Restaurant wines promise quality on the house

AP Photo NYLS112, FX104

For The Associated Press

NAPA, California (AP) -- Ordering the "house" wine at a restaurant used to mean bracing for the possibility of something fairly funky. But these days you can expect some class in that glass as high-end restaurateurs find their inner vintner.

One of the newest entries comes from Freemans restaurant in New York's Lower East Side, selling a pinot noir, Freemans Cuvee, made with Hirsch Vineyards in California's Sonoma Coast wine region.

"I look at this as a collaboration -- like when fashion labels do a collaboration like Rodarte for Target," says Freemans co-owner William Tigertt. "It's something fun and different."

Tigertt also is launching a retail label, Gothic Wines, with the first vintage coming from an Oregon winery.

Higher-end house wines appear to fit into two trends, says Ronn Wiegand, Napa-based master sommelier and editor of the newsletter Restaurant Wine. On the one hand, wine has never been more popular -- even in this economy consumption is up, albeit of cheaper wines. At the same time, the drop in personal spending has made it crucial for restaurants to distinguish themselves from competitors and build customer loyalty.

"It's a sign of the times," says Wiegand. "It's a way to put your personal stamp on the wine in the most significant possible way."

Larger chains have been selling private-label brands for decades. But in recent years, smaller restaurants have been getting in on the trend, teaming up with individual wineries or micro-winery operations. Making that easier is the fact that it's much easier to make small batches of wine these days.

Meanwhile, with the market for expensive wines down, premium grapes and wine have become more available, something Tigertt saw for himself on a recent trip. "You would stop and ask someone for directions and it would be, 'Oh, by the way, are you looking to buy grapes?' Before, people would be hoarding their best fruit."

Making a house wine has some economic advantages, too. You don't have to spend money on marketing and no one's going to be able to buy the bottle at a store to check the restaurant markup. But Wiegand says higher-end restaurant wines seem to be more about personalizing restaurants than profits.

At Bin 36, a restaurant and wine bar in Chicago, wine director and winemaker Brian Duncan started collaborating with wineries about a decade ago, producing small amounts of wine to be sold in the restaurant. "I thought it would be a huge plus if people knew who was making the wine," he says. "It sort of humanized wine for them. I think a lot of people think wine comes from Outer Space."

The wine did so well, Bin 36 wines are now at a 10,000-case annual production -- featuring six varietals plus a proprietary red blend -- and are available in retail outlets nationwide.

At Bistro Don Giovanni in Napa, the house wine literally began at home with a landscaping project. Vines went in, grapes grew, and soon local winemaker Robert Pepi was making the wine, says Giovanni Scala, who sells Scala red at the bistro he co-owns with Donna Scala.

"If you start to look at the vines and grow the grapes, the next thing you do is to make the wine," says Scala with a laugh. "We love it. The customers love it. We do pretty good."

He sees the improvement of house wines as a sign of the evolution of the wine world.

"Everything is getting better, better technology, better winemaking methods, better understanding," he says. "It's everything to do with today's culture."

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Freemans: http://freemansrestaurant.com

Restaurant Wine: http://www.restaurantwine.com/

Bin 36: http://www.bin36.com/index.php