The world in many ways pressures us winemakers to prevaricate. Yet experimenting with honesty, especially in the case of the salad, might just help your host improve her game rather than to encourage mediocrity with sycophancy. She will recognize it as an act of courage. There's no money in this business. Your honor is all you have. Don't piss it away so cheaply.
With certain chefs and certain restaurants, I will absolutely point out issues. If I have rapport, the owner/chef will approach me directly to ask about the food. In the particular instance I’m highlighting, I look at upside vs downside, the chef is an acquaintance, I didn’t see any upside in complaining. Too many people were enjoying themselves, I didn’t need to be the fussy winemaker complaining about lettuce.
But yeah, I get your point. There will be other pools to pee in.
I've gotta say the wine business must be pretty good if you're dining in Michelin rated restaurants. If I go out for burgers and fries it's a splurge. Apart from the insane restaurant prices for wine, it's just become too expensive to dine out regularly, at least for retired people on fixed incomes. And winery dinners have joined the trend. It used to be you could eat well and get to taste a half dozen wines for maybe $100/person. Now it's triple that. You get to sit at a group table, dine on group food, often prepared by a caterer rather than a winery chef, and taste 5 or 6 wines from that winery. $250/person - plus tax and tip. I can dine as well right at home (I'm not a bad chef) and enjoy a bottle of wine from my cellar that I paid $30 or $35 for. Total cost for dinner and wine for two: Maybe $50. No tax, no tip. As far as who can be criticized; any wine writer too thin-skinned to 'punish' those who disagree should find a different way to earn a living (supposing wine writers can actually still earn a living). Personally I have never encountered anyone with a decent reputation who couldn't handle criticism. Speaking for myself, I invite it, value it, learn from it. OK, not from trolls [:-)
Luckily we have the Bib Gourmand list from Michelin or the restaurant simply “makes the Guide” that are often the best value (plenty of restaurants go on and off that list over time). The 1 and 2 start places have nights where they do a communal table for $129-ish all in (alcohol additional) that, if it’s the right menu, can be a great experience that doesn’t break the bank. Sometimes, the quality and service is not there and that’s a bother. You feel cheated, the whole fool me once, fool me twice expression.
Truth be told, I have not dined at a 3-Star in wine country, nor are my wines on any 3-star establishments.
My wines have jumped on a list BTG and then off. My wines are not allocated nor are they regularly rated by the WS/WE/JS/JD of the world, therefore, at a Michelin rated/listed restaurant, ratings for wines are often an important justification for being listed on restaurant lists. I’m sure this will become dually important when Michelin starts rating American wineries.
I don’t disagree with any of your math. And there is a widening gap between a “normal” restaurant and these Michelin establishments.
For disclosure, I too cook at home often and I am taken out by friends/clients/family who visit wine country and want to go to these places. And I pay for these experiences myself as well.
Yeah, the iceberg lettuce thing got to me. Not only was the quality poor, but the salad was basically a wedge.
The topic itself has a wider economic issue imbedded into it connected with wine, but it can be a difficult one to approach with nuance.
The world in many ways pressures us winemakers to prevaricate. Yet experimenting with honesty, especially in the case of the salad, might just help your host improve her game rather than to encourage mediocrity with sycophancy. She will recognize it as an act of courage. There's no money in this business. Your honor is all you have. Don't piss it away so cheaply.
With certain chefs and certain restaurants, I will absolutely point out issues. If I have rapport, the owner/chef will approach me directly to ask about the food. In the particular instance I’m highlighting, I look at upside vs downside, the chef is an acquaintance, I didn’t see any upside in complaining. Too many people were enjoying themselves, I didn’t need to be the fussy winemaker complaining about lettuce.
But yeah, I get your point. There will be other pools to pee in.
I've gotta say the wine business must be pretty good if you're dining in Michelin rated restaurants. If I go out for burgers and fries it's a splurge. Apart from the insane restaurant prices for wine, it's just become too expensive to dine out regularly, at least for retired people on fixed incomes. And winery dinners have joined the trend. It used to be you could eat well and get to taste a half dozen wines for maybe $100/person. Now it's triple that. You get to sit at a group table, dine on group food, often prepared by a caterer rather than a winery chef, and taste 5 or 6 wines from that winery. $250/person - plus tax and tip. I can dine as well right at home (I'm not a bad chef) and enjoy a bottle of wine from my cellar that I paid $30 or $35 for. Total cost for dinner and wine for two: Maybe $50. No tax, no tip. As far as who can be criticized; any wine writer too thin-skinned to 'punish' those who disagree should find a different way to earn a living (supposing wine writers can actually still earn a living). Personally I have never encountered anyone with a decent reputation who couldn't handle criticism. Speaking for myself, I invite it, value it, learn from it. OK, not from trolls [:-)
Luckily we have the Bib Gourmand list from Michelin or the restaurant simply “makes the Guide” that are often the best value (plenty of restaurants go on and off that list over time). The 1 and 2 start places have nights where they do a communal table for $129-ish all in (alcohol additional) that, if it’s the right menu, can be a great experience that doesn’t break the bank. Sometimes, the quality and service is not there and that’s a bother. You feel cheated, the whole fool me once, fool me twice expression.
Truth be told, I have not dined at a 3-Star in wine country, nor are my wines on any 3-star establishments.
My wines have jumped on a list BTG and then off. My wines are not allocated nor are they regularly rated by the WS/WE/JS/JD of the world, therefore, at a Michelin rated/listed restaurant, ratings for wines are often an important justification for being listed on restaurant lists. I’m sure this will become dually important when Michelin starts rating American wineries.
I don’t disagree with any of your math. And there is a widening gap between a “normal” restaurant and these Michelin establishments.
For disclosure, I too cook at home often and I am taken out by friends/clients/family who visit wine country and want to go to these places. And I pay for these experiences myself as well.
Yeah, the iceberg lettuce thing got to me. Not only was the quality poor, but the salad was basically a wedge.
The topic itself has a wider economic issue imbedded into it connected with wine, but it can be a difficult one to approach with nuance.