Wine Spectator toasts area restaurants

Wine Spectator’s annual Best Restaurants for Wine Lovers list includes five area restaurants who received the magazine’s Award of Excellence.

It’s the basic award for restaurants that “offer a well-chosen selection of quality producers, along with a thematic match to the menu in both price and style. Typically these lists offer at least 100 selections.”

More than 2,800 restaurants received the designation, including Columbus’ Meritage Cafe.

The other area restaurants are C’Sons in LaGrange; Jimmy’s and the Warehouse Bistro in Opelika and SpringHouse at Russell Crossroads in Alexander City. All but SpringHouse were designated as serving affordable wines.

The restaurants were notified by mail in April or early May but were told to keep quiet until the Aug. 31 magazine hit newsstands.

Meritage owner Faye Simmons, who recently received her certification as a sommelier (wine steward) from the Court of Master Sommeliers, found an added bonus this year when she opened up the magazine. Her photograph accompanies the entry for her restaurant.

MERITAGE CAFE

This is the fifth year in a row that Meritage has received the award. The restaurant serves American regional cuisine.

Simmons says the certificates for the Award of Excellence are framed and “lined up for our guests to see in the hallway to our main dining room.”

As with all of the restaurants, it’s an ongoing training exercise for wait staff to learn about the various wines to serve with dinner.

“We are always working on areas of weakness and staying current with new, hot trends,” Simmons said.

Once again, Meritage has also received a designation for having inexpensive options. She said that means the majority of her wines are priced at $50 or less.

For diners, Simmons has noticed that the most popular wine right now is pinot noir.

As for her personal favorite, she says there are too many to list.

“We have the unique ability to retail most of the wines on our list by special order,” Simmons said.

Are you a wine novice? Simmons suggests you attend wine tastings and classes. Many area restaurants offer the wine tastings and Columbus State University offers wine classes through its Continuing Education Division from time to time.

C’SONS

Chase Hudson is the co-owner and wine director of the LaGrange eatery that opened 18 months ago.

This is the first time the restaurant has received the Award of Excellence, and Hudson is thrilled.

He had the certificate framed, and it’s hanging on the wine rack in a prominent position.

“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback,” Hudson said. “Some people asked what it’s for and some people are surprised to see it in LaGrange.”

Hudson says any time a new wine comes into the restaurant, the whole staff will sit down and have a tasting.

The restaurant’s cuisine is “New American.”

“It’s based on seasonal ingredients,” Hudson said. “We grown a lot of our own produce. And we’re even playing around with raising our own cattle.”

Already, he’s working on getting C’Sons to the next level, which is the Best of Award of Excellence.

“I’m definitely trying to get to the next level,” Hudson said. “I’m working on adding a little more French (wines). We’re lacking a little bit there. I’ve started to focus on bringing in more Bordeaux and Burgundy.”

Even though he laughs when he says many of his regulars don’t think he serves inexpensive wines, he sells “pretty much everything by the glass. So our glass prices are a little higher, but the bottle prices are very, very competitive.”

JIMMY’S

This is the third time since 2008 that the restaurant has received the Award of Excellence.

Owner Jim Sikes has the framed certificate on a wall near the bar. At his restaurant, every Friday, you’ll see his staff in a “wine pow-wow,” where they’ll taste the special that’s poured that weekend.

His restaurant serves “fine dining in the New Orleans tradition,” featuring some original Creole recipes.

Right now, the wine list features 200 bottles and about 50 wines costing $30 or less, and that’s important to him and part of the reason he has a designation for affordable wines.

Sikes says his most popular sellers right now are rieslings.

“We sell more riesling by the glass than any other,” he said. “White and red wine blends are very popular right now. The whites have a slightly sweet flavor and the reds are fruitier. They don’t have a heavy finish with a lot of tannin. They are a little lighter and more fun.”

His favorite right now? “Whichever one you’ll buy me,” he said. “I like the lighter, floral, pretty white ones that are good for the summer. I don’t want a heavy beef stew in the summer and I don’t want a heavy red.”

If you’re new to wine, Sikes suggests that you tell your server what you like. Go to wine tastings and wine dinners.

Jimmy’s has a wine dinner once a month. It’s by reservation only, usually on a Monday. Sikes said to call to find out when the next one is and make a reservation.

THE WAREHOUSE BISTRO

Joe Hippely opened The Warehouse Bistro in 1993. Since 2005, the restaurant has received the Award of Excellence.

The new certificate is displayed at the front door already.

Like many of the restaurants, Hippely has regular meetings with the staff whenever winemakers from California and Oregon bring new bottles. The staff will also taste the new wines.

“Every one of my waiters is a bartender, so they are very knowledgeable,” Hippely said. “They can recommend bottles.”

The Warehouse Bistro specializes in French-American cuisine, and Hippely carries 382 bottles of wine right now.

It’s also important for him to carry affordable wines for his guests.

“My wife and try to go to Napa Valley every two years,” he said. “We try to find new vineyards with really, really good wines at a good price that we can pass on.”

Even though he does sell a lot of rieslings and pinot grigios during the summer, The Warehouse Bistro’s diners seem to prefer the reds like the cabernets and pinot noirs.

Hippely’s favorite wine of the moment is the Jordan cabernet from Napa Valley. It can be found in major grocery stores and wine shops, he said.

For wine novices, he recommends that you go to the wine steward at your local grocery store or wine shop and tell them what you like.

“Don’t be bashful,” he said. “A lot of people are intimidated by wine. There’s nothing to be intimidated about. Just try to find something you like — red wine or a white wine, a bold wine or a light wine. Just ask questions.”

THE SPRINGHOUSE

The SpringHouse has been open since March of 2009. Like C’Sons, it’s the first time the restaurant received the Award of Excellence.

Assistant manager Michelle West just put up the framed certificate in a spot where diners will see it coming in and leaving.

To keep her wait staff educated about wines, she holds weekly meetings, especially during the peak seasons.

The SpringHouse executive chef Rob McDaniel calls his cuisine “contemporary with Southern roots,” using produce from local farmers as much as possible.

Some of the dishes are “farm to table,” West said.

West has observed that the most popular wine right now is the Sonoma-Cutrer Russian River Ranch’s 2008 Chardonnay.

Her favorite is The Vielles Vignes Sancerre 2007, she said without hesitation. “It’s my favorite white wine.”