Okay, so the sommeliers reading this all know about the hassles of not having a wine in stock, or having the wrong year of the wine. Consumers, though, can't understand why a wine is listed if it is not in stock.
Top restaurants, though, will often make a suggestion of a better wine and waive the difference ... this has happened to me twice, once at Chanterelle here in NYC and last week in San Francisco at the Campton Place Hotel. Before you get too excited, realize that it is not a matter of the restaurant giving you a $200 when you ordered a $60 bottle, more a matter of upping five or ten dollars to the slightly better wine of its type. Either way, it was a generous act on the part of the restaurants and for them, a small price to pay for building future business.
Yet we have all been subject to sommeliers who just don't care. The wine list may be beyond their control, but incorrect service is not. I'll let blogger Debbie Miller Nelson describe her ordeal:
Here's a snip from her blog:
"I started off the evening with a glass of Perrier Jouet Grand Brut English Cuvee NV. It was light with nice, fast-moving bubbles. I asked to have the wine list stay at the table so that I could look for a bottle for dinner and it was whisked away instead, When my husband and I ordered dinner, I had to ask for the list back and I ordered a glass of Chateau Rabaud-Promis 2001 Sauternes for the fois gras and a bottle of 2004 Pouilly Fuisse Tete de Cros Chateau de Frisse for dinner. When the appetizer of fois gras arrived, my Sauternes still had not, nor had the glass my husband ordered with his appetizer. To my surprise, the bottle of wine we ordered with our main entree had arrived and my husband was shown the bottle. I immediately corrected the Sommelier to let him know that I had ordered the bottle. And, he brought a 2005. I told him that I had ordered the 2004, not the 2005 (Remember, this is why they show you the bottle. Make sure you get what you want). He ran to get a wine list and saw that I was correct. He explained that he did not have the 2004 and asked if I wanted to order another bottle. During this time, my Sauternes arrived. It was one sip worth. I was told that this was "on the house" as they didn't have any more. The Sommelier excused himself and seemed to find another bottle of Sauternes. My husband at this point still did not have his glass of wine and the Sommelier opened the 2005 bottle for dinner that I agreed to open. Meanwhile, our appetizers are still on the table getting cold as the Sommelier wanted us to taste the bottle for dinner. And, he tried to give that to my husband as well. We both corrected him. My husband's glass never arrived until the entrees arrived. Then he had two glasses of wine with dinner."
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