Restaurants: Put up or shut up

It may come as no surprise that the most popular topic of the e-mails I receive is the high price of wine in restaurants. There’s not one person (outside of the restaurant industry) who thinks such high prices are fair. How can it be? Wine that costs $12 at QFC is often $30 at an eatery. Restaurants don’t have to charge that much to stay in business; they do it because we’re passive sheep and just accept it. Well, howzabout if we boycott those restaurants that don’t allow us to bring our own bottles? And you restaurants: Which of you allows patrons to bring their own wine? E-mail me and I’ll encourage my readers to go to your establishment.

A haiku to restaurants

I treat my good friend to a night of food and wine— hey, I’ve been robbed blind!

Grass in your glass

I drink Sauvignon Blanc about as often as I drink Chardonnay—which is to say almost never. The problem is that so many Sauvignon Blancs have a green, vegetal, almost grassy flavor I don’t care for . . . as if the wine makers put asparagus in a blender. But some wineries get it right—take the ’98 Caterina Sauvignon Blanc ($11), for example. You get delicate apple and lime flavors that work beautifully with shellfish. This would make a nice wine to bring to your favorite restaurant. (See above.)


Ask Dennis! wine@seattleweekly.com