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Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/30177
Five years ago, Oleana, an 86-seat Mediterranean restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, implemented a sustainable beverage program and the concept has since been adopted by restaurants throughout the community. Wine director Lauren Friel, who has been managing Oleana’s beverage program for three years, has devoted 80 percent of her creative list to sustainable products. “Organic or biodynamic certifi cation is the most obvious form of sustainability,” says Friel, “but we recognize how expensive certifi cation can be and there are many Old World producers who have always farmed organically but don’t make those claims.” Friel looks to domestic producers for no and low- sulfur wines citing less bottle variation even though she rarely sees a wine rejected on that basis. “We educate consumers to expect wine to vary by vintage and even by bottle.” In New York, beverage director and sommelier Sarah Sutel established a sustainable program beverage program at Elsewhere, an 80-seat American comfort food restaurant in Manhattan, last October. “We want to create a memorable experience for our guests,” notes Sutel, who demands that sustainable products be both delicious and cost eff ective. Sutel now lists two wines on tap: Montelvini, a cabernet sauvignon-merlot blend from the Italian Veneto region and a Sainstbury Carneros Chardonnay by the glass for $9. “Wine is a perfect medium for reaching At Oleana in Cambridge wine director Laren Friel (above) created a sustainable wine program fi ve years ago. At Elsewhere in New York beverage director Sarah Sutel (right) demands that sustainable wines be delicious and cost effective. people with a message of sustainability,” says Sutel who always strