Joss: The Next Stage in Chinese Restaurants : THE WINE LIST : Joss offers 200 selections, diversity and bargains--plus a resident expert

The sommelier saw the four diners poring over the 200-wine list, so he suggested a glass to sip while they were struggling to find something to order. The wine he suggested was Joao Pires White Palmela, a dry Muscat from Portugal.

This seemed an odd choice, but as it turned out, it was delightful--a barely off-dry wine with a spice character that makes it both suitable for sipping alone and for matching with spicy foods. It’s a curious wine, one that most restaurateurs wouldn’t have the courage to list. Joss is perfectly happy to have it.

Seeing a white Portuguese Muscat and other unusual treasures on this list indicated that whoever assembled it was a true wine lover, one more sensitive to quality than the insurance policy of a recognizable label.

“I found that wine by accident,” said Robert Rogness, maitre d’ and wine director at Joss, and one of the ablest sommeliers I have encountered. “I was looking for a wine in a particular style and I let the suppliers know I needed something light and dry, along the lines of a Muscadet. Kevin Byrne (a salesman for Grape Expectations, an importing and distribution company that carries a wide line of superb but eclectic wines) thought I was looking for a Muscat, so he brought this one in and I loved it.”

Bargains abound on this list. For instance, the 1987 Ceretto Arneis is a fresh, spicy white wine that Joss has at $24; the full-bodied 1988 Preston Chenin Blanc is $14; the rich, buttery 1987 Rosemount Semillon from Australia is $17, and there are at least a dozen more fine white wines for less than $20.

And for the well-heeled wine lover, there are a number of classic whites including 1985 white Burgundies. (One of them, 1985 Meursault Hospices de Beaune Jean Humblot, $95, is rare and excellent.)

Among the bargain reds are a 1985 Ceretto Nebbiolo at $17, 1985 Gundlach-Bundschu Zinfandel at $16; 1985 Silverado Cabernet at $22, and 1981 Cousino Macul Antiguas Riservas at $18.

But at Joss the emphasis in red wine is on Rhone and Rhone-type wines. “That’s my passion,” says Rogness, who has put 16 wines in this section at an average price of less than $28 per bottle. Rogness says the best-value wine in the section is the 1984 Evans and Tate Shiraz, a bold but not very tannic red wine from a small, little-known winery based in western Australia, $18.

Most of the wine list is fairly priced, but the list of 2 1/2 dozen Champagnes is almost all French, so sparkling wine prices are awfully high.

Markups on table and dessert wines are reasonable--about 2.3 times wholesale. At the upper-end of the price list markups are bare pennies over the retail price; sometimes they are actually under retail.

For example, 1987 Chateau Woltner Chardonnay “Titus” is $54 at retail, $57 here; 1978 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, which retails for about $125, here is $145; 1978 Mondavi Reserve, which sells at retail for about $75, here is $68.

Rogness, who worked at Antoine’s in New Orleans, also has formed the Joss Wine Club, a loose-knit group of wine lovers who attend monthly blind tastings of interesting wines that run between $35 and $60. The tastings include not the usual bread and cheese of so many wine tastings, but light dim sum instead. Wines that win the tastings are listed on the menu as “Joss Wine Club Selection.”

The list itself is grouped not by region but by wine type (lighter wines, then heavier wines) and it is retyped, using a laser printer, every three weeks. Rogness said he can redo it daily if he has to, so you’ll never order a wine that is out of stock.

Better yet, if you can’t find a selection, Rogness is eager to help find a wine you’ll like. Take my advice, and take his.