been interested in visiting a restaurant and trying the “perfect” wine to pair with my meal, but have yet to have had that experience. Coming into City Tech’s Hospitality Program, I was interested in learning so many different things this field has to offer, especially the wines. With that being said I chose to base my wine analysis on one fine dining and one casual restaurant. The restaurants are called Gramercy Tavern and Blue Ribbon. 

Last semester I had the honor to visit and analyze the famous, Gramercy Tavern. It was filled with many options and the beverage list is filled with a variety of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks. Gramercy also offers a wine pairing with your 3-4 course meal. They offer it for around $79-$100 per person.  With that being said the wine list was huge! Going on their online site to get a recap of how it looked and it was beyond my expectations . The wine list is 34 pages long. They have a variety of different selections of wine in which, is very organized and categorized. In this wine list they also have the different wine prices and how much each specific ounce will cost. Different wines from red, white, sparkling , etc. They offer a variety of wines that come from places like Italy, France , California, to even the city of New York. When dining at Gramercy, I noticed that many people had different options to have their wines. Gramercy offers half bottles, full bottles, and wine glasses in different ounces. 

Although I have never been to Blue Ribbon I found it interesting with the variety of locations they have from New York City all the way to Los Angeles. The beverage/ wine list had the different wines and “spirits” list. This list was 4 pages long. They had it very organized and had the prices of each beverage. The wines differ from countries and states like France, Chile, Spain, and even Long Island, New York. I do like how specific and detailed the beverage list is. For example, they have listed a wine as “A & P De Villaine, “Les Clous AimÉ,” CôTE Chalonnaise 2015”, and Cote Chalonnaise is a subregion of the burgundy wine of France. 

As I analyzed both wine lists, The difference in the two restaurants was that one beverage list was 10x larger than the other. That is very understandable, due to one being a fine dining restaurant and would demand more than a casual restaurant. I noticed the difference in pricing as well. The similarities was the very detailed descriptions on the wine and the organization each restaurant had. When analyzing both these restaurants, I learned that a wine list can go beyond 35 pages. It is incredible how many wines we have around the whole world. I also learned that having the opportunity to compare both these restaurants and wine list, gives me a different perspective on how to look into more wine list for every restaurant I visit.

Reference:

https://media-cdn.getbento.com/accounts/06eddfdb5447c253b35abe48f22bfb2d/media/PRaScYJ0QiSmabBrfWDe_GT_WineList%203.11.20.pdf

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52fd7162e4b0d3e64dc29631/t/5d9cfacaff43b44336b79ec8/1570568906303/BR-BK+Wine+List_10.08.2019.pdf

Robin Singh

Wine Analysis

New York is world widely known for one of the most tourist visited places in the whole world. One of the reason being is because of its hospitality industry. When it comes to restaurants, New York has a reputation of having one of the best fine dine in restaurants in the world. Not only do these luxurious restaurants serve the best food, but they’re also popular for their alcoholic beverages.

Wine is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in the world, not just New York. People drink wine for several reasons. One of the reasons is because they enjoy the wine pairing with specific foods. Other reasons are because of the history and traditions of wine, to enhance special moments with wine or they drink it for several health benefits.

Two restaurants that I picked to compare are Gabriel Kreuther and 21 Club. Chef Gabriel has a reputation of one of the top chefs in NYC for running his restaurant. Gabriel Kreuther offers a variety of wines. Although the prices are slightly high, the wine however is affordable. On the other hand, 21 Club is known for serving top notch wines.

Gabriel Kreuther offers a list of red and white wines. The wine list includes the producer, grape variety, country, year and the price. The wine prices listed on the menu were for a glass each. The price of each glass of white wine ranged from $17 to $40. The price of the red wines ranged from $17 to $36. The restaurant also offers a rose wine and an orange wine. The prices for those were about $18-$19 a glass. The menu for the wines is not extremely big but it is displayed nicely.

