A recent online survey on www.winespectator.com provides valuable insight into the opinions and experiences of 18,000+ serious wine drinkers in America when ordering wine in restaurants. For about half (47%), the quality of a wine list is very important when choosing a restaurant. It’s more important that the list be diverse and interesting than large – 52% prefer to see 100 or fewer selections. Organizing the list by region is favored by only 33%; while half (50%) prefer to see the wines organized by varietal. While those who typically spend more than $100 per bottle are the most approving of the role and efficacy of sommeliers, the biggest negative for all respondents is wine service. Only 1% of all respondents rated overall wine service in restaurants as excellent and 40% as good, while 52% rate it fair, and 7% poor. Still, when a sommelier offers advice, 81% overall rate it excellent or good.

Thomas Matthews, exec. editor, Wine Spectator, speculates that the discontent about wine service may be because, “People remain suspicious that sommeliers have the restaurant’s interests at heart, not theirs. It will take time and work to change this image, but today’s sommeliers are different and can succeed in winning customers’ trust – as long as restaurants support them with fair pricing policies and server training. Those that have made the effort to create strong wine programs are clearly reaping the benefits among savvy customers, and hopefully more modest restaurants with less wine-knowledgeable diners will follow suit.”