Here we are, all excited by the new feeding frenzy. More and more smart-but-casual bistros are opening up, providing a sustained burst of growth in a late-flowering restaurant culture. Eating out is supposed to be becoming an everyday treat. Terrific. Why on earth doesn't restaurant wine match up? Am I the only person who is tired of having my appetite depressed by lazily ill-conceived or monstrously over-priced wine lists?
In a situation where more and more customers are wine enthusiasts, here is what's needed. We want to be able to enjoy interesting flavours at a reasonable price. We want a decent choice of house wines that are drinkable - not designed as industrial cleaning-fluid. We want more half-bottles and more wines by the glass, to accommodate both those who drink modestly and those for whom a bottle between two is too meagre. And we deserve brief descriptions of all the wines on offer.
What we emphatically do not want is the bilious feeling of having been ripped off. To pay twice as much for a wine in a restaurant as in a shop is quite bad enough, thanks, particularly as overheads tend to be lower in our new, relaxed eateries than in starchy expense-account places. More than twice the usual retail price - for young everyday wines, remember, not vintage treasures requiring long-term investment - is just not on.
And don't think you can fool us, restaurant owners, by sourcing wines we won't find in shops on the basis that you can charge whatever you like for them. That's not just cynical, it's short-sighted in a country where wine knowledge is increasing at a cracking pace. You won't fool many of the people for much more of the time.
Is anybody getting it right - delivering wine-lovers from the miserable fate of whining and dining? I've had a look at the lists of six of Dublin's newest restaurants.
Lloyds
Conrad Gallagher's brasserie at the top of Merrion Street has what at first appears to be an attractive, eclectic list of about 50 bottles, most of them under £20. They come, as far as I can see, from just two suppliers. But wait a minute. Blink hard as you look at those prices. Norton Torrontes, which retails here at around £6, is £16.95. Casablanca Cabernet Sauvignon, normally £6.99 in the shops, is £16.50. Bonny Doon Big House Red, an unpretentious, chunky wine usually selling at £8.99, is £21.90. There are plenty of other examples of dizzying mark-ups, culminating in Vavasour Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand - retail price £12.99-£13.99 - at a stomach-churning £36.50.
Another disappointment emerged when I visited Lloyds a few weeks ago with a dieting, barely-drinking man. There are only three red and three white half-bottles. Wines by the glass are also confined to three reds, three whites and one dessert wine, again at whopping prices. (For example, a single glass of Casablanca Sauvignon Blanc is £4.25 - rather steep when you can buy a whole bottle for £6.99, sometimes less, in the shops.) This is all very bizarre. Did Lloyds not promise, before its opening, the biggest, best selection of wines by the glass in Dublin?
The Rhino Room
Upstairs above Cooke's Cafe, the Rhino Room has offered all 30 of its wines both by the bottle and by the glass since it opened last July - proof that the impossible can be achieved. "The idea, from the start, was that the Rhino Room should be a bistro where people could drop in at any time and feel under no compulsion to eat a full meal or drink a full bottle of wine," says manager Charlie Smith. Bottle prices range from £11 to £30.50; corresponding prices per glass from £2.75 to £8 (the latter for a white Hermitage). Besides offering impressive by-the-glass choice, the Rhino Room seems to offer strikingly good value in wines that are familiar from the retail trade. (Many are not.) For example, Villiera's Cru Monro (see below), usually retailing at around £12.50, is a Rhino bargain at £14.50. Boschendal Chardonnay, another respected South African, generally £8.99 in the shops, is just £12.50. Is there a downside? With two-thirds of its wines French, this list misses out on international diversity - a shame when so many exciting, inexpensive wines now come from other corners of the globe.
Jacob's Ladder
Jacob's Ladder in Nassau Street makes the basis for its choice quite clear. "We are specialising in New World wines," the list announces. And a thoroughly enticing, well-balanced selection it is, hand-picked from four suppliers so that there is real variety here as well as quality. It's good to see encouragement for some more unusual wines, such as the Mitchelton white blend listed below (£15.50), a couple of tangy Rieslings (£14 and £17.50), Concannon Petite Syrah (£14) and Yalumba Bush Vine Grenache (£18.50). Prices are generally middle-of-the-road, pegged at roughly twice the usual retail level - that basic bit of arithmetic restaurant customers have to swallow - or slightly less. It's a delight to see Green Point Brut, the excellent Australian sparkling wine, on offer at £3.50 a glass, not to mention the uncommon pleasure of three by-the-glass dessert wines. But what about the basics ? Why only one white and one red house wine by the glass?
