The New York Times, local wine and local food

The New York Times travel section ran a decent enough article on Pittsburgh's best local food restaurants on Sunday, highlighting a quartet that emphasizes "what's fresh and what's local."

Did any of this take into account whether any of the restaurants served Pennsylvania wine? Of course not. I'm trying to contact Kathryn Matthews, who wrote the article, to ask her why she didn't include Pennsylvania wine in an article about Pennsylvania food, and if I can reach her, I'll update this post.

But this lack of respect for local wine is not surprising. Those of us who care about local wine, despite the successes we've had over the past several years, still run into too much of this closed-minded approach to what's local. Critics, chefs and restaurateurs bend over backwards to praise and to find locally-raised tomatoes and pigs, but wine? Too many of them can't be bothered. More, after the jump:

Two of the four restaurants featured in the article had Pennsylvania wines, though Habitat had just one, a lemberger from Briar Valley Vineyard & Winery (as well as a New York riesling). Elements had a handful of Pennsylvania wines on the list, also from Briar Valley. Neither had any chambourcin, which is Pennsylvania's national grape. The third restaurant was BYOB, and the fourth had wine from New York and New Mexico, but not Pennsylvania.

More problematic were the rest of the wines on the three lists -- the usual collection of distributor-driven brands, sommelier pets, and demographically safe labels. Three Austrian gruner veltliners at a restaurant that showcases local food? Conundrum and Sonoma-Cutrer, which are pleasant enough but stopped being interesting 20 years ago? Mumm Napa sparkling, also pleasant enough but available in hundreds of other restaurants that don't bill themselves as unique?

Wine lists like this make me wonder: Is local food a serious, long-lasting movement, or is it more short-term marketing? Are chefs really concerned about cooking local, or do the bean counters see local as a way to lure the older, more affluent "foodies" who can afford to pay $12 for an eggplant appetizer in the midst of the worst economic downturn in 40 years?

Comments

[Kyle Schlachter]

" Is local food a serious, long-lasting movement" - only if restaurateurs start consider local wines as local foods, too!

[brian]

Good call, nothing unique about having Conundrum on the list.
Just as people will order a wine without even looking at the list, there are those who can be persuaded to try something new.