Future
The New Wine List, Friendlier and More Succinct
In an effort to engage their customers with wine, restaurants are trying less intimidating ways to present their selections.
The wine list at Smithereens, a new seafood restaurant in the East Village, is shocking to say the least.
Of its 62 selections, more than half, 32, are rieslings. Twenty-nine more are various other whites. There’s only one red wine, a pinot noir from Shelter Winery in the Baden region of Germany.
Some may criticize a list like that as self-indulgent, but I love it. I rarely see a wine list with such attitude or character. The wine director, Nikita Malhotra, has nothing against red wines. Sometime this spring, in fact, she’s planning to reverse the dynamic by composing a list showcasing grenache wines from sandy soils. That list, she said, will be all red wines, with one white.
“With a short list you can do things like that,” she said. “I have the freedom to change it up.”
Since restaurant dining rooms began reopening after the pandemic shutdowns, I’ve noticed more and more relatively short wine lists, some as low as 30 bottles, others with as many as 300 (though presented in an easily digestible format).
Not all are as provocative as the Smithereens list, but they are incisive, chosen to convey a point of view and, as good lists ought to do, shape the character of the restaurant.
