A couple of very odd wine articles this week, in which two of the most important wine writers in the United States take restaurants to task for not serving local wine:
· The New York Times' Eric Asimov writes that "Nobody goes out to dinner in the San Francisco Bay Area to eat food flown in from Europe."· Jon Bonne in the San Francisco Chronicle asks: "Do our wine lists ignore California?"Why odd? First, because Asimov and Bonne have not always been at the forefront of the Drink Local movement. Second, of course, because drinking local in this case means drinking California, which isn't very local for the rest of us. Obviously, it would be better if Asimov criticized New York City restaurants for not serving New York state wine, and if Bonne criticized Washington state restaurants for serving California wine.Still, we'll take any help we can get. Because, if Mainstream Media types like Asimov and Bonne are starting to understand Drink Local, it means we've made progress. And, to paraphrase Paul Henreid in Casablanca (shameless plug here), "Welcome back to the fight. This time our side will win." Which also gives me the chance to include this video, courtesy of cyberperson53 at You Tube, that includes Henreid's line.
I find it fascinating that restaurants that work hard to use local producers for their foodstuffs will totally ignore it when it comes to wine. Viva la Locapour!
Posted by: twitter.com/Mamandesfilles | October 23, 2009 at 02:41 PM