Doing Flip-Flops Over the Loews Wine List

One of the most intriguing wine lists I have seen in years is presently on view at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. I can’t figure it out.

It’s nice to see loads of bottles under $20 to choose from, many of them good values. And a flock of half bottles priced well, too, not to mention a couple of slightly older wines, showing some sense of the fact that wine does, in fact, age.

The confusion begins with the sparkling wines. The selection isn’t bad. But although pricing for most table wines here is roughly 2.5 times the wholesale price (higher than I’d like, but not gougingly so), the same formula is used to price the restaurant’s sparkling wines and Champagnes. That means that a lovely bottle of Champagne such as Bollinger Special Cuvee, which I have seen at $25 in some retail shops, is a very high $55 here.

But not everything follows a strict cost formula. Some table wines are puzzlingly high. The 1987 Sonoma Cutrer Russian River Ranches Chardonnay, for instance, is priced at $30.

Then there are bargains. The 1985 Monte Vertine Riserva, a fine Italian red, sells for $35--almost what it’s supposed to sell for at retail. (The 1985, from an excellent vintage, is sold out in the stores.) Other bargains exist, too.

But as I continued to look at the list, I found myself doing flip-flops.

Positive: A lot of interesting Italian wines, both white and red, many priced well.

Negative: Nary a French table wine.

Positive: Three dessert wines.

Negative: No vintage dates on a number of items; you have to ask.

Positive: A few of the “other” varietals are listed, such as Merlot, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, and two roses.

Negatives: The list has but two uninspiring choices for Sauvignon Blanc; it has no Gewurztraminer, no Riesling, no Chenin Blanc, and (other than a few of the Italian whites) not much in summer sipping whites.

Another minor drawback: a number of misspellings and a look and form that make you suspect this list was rather hastily assembled .