Bruno's
Bruno's in Temple Bar is the only restaurant among these six to have taken the trouble to describe the style of its wines. Congratulations. Others please copy. In keeping with its slightly more formal atmosphere, it has a more serious wine list than the other restaurants mentioned, stretching to encompass the likes of Lynch-Bages 1993 at £77.50. But more modest pockets will be glad to note there are 10 house wines (from five countries) fairly priced at £11.50-£12.50 a bottle . Alas, only four of them are offered by the glass (at £2.75), and I believe I spotted only four half-bottles in the remainder of Bruno's fairly extensive list. It is mainly sourced, by the way, from one supplier.
Dish
Dish, in Crow Street, by contrast, draws on the bounty of three importers to assemble a list with a strongly individual flavour. There's something for everyone here: a few French classics, a liberal sprinkling of topnotch New World producers such as De Martino in Chile and Lawson's Dry Hills in New Zealand, and a few surprises. The Austrian Achleiten Riesling is a rare treat, while Jurancon Sec (see below), a welcome change from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, tastes terrific with Dish's gently spicy food.
Here, too, prices are neither thrillingly good value nor ridiculously high. There are four half-bottles of red and four of white, nicely varied in terms of style and cost, and two house reds and two house whites are available at £2.75 a glass. Any chance we could have more, please? And might Dish be prepared to dish up some brief but flavoursome wine descriptions?
Mao
Mao in Chatham Street mainly sells beers, it claims, with its pan-Asian food. It's difficult to know whether that's because the beers are so appropriate, or because the wine list is so lacklustre. It certainly can't be faulted on price, with the cheapest bottle £8.95 (or £2.50 a glass), the dearest £11.50, working off the usual mark-up. I don't think it should necessarily be damned for brevity, either. Small lists can be terrific provided they're carefully constructed. The problem with Mao's nine bottles is that there just aren't enough of them worth drinking. And among the few exceptions are styles of wine (Faustino VII Rioja, for instance) which seem to me to clash with Mao's food. The list reads like a Gilbeys bargain starter pack, chosen purely on price.
White
Jurancon Sec, Grain Sauvage, 1995 (at Dish, £12.95; from Searsons, McCabes, Grapes of Mirth Rathmines, DeVine Wines Castleknock and other outlets, usually £6.99). I've praised this wine to the skies before, mainly because it's such a lovely change with its distinctive spice and muscat flavours. Good value.
Mitchelton III Rousanne-Marsanne-Viognier 1995 (at Jacob's Ladder, £15.50; from Superquinn Blackrock, Foleys Cabinteely, Grogans Ranelagh, Taggarts Rathgar and some other outlets, usually £8.50-£8.99).
Another true original - a rich, ripe Australian wine made from grapes more at home on the Rhone. See Bottle of the Week.
Chateau de Tracy Pouilly Fume 1995 (at Bruno's, £22; from Superquinn Blackrock, Vintry Rathgar, McCabes, Redmonds, Vineyard Galway and other outlets, usually £12.99-£13.50). One of the most delicious and most reliable of Sauvignon-based Loire whites, often seen on restaurant lists at a much higher price.
Red
Villiera Estate Cru Monro 1995 (at Rhino Room, £14.50; from Vintry Rathgar, Redmonds, McCabes, Wine Cellar Maynooth and other outlets, usually £12.49-£12.99).
South Africa steps to embrace Bordeaux in this Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blend - a well-made, serious wine with all-round appeal.
Domaine du Grand Cres Corbieres 1994 (at Dish, £14.95; from Wines Direct, £7.25 if you buy a case which may be mixed). A nice, lively example of Corbieres - ripe dark berry fruit flavours perked up with a dash of spice.
Chateau Reynella Shiraz 1994 (at Jacob's Ladder, £20; from Martins Fairview, Bird Flanagan, Lord Mayors Swords, Galvins Cork, Fahys Ballina and other outlets, usually £13.99).
Still plenty of chilly evenings to enjoy the warm glow of this opulent, chocolatelysmooth, concentrated Shiraz.