Greater Cleveland restaurants want diners excited, not intimidated, by wine lists

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Aside from being another menu on the table, a wine list is an often overlooked, yet integral, part of the dining experience at most restaurants.

It may seem like a restaurant owner or beverage director makes a list out of a few bottles that they personally like and calls it a day. But the amount of thought that goes into a completed wine list can sometimes be comparable to that of the food menu.

Some Northeast Ohio restaurants make it a full-time job for their wine directors to manage and regularly update their offerings. And despite all having an appreciation and curiosity for wine, Greater Cleveland restaurants each have their own specific ways of approaching crafting a wine list.

Todd Thompson, director of operations for Doug Katz's restaurants like Amba , Zhug and, most recently, Kiln , looks at the point of view of a restaurant when constructing a wine list.

Zhug, for example, is a Mediterranean concept, so the wine list only includes wines from countries that touch the Mediterranean Sea in some capacity. Amba, with its heavy Indian influence, features wines that work well with spicy, bold flavors such as big reds and fruit-forward whites.

With Kiln, the duo's latest project, it's a French bistro serving American food. "That is perfect for wine," Thompson said.

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Thompson prioritizes featuring wines from authentic producers with interesting stories. Whether it's a focus on sustainability or a small family farm that's been making wine for decades, Thompson wants to showcase wines that epitomize genuine connection.

"I can promise you that these are real people who made it," Thompson said of Kiln's wine list.

One hurdle for restaurant managers and sommeliers looking to craft a wine list in Northeast Ohio is state restrictions. Restaurants have to go through distributors and other channels to source alcohol, meaning they are limited in certain products they are allowed to sell.

"If it's not in the legal pipeline, I can't put it on the list," Thompson explained.

Restaurants also approach crafting a wine list differently based on their needs, knowledge and resources. Sometimes, small restaurants can utilize knowledgeable distributors to get guidance on what bottles to stock. In some cases, distributors will even build a wine list for a restaurant.

"That is not a bad route to go because it does save people a lot of time, money and effort and you'll probably end up with a pretty good list," Thompson explained.

Then, certain restaurants take their wine list more seriously. Thompson explains that it's the difference between having a wine list and a wine program, where wine is a built-in part of the overall dining experience.

Cru Uncorked in Moreland Hills takes its wine program seriously, which is evident in every corner of the restaurant. An impressive cellar, halls adorned with different bottles and rooms themed around the different phases of the winemaking process are just a few examples of how Cru keeps wine at the heart of its operation.

It's also why the French restaurant takes a robust approach when crafting its wine list. Cru's collection is built with the goal of winning a Grand Award from Wine Spectator. Part of that criteria is having a lot of different bottles of wine, to put it simply, and Cru is well on its way. The restaurant has more than 2,000 types of wine on any given day, with its total collection nearing 16,000 total bottles.

"We kind of built this with a target of being evaluated on a world scale against some of the other wine lists of the world," Oppewall said.

Since wine is so integral to the brand, Cru opts for a full printed wine list, listed by region, that utilizes a Dewey Decimal system to keep things organized. The entire inventory is also recorded on iPads, which some guests prefer as opposed to the printed wine list.

Cru also has between one and three trained sommeliers on the floor during dining service, to help guide guests through the extensive list. They understand the list can be overwhelming, so the trained staff are there to help streamline the process.

"We're not used car salesmen, we're here to engage people and get as many people excited about as many wines as possible," Oppewall explained.

When it comes to selecting wines to add to the list, Cru looks for wines with "something to say," Oppewall said. That includes having an extensive variety when it comes to varietals, vintages, regions represented and beyond.

"We're selecting wines to fill our painters' palette," Oppewall said. "When someone comes for dinner, we want to have as many unique colors to make their experience or create a painting."

Varun Sharma, the general manager/wine director at Cents Pizza in Cleveland, thinks that everyone should have the opportunity to engage in the experience of tasting wine.

Both Sharma and Cents' owner Vince Morelli always wanted Cents to be an approachable and accessible vehicle for anyone who is interested in drinking wine. In the U.S., wine has historically been a stuffy thing, seen as something for upper-class folks to indulge in. While Sharma thinks that is slowly shifting, he still sees Cleveland as a city that mostly enjoys drinking cocktails.

However, Cents tries to make drinking wine a comparable price, if not cheaper, than drinking cocktails or beer. They prioritize bringing in new and exciting wines that bridge the gap between fine dining and affordability.

Cents takes a unique approach to getting people interested in wine. Firstly, the affordability factor. Unlike other restaurants, Cents opts for low markups on its bottles, which are priced for both takeaway and with service included. Sharma explained that it's typical for some restaurants, in his experience, to mark up bottles by two to four times the cost to make a profit.

Because of Cents' economic model, it doesn't rely on high bottle mark-ups to take care of its staff.

"Keeping the price low makes it easier for us to have a discussion with our guests who come in and are interested," Sharma said. "Some of the wines we have on the shelves could be $140 in New York City but we're selling it for $40-$50 here."

The second major difference between Cents and most wine-focused restaurants is that it doesn't have a printed wine list.

"That doesn't tell us anything, especially if you don't drink wine often," Sharma explained.

Customers are welcome to select a bottle from the shelves to enjoy with their dine-in meal. Most often, the servers ask the customers to describe their taste preferences and price ranges before bringing back two or three bottles to the table. Then, the Cents' employee gives a brief explainer on each bottle as it pertains to the specific request.

"Hearing out people rather than giving them this giant list works well with us," Sharma said. "We're fortunate enough that people trust us."

It can be hard for a restaurant to land on a dedicated number of bottles to stock at any given time. Aside from minimum orders, Ohio requires bars and restaurants to pay for the wine when it's purchased, not when it's sold. It ends up tying up a lot of cash flow in the cellar, Thompson said.

When it comes to narrowing down the bottles that make a restaurant's wine list, Thompson approaches different factors like varietals, region, price, producers and elements of taste like a grid. He essentially is trying to create a list that covers the entire grid, so that there's something for every guest's taste and price point.

"You've got to be disciplined," Thompson said. "Otherwise that's when you start getting a lot more stuff in the basement and it starts piling up and then it becomes a problem."

Partially, it's why many restaurants want to keep a tight, but complete, wine list. Additionally, Thompson thinks it's more approachable to the average customer for a manageable wine selection rather than an extensive list.

"I didn't come out to dinner with my wife for our anniversary to read a book," Thompson said. "It becomes a chore."

Typically, Thompson will keep a wine list between 60 to 100 bottles depending on the restaurant concept. When it comes to wines by the glass, he typically limits it to 10 to 12 options.

It's important to limit the wines by the glass so that each glass of wine is fresh, which is hard to manage with several open bottles with different dates and time limits before oxidation occurs.

Also, it sounds redundant, but Thompson truly prioritizes tasty wines by the glass on every list, although other qualities like authenticity and sustainability are still important.

"That doesn't mean I can sacrifice taste. It has to be 100 percent delicious," Thompson said.

Cents also keeps its by-the-glass offerings extremely limited, but always rotating. Typically, they will only offer two by-the-glass wines, typically a red and either a white, rosé or orange variation. Additionally, the by-the-glass options typically come from the same producer or region, to give folks a point of reference.

"We kind of feel it out with maybe specials we're running that week or maybe the weather," Sharma explained. "We're kind of simplifying things as much as we can so we can get people excited about it."

Cru takes a food-first approach when it comes to its by-the-glass options. For wines by the glass, they try to select expressions that work well with multiple dishes on the menu.

"We want them to be as flexible as possible," Oppewall said.

When it comes to wine enthusiasts looking to build a solid collection at home, Thompson's biggest tip is to actually drink it.

"I've fallen victim to this, and almost everybody I know has fallen victim to this. You start collecting it and it starts piling up and you never drink it," Thompson said. "Buy what you like ... but don't hold it forever. Just drink it."

Additionally, folks who end up with a large collection of old wine might think that all wine gets better as it ages.

"It's not true – it changes as it ages. Whether you like that or not is up to you," Thompson said.

Sharma's biggest tip for amateur wine enthusiasts is to trust in the experts. He suggests asking wine curators at restaurants or bottle shop owners what wines they're excited about. Plus, keeping an open mind.

"It's a nice experience to share enthusiasm with someone who already knows what they're talking about," Sharma said.

Open-mindedness is important with wine because it's constantly full of surprises. Sharma recalls selling Chardonnay to people who swear they hate the varietal just because they had to taste a different version to understand the nuances.

"Cleveland, in general, is a unique spot where I think younger people are getting more excited about wine and are open to trying new things," Sharma said. He highlighted other restaurants like Cordelia or wine-focused bars like La Cave Du Vin for helping this shift in wine drinkers.

While wine can seem intimidating for someone with limited knowledge, Oppewall compares taste in wine to someone's fashion sense or music preferences.

"The most important thing is to trust what you like," Oppewall said. "It's about exposing your palette to as much as you can and kind of learning your own language or approach."

In general, Thompson hopes that customers at his restaurants don't know all of the effort that goes into a wine list. He puts the work in so that it becomes a simple asset to the overall dining experience.

"If you want more out of it, it should be there for you to discover. But it shouldn't be necessary for you to dig into it," Thompson said. "Wine is not complicated. You can make it complicated, but there's nothing wrong with wine just being delicious."

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