THE WINE LIST

When a winemaker has wine that doesn’t improve his brand, he can sell it off to another winery. But if he has surplus wine that’s too good for selling in bulk, he can bottle it under a restaurant’s label. This is why Mackey’s house wines are so good.

Mackey’s co-owner and wine manager Michael Hawkins asked Flora Springs to make him such a wine a few years ago when he was at neighboring Green Street. The concept has proven workable for Hawkins and the winery.

“We make the Chardonnay for custom accounts, and we also market it under our second label, Petite Fleur,” says Ken Deis, winemaker for Flora Springs in the Napa Valley. “Stylistically, it’s wine that doesn’t fit what we’re doing with the Flora Springs label,” Deis says.

The red wine at Mackey’s is an attractive Merlot, which Deis also makes. “It’s from Merlot grapes we haven’t yet used for our own blend,” he says.

At Mackey’s, these house-label wines sell for $4 a glass or $14 a bottle--bargains, considering the quality. The rest of this 40-wine list is also well chosen and reasonably priced. Imagine getting 1988 Gauer Chardonnay for $23, 1989 Dry Creek Fume Blanc for $18, 1988 Matanzas Creek Merlot for $29 or 1989 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir for $25! Also included are specialty wines from Ridge, Montelena, Grgich, Chalone, Woltner and Saintsbury.

“I don’t use a formula for pricing,” Hawkins says. “I just mark up wines by a dollar figure,” which works out to about $5 or so above retail. “And I generally pass along discounts I get to my customers. I’d rather sell it than store it.”