The Michelin Guide may be world-renowned for its knowledge of fine dining but it does very little for wine lovers, Decanter magazine says.
In an article in the latest issue of Decanter (out Wednesday 7 March), restaurant reviewer Brian St Pierre asks, 'Do [the Guides] do justice to wine?'
And he concludes, after a survey of UK restaurants and their respective Michelin awards, that the Guide – 'ironic…considering their place of origin' – does not properly take wine into account.
'I don't think they care about wine much,' one restaurateur says, while Guide chief Jean-Luc Naret and UK editor Derek Bulmer argue, 'it's always been important'.
St Pierre reckons that Michelin's new symbols of a glass (to signify a restaurant that does wine by the glass) and a bunch of grapes (to show a 'particularly interesting wine list') are arbitrarily awarded.
'Even starred restaurants like the River Café, with a superb Italian list, or Tamarind, with a list that complements sophisticated modern Indian cooking, merely get a wine glass while the mediocre lists at the Wolseley, Rules and Inn on the Park are elevated to bunches of grapes.'
By the same token, St Pierre continues, restaurants that have scaled down their lists, or indulge in ferocious mark-ups, still get to keep or are awarded stars.
The writer's point is that Michelin simply does not recognise brilliantly-thought out and reasonably-priced wine lists.
It is natural, he says, that is three-star establishment is going to have a massive and pricey five-star wine list.
But what should be rewarded are restaurants like Soho's Arbutus, with its list of 'less than 100 [wines], mainly lesser-known, but available in 250ml carafes, and keenly priced.'
If you want to know what's happening to restaurant wine, St Pierre says, whether it's mark-ups by the bottle or by the glass, 'don't ask the Michelin man…'
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Perhaps not so surprising - paradoxically, the French are not really known as wine connoisseurs.
To draw a parallel, the French are amazed to be told that the Royal Family is just a fact of life to most of the British (far more French magazines dispay the Royal Family on their front covers than equivalent British magazines) - similarly, for much of the French population, wine is just a fact of life and it is relatively rare to find a Frenchman taking the trouble to learn wine in-depth as British, Dutch or Scandinavians often do.
Philip Styles, Civray, France
I agree with the articles comments.
Even in two Michelin star restaurants the wines can be unimpressive.
Steve Kirby, Santa Rosa, California, USA
The Michelin guide is suspect in other areas as well. Their recent survey of Northern California restaurants was peppered with numerous factual errors.
For a insightful review of their laughable effort check out the link below from the San Francisco Chronicle.
It seem very strange that a guide evaluating standards of excellence allows such work to be published.
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Perhaps not so surprising - paradoxically, the French are not really known as wine connoisseurs.
