A recent article from Wine Enthusiast, Not Having a Written Wine List Is Trendy—and a Bad Idea by John Sumners is timely insofar as the role of wine is evolving (perhaps devolving) in restaurants.

Wine in restaurants is competing with craft cocktails, low ABV, general temperance, healthy lifestyles and thus slipping in sales. So the trend in places like New York, Chicago, Lisbon and Paris is to completely get rid of a written list and let front-of-house staff advocate for the wine verbally. I tend to agree with Sumners — this is not a great idea for most wine drinkers or restaurants.

For the full article, go to davidscheidt.substack.com