Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Wine list idea: Distance from restaurant

Check out this wine list from Red Feather Lounge in Boise, Idaho. Each wine lists the distance between the winery and the restaurant.

It's easy to get this information from Google Directions in a couple of clicks. Many restaurants brag about how local their produce is, but then present a list of wines from halfway around the world. Yet isn't wine the apex of agriculture?

Incidentally, I loved the Split Rail Mourvedre, the best wine I had at Red Feather and one of the best I had in the state. The Snake River Chardonnay and Koenig Syrah were also good. I didn't drink anything at this restaurant from further than 31 miles away.

What do you think: Is this information you want?

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6 comments:

Unknown said...

The mileage thing is just a gimmick. Like in your post from your August 8th article titled "That's Not a Wine List, That's a Price List" we want information about the wines being offered. I have no interest in buying wines from a restaurant list that I know nothing about, just because they are "local", for all I know they could suck. When are restaurants every going to "get it".

Jack Everitt said...

I'd rather see useful information rather than trivia (like distance to winery).

I see the restaurant is "mathematically challenged" with its glass vs. bottle pricing.

John M. Kelly said...

I believe this information should be mandatory if a restaurant lays any claims to "locally-sourced" and/or "sustanable" - same for the produce and viands. I believe we need a new government agency to regulate these claims, and that every certified restaurant must be able to document that nothing they are serving comes from more than 50 miles away.

I also believe that every menu should list nutritional information for every dish as well as for every wine, along with ingredients, and production process. I believe that every server should be able to expound at length on all of this at table side.

The more-informed diner is a better diner.

Unknown said...

Distance from vineyard information seems useful if it fits into the overall philosophy of the restaurant. Naturally most people will not care but hopefully those who do will find it informative and any business that tries to not treat its patrons as idiots is to be commended.

DAPZ said...

Not useful at all in my opinion. don't really see the point of stating that a winery in Italy is some thousand miles away. Could see the point if the list only featured local wines, but even then, info on the wine itself would be much more useful

Daniel said...

distance to winery is a little bit of a lie...the first wine is in Garden City, which is less than three miles from downtown Boise, and is not a garden at all. More like an industrial area. How about distance to where the grapes were grown (more like 30+ miles)? it's like a winery in Woodinville, WA being 'just a few miles' to Seattle, but the grapes come from Walla Walla a couple of hundred miles away!
and besides, just because it's local doesn't mean that it's good.