21 Club offers lots of wines. The wine menu is extremely big. The wines listed in the menu are offered by half bottle and full bottle prices. The wine list also displays the year, grape variety country. There were many types of white wines listed in the menu. The white and red wines were shown differently by the name of the region. Some wines listed in the menu were extremely expensive and some wines were sold for $60 and under for the full bottle prices.

After comparing the wine menu for both restaurants, it is known that both fine dine-in restaurants offer great wines. Although the prices of the wines are bit expensive, the quality and the display of serving the wine covers that up.

All restaurant connoisseurs native to New York are familiar with The Modern and the Blue Ribbon restaurants. The Modern, located on West 53rd Street is a two-starred Michelin American restaurant. Blue Ribbon restaurants are located mainly in New York City but appear in Miami. Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Blue Ribbon was founded by Bruse and Eric Bromberg in 1992. Over time a series of restaurants dedicated to modernity and casual dining. Both establishments are very different in the areas of food and analyzing both wine lists differed drastically as expected. 

When observing The Modern’s wine list I could not help but notice the table of contents. For a list that is one hundred and fifty four pages I would be overwhelmed at a list like the one at The Modern if I did not know much about wine. Something else I noticed is that The Modern provides half bottles of wine. Finally, I noticed that they provided South African wines. This caught my attention because in class we cover major wine countries and South African is a rarity.

When observing Blue Ribbon’s Brasserie Brooklyn’s wine list I paid careful attention to how the list was organized. Once downloading the file, I found that the bottles of wine were not categorized by color or reigon; the subheadings began with the grape variety. This is a bit odd to me because I would imagine being a guest and not knowing exactly what certain grape varieties are known for in terms of taste. Something else I noticed was that the wine list includes beer, cider, and spirits. This makes sense especially since the wine list isn’t crazy extensive. Lastly, I noticed that the wine with the oldest vintage is 2015. This makes me wonder why the wine is so modern. 

The wine lists at The Modern and Blue Ribbon Brasserie Brooklyn vary drastically. One difference is that the wines at the Modern are more diverse. The list contains a myriad of wines from around the world. This makes sense especially since the Modern is a fine dining restaurant with an eclectic menu. However, the wine list at Blue Ribbon categorized their wine based off of grape variety. This makes sense because this can make pairing wine with menu items easier. These lists are similar in a few ways, both lists do a great job at distinguishing where each wine comes from. Every single wine listed was connected to a location which is important to know when choosing the best wine for a guest. Lastly, both lists are categorized by grape variety. This was easy to overlook when viewing the wine list for The Modern. However, once you follow the table of contents, the rest of the list contains grape varieties. 

After doing research I was able to come to a few conclusions about the wine lists at both The Modern and Blue Ribbon. Both wine lists were created to pair with the menu in each establishment respectively. The Modern’s wine list is extremely long and complex compared to the one at Blue Ribbon. Prior to doing this project I had felt that long wine lists were superfluous but after analysing two lists from restaurants of different scales, I finally began to understand. When people eat at upper scale restaurants they are not very likely to try aberrant wines. This is why it may be necessary for a restaurant to have one hundred and fifty four pages.

Wine List Analysis

Bingzhao Shi

HMGT 2402 E553

Prof. Dragorn

Spring 2020

3/31/20

Wine List Analysis

What is Wine? Wine is an alcoholic drink that is made using fermented grapes. I am a huge wine lover. I picked a liquor store named Super Buy-Rite, across the Hudson river. The reason why I pick this store from all other ones is that it is only couple mins walk from where I live. I am a frequent shopper, I picked up many wines and other varieties. I believe it is the biggest liquor store in Hudson count. The options you can choose is huge, they have everything you can imagine, wines, beer, spirits, liquors, etc.
It located 575 Manila Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07310 right next the road when you come out from the Holland tunnel from NYC. It is hard to notice since its look like a warehouse with a small sign comparing to the shop size. When you enter the store, the classic music is playing at a acceptable volume, bright light is irradiating at the alcohols
I still can remember the first time I went there; it was when I just moved to Jersey City and I wanted to buy some alcohol to celebrate my 21st birthday and host a warm house party. The liquor store was like a maze, the aisles are full of alcohols. Premium wines and spirits in the fridge. Soda are next to the checkout area, the staffs working there are friendly compare to the staffs in some liquor store in NYC. I was excited to take wine class at my school; I learned a lot from the class also get to taste some wine. Sadly, the school must move all classes to online classes due to the virus. You were not able to find the “owner” of the store but they would not care if you take some picture of the alcohols.

