THE WINE LIST

Restaurants must sell more Chardonnay than all other wines combined. The other night at Chinois on Main, Chardonnay was on nine of the 12 tables that had drinks.

But Chardonnay doesn’t really enhance many foods, particularly at Chinois, where the flavors are anything but bland. This sort of Asian-influenced cooking demands a wine as spicy as 1991 Navarro Gewurztraminer. At $21, it’s cheaper than any of the Chardonnays.

Indeed, only a few wines on this list would work with the variety of foods usually served at a Chinois dinner. Others are 1992 Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc, $24; 1991 Stag’s Leap Sauvignon Blanc, $18, and 1990 Trimbach Gewurztraminer from the Alsace, $26, a marvelous ginger-friendly wine. Red wines are a hard match because of the various sweet, sour, hot and salty sauces.

Another reason to drink a well-flavored wine is the smoking policy. Wine lovers will be irritated that Chinois permits smoking at the bar, which happens to be smack in the middle of the restaurant. Only a full-aroma wine such as Gewurztraminer can hope to compete with the smoke.