Kevin Zraly

With restaurant wine lists growing ever-longer and more ambitious, diners are often confronted by a daunting sea of choices, few of them familiar and many expensive. And how many diners are knowledgeable enough about wine and prices to know if they’re getting a good value or paying an overinflated markup?

Enter “Your Sommelier” – aka Kevin Zraly, the ultimate wine educator who created the list at Windows on the World as well as the respected wine school (and book) of the same name.

In a special project for ZAGAT.com, Zraly pored over the wine lists of 115 NYC restaurants – all known for their impressive selections – in order to zero in on the real deals. His assignment was to give you a range of best-value wines before you go to the restaurant.

He also looked at what percentage of each list was priced below $100, and below $50, as a rough gauge of overall value, and commented on the strengths of most of the lists.

Starting today, the Buzz will spotlight Zraly’s picks for best buys at restaurants around town, but you can see his full list of recommendations by visiting our wine guide.

While wine lists can change and some of Zraly’s picks may not be available when you visit a restaurant, odds are that most will be. And to help you navigate any list with more confidence, Zagat Buzz asked Zraly to share his observations on finding wine values.

Zagat Buzz: Among major restaurants, which had interesting selections and offered the most values on their wine lists?

Kevin Zraly: Landmarc is one of my top choices with 78% under $100. Atlantic Grill, with 75%, is making a statement. The new City Winery is making a very big statement, with 265 wines and 77%. Artisanal at 65% – these numbers made me want to go to all these restaurants. Danny Meyer restaurants were impressive – Gramercy Tavern, one of NYC’s top restaurants, has 61% of its wines under $100, Tabla has 64% and The Modern has 95 wines under $75. Other high-scorers include Lupa (83%), Wallsé (80%), Solera (77%), The Harrison and Tavern on the Green (each 71%), Convivium Osteria in Brooklyn (68%), Zoë (65 %), Gabriel’s, Scarpetta and Strip House (each 64%), and Balthazar (61%).

Also: Becco has a list of 86 wines at $25. The Oak Room in the Plaza Hotel has deals like 50 wines under $50. Michael’s has two pages of wines $50 and under. Cru, with over 3,000 wines, has a separate list of hundreds under $100. And Frank will open any bottle and charge you by consumption!!

ZB: What general trends did you notice?

KZ: In almost every restaurant, there were reasonably priced wines, like a Sancerre or Rhône red. Very few had any champagne under $100. Instead, your best bet for sparkling wines is a California sparkling wine, a Spanish Cava or an Italian Prosecco. I also found there to be better selections of white wines than red wines under $50, which is understandable since it costs more money to make red wine. As for Italian wine lists, there are 20 different regions and thousands of different wines. If you don’t know anything about them, you’ll find it difficult to maneuver these lists.

ZB: Is there a secret to finding something similar to a great vintage (2000, 2003, 2005 Bordeaux) but at a lower cost?

KZ: Unfortunately no. In fact, you might as well forget Bordeaux, red Burgundy, Barolos, Barbarescos, California Cabernets and Brunello di Montalcino too. They’re classics, but prices have gotten crazy and there are very few under $100. A restaurant could easily show a 2000, 2003 Bordeaux from a lesser châteaux, but often they don’t.

ZB: Which countries are producing good-value wines?

KZ: The greatest wine-value countries today are Chile, Spain and Argentina, but they are underrepresented on NYC wine lists. The best value in the world is Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, between $15–25 retail. Also in the same price range, my second choice would be a Malbec from Argentina. These wines could easily be put on lists, but many Italian and French restaurants don’t. Spain has a similar problem – some of the best wines in the world, at great prices, are from Rioja.

ZB: Can you offer any general tips for navigating a wine list?

KZ: This is one of the most frequent questions I get. Unfortunately there is no answer, because there is absolutely no science to creating a wine list. In NYC there are so many styles of wine lists – some list by prices, by region, have descriptors, Wine Spectator scores or even the alcohol content of the wine. A lot of restaurants are just putting their lists together to win awards. In my day, at Windows on the World, I had about 800 wines, and everybody thought that was a lot. But today there are lists that have as many as three to four times that amount.

I strongly suggest that if a restaurant has a list of more than 250 wines, it should be broken into two: a regular list, which will be much easier for consumers, and a special reserve list for the wine aficionado.

I’m also that surprised I didn’t see “progressive” wine lists – for example, if you have 15 whites, the first one listed is the lightest and the bottom one is the heaviest. So if a customer says, “I want a medium style,” the order of the list is easily understood.

ZB: What’s the biggest mistake you see when people are choosing wines with the help of a waiter or sommelier?

KZ: The biggest mistake you can make is to not set a limit on the pricing of the wine that you want. What’s the motivation behind all people in the service business? It’s to make money. Invariably they are going to direct you to the higher-priced wines. So, for example, you should ask for “the best Cabernet under $50.”

ZB: What’s your own limit?

KZ: In the old days, it used to be that I wouldn’t spend more than $50 a bottle. Now it seems like my marker is $75. Because of the high markups, it’s not a good idea to experiment in restaurants with wine.

ZB: Which do you generally find to be the better value, buying a bottle or a glass?

KZ: I think some wine lists are extremely scary to consumers – that’s where wine by the glass comes in. There was a recent newspaper article stating that customers shouldn’t order by the glass. I respectfully disagree. Close to 50% of wines sold in restaurants are by the glass – that’s a big number. And even if it’s at $14 a glass, I can have five different wines and I’m still under my $75 mark.

ZB: Why are some wine prices so high?

KZ: It’s globalization. For example, if you don’t want to pay their prices, the owners in Bordeaux and Burgundy have no problem selling it elsewhere. New markets such as Japan, China, Russia, India and South Korea are willing to pay the price. Now, with the world economic crisis, the wine channels are all clogged. It will be very interesting to see what’s going to happen with pricing over the next few years.

ZB: What do you hope consumers will take away from your research?

KZ: To be less intimidated. In some restaurants, trying to find a good wine under $75 is difficult. Therefore if you are into wine, go to a restaurant that not only has great food but is also wine-friendly. And don’t be afraid to set a price limit for the sommelier – if anyone knows what are the good values on the list, the sommelier does. After all, his or her job should be to make you happy.

– Jacqueline Wasilczyk