Valentina Liang

Professor Dragorn

New York City College of Technology

First of all, I will like to let everyone know that I am allergic to alcohol. I am really excited to write about the retail beverage store analysis. The liquor store that I have picked is called Cathedral Wine & Liquor. The reason why I have picked this liquor store is that is two blocks away from my house. I have been to this liquor store like 3 to 4 times to help my friends to buy some alcohol. The staff from this liquor store always have upside-down emotions. sometimes they are in a good mood and sometimes they have a terrible attitude. I always call a certain place before going to that place. So every time  I call their liquor store no one picks up my phone. Which makes me upset. This liquor store is a family business and is owned by  Hugues Asdrubal.

The first time when I went to this liquor store I was lost. As I remember before taking  W&B class I didn’t know anything about wine.  I remember when I was a little girl I thought that a bottle of wine is made by the day that is shown on the bottle. But actually that is not true. The first thing that I have learned in this class that the date that is shown on the bottle is the date that the grapes were picked. I think wine is really interesting as the entire process from picking up the grapes, Pressing the grapes, fermenting clarification, aging, and bottling. I really enjoy going to a liquor store after W&B class. Most of the time I will go on a Wednesday and buy some alcohol for my friends. I really enjoy cooking and I have friends that they really like drinking wine. So after W&B class I will go to the liquor store and buy the bottle of wine that I like the most after tasting them in class for my friends to pare with the food.

I did not have the chance to talk to the owner and the couple of times that I have been there was a lady who was really rude. I asked them if I can take a picture of the liquor or liquor store but I have been rejected. I couldn’t see any picture on yelp. The price of this liquor store is affordable. They have all kinds of wine, whiskey, Ron, champagne, sparkling wine. Most of the sparkling wine is a place on the fridge. Hopefully the next time I go to this liquor store I have the opportunity to talk to the boss and learn more about wine.

Retail store Analysis 

Dulce Solis

Professor Dragorn

New York City College of Technology 

       Typically 80-90% water, 10-15% alcohol, 0.5-0.75% acid, 2.9-3.9 pH levels and 15-38% sugar at harvest, all major components of wine. Typically many of us know of Rosè, but there are also red wines, white wines, and champagne. With some of the knowledge I acquired in class I decided to visit Benely Wine and Spirits although I wanted to go to Smith and Vine. But taking into consideration the severity of these days I took my safety first and went a block from my house. 

       From outside of the store you see two different sides, the left is hard liquor and the right is all wines. When you come in the atmosphere alone is very calming, no loud music and it’s very clean. The wine is placed on a wall that has lights and I must say it gives it the calming effect, plus the lights reflect off the bottles so it looks beautiful. There weren’t too many people inside and it’s spacious enough, unlike a liquor store there aren’t bullet proof walls where you talk to a person through.

       The three questions I had to ask were a bit hard to come up with considering I don’t really drink wine. But my first question I asked was “How do you come to recommending a wine?” He said that he asks his customer if the wine is just to sip on or for a meal, dry or sweet, if its their first time drinking wine ( they won’t know preferences), and price range. My second question was “Has the business been impacted by Covid-19?” He said yes but in a good way and bad way, the good way is that many more customers have been coming in to buy wine which increased sales. The bad way was because there could only be one person making sales and it gets hard when new wine shipments come in. 

       My last question was “ Do you think wine/liquor stores are essential right now” he said he wasn’t sure how to answer that because it’s not essential for him to be there since he could get sick attending customers but he still needs the job to pay his own bills. So there are pros and cons with how essential wine is at the moment. I think I picked the right wine store considering that I saw Smith and vines weren’t very welcoming. The store in general could be a bit more organized in the back but other than that it’s great and prices are decent.