Robin Garr's LOUISVILLE Restaurant Reviews

One local spot - the Seelbach's Oakroom - earned a place on the second-tier "Best of Award of Excellence" category, but no Kentucky restaurant achieved the magazine's top tier "Grand Award." The Oakroom also captured the associated "DiRoNA Award" for Excellence in Dining, as did Le Relais and Vincenzo's.

To put the awards into perspective, Wine Spectator is a slick and glossy New York-based magazine that claims a large print circulation in excess of 300,000 subscribers. It covers wine and the wine industry, but many serious wine lovers feel that it has evolved into more of a luxury lifestyle and travel publication than a wine journal; some wags mock it as "winestyles of the rich and famous." It should also be noted that the editors don't judge wine lists on premises; the awards are made on the basis of written entries submitted by the restaurateurs. (For information about entering, see below.)

It shows a distinct tendency toward infatuation with high-end and luxury products, and a few of its local choices seem to substantiate this charge. I can't see how they could rate the overpriced and pretentious list at Ruth's Chris as an award-winner, for instance, with its immature top-rank Bordeaux from poor vintages.

Still, it's a prestigious award, and the winners have demonstrated at least some commitment to wine. I contratulate all the local winners. Here's the complete list, with the restaurant name linked to my review and, where pertinent, my own observations about the restaurant's list:

Louisville award winners:

None

The Oakroom
Cuisine: Kentuckian
Wine List: France, California
Wine prices: Moderate
Menu Prices: Expensive

Le Relais Cuisine: French/Provençal Wine List: France, California Wine prices: Moderate Menu Prices: Moderate Garr winelist comments: "The wine list ... wins this wine enthusiast's praise on the basis of both selection and value. The well-chosen list features a couple of hundred wines, mostly American and French, with a lot of interesting wines that you won't find on many city wine lists; and the markup is well under the double retail (triple wholesale) that seems to have become the local standard."

Vincenzo's Cuisine: Northern Italian Wine List: Italy, California, Bordeaux Wine prices: Moderate Menu Prices: Expensive Garr winelist comments: "The wine list ... is one of the largest and most comprehensive in town, with a substantial variety of high-end and older bottles. I'd be a bit wary of the French selection, which includes some ... older but not particularly inspiring vintages like 1979 and 1981. It's hard to go wrong with either the well-chosen Italian or California sections, though."

Azalea Cuisine: New American Wine List: California Wine prices: Inexpensive Menu Prices: Moderate Garr winelist comments: "Azalea's wine list is substantial, with more than 100 selections, about two-thirds of them red and a fair share of the lower-end choices available by the glass ... You'll find quite a few good wines in the $25 to $40 sector." Bristol Bar & Grille Cuisine: Bistro Wine List: California Wine prices: Inexpensive Menu Prices: Inexpensive Club Grotto Cuisine: American bistro Wine List: California, France Wine prices: Moderate Menu Prices: Expensive Garr winelist comments: "The sizable (80-item) wine list offers a pleasantly inviting guide to vino, being subdivided by grape with a short paragraph explaining just a bit about each style. ... It's a user-friendly approach that invites the diner to try something new. " Judge Roy Bean's Cuisine: American Southwestern Wine List: California Wine prices: Moderate Menu Prices: Inexpensive Garr winelist comments: "For a wine lover who's increasingly cranky about the recent local trend toward generally boring and overpriced lists, Bean's wine list is a relative joy to behold. About 100 items are categorized by type ... and appear intelligently chosen and mostly out of the ordinary. Better still, many are marked up only 1 1/2 times retail, an unusually fair policy when many of the restaurant's competitors are taking a price-gouging 200 percent or more." Napa River Grill Cuisine: Northern California Wine List: California Wine prices: Moderate Menu Prices: Moderate Garr winelist comments: "The wine list is a good one, with quite a few interesting items among its 80 choices ... at markups that appear to be a little less than double retail. ... A "proprietor's list" of more upscale wines [didn't show] anything compelling enough to lure me away from the more affordable list."

Ruth's Chris Steak House Cuisine: Steak house Wine List: California Wine prices: Moderate Menu Prices: Expensive Garr winelist comments: "a large but pricey selection of mostly standard and mass-market wines, dramatically overpriced at almost three times retail ... It includes some big names for the Robb Report crowd, but they tend to be "off" vintages.." 211 Clover Lane Cuisine: Continental/French Wine List: California Wine prices: Moderate Menu Prices: Moderate Garr winelist comments: "I like the wine list here better than most: It appears thoughtfully chosen rather than merely representing whatever the local distributors are pushing this month, and offers a good variety of about 60 choices (mostly American) with relatively few high-ticket items and a sane if not generous markup of about twice retail. A separate "cellar list" for fancier wines lists boutique items." Zephyr Cove Cuisine: New American Wine List: California, France Wine prices: Moderate Menu Prices: Moderate Z's Oyster Bar and Steakhouse Cuisine: Steak/seafood Wine List: California Wine prices: Moderate Menu Prices: Expensive Garr winelist comments: "The wine list ... features more than 100 selections, many of them available by the glass ... You'll find plenty in the $20 to $40 range ... on a list that's strong on California with a fair choice from Australia and New Zealand but almost nothing from Europe; a brief "old world red" section is embarrassingly slender, with just three mass-market choices, none of interest."

Kentucky outside Louisville

Lexington Dudley's, Emmett's

Covington Sonoma

For restaurateurs: How to enter

Restaurateurs wishing to nominate their wine list for consideration for next year's Wine Spectator awards must aubmit an entry during January through March 2002. Entries must be received by March 1, and must include a copy of the restaurant's then-current wine list and menu, accompanied by a one-page cover letter (in English) describing the wine program and including the restaurant's telephone and fax numbers. For more information on entering and a copy of the entry guidelines, call (212) 684-4424 ext. 781, fax (212) 481-0724, or send E-mail to restaurantawards@mshanken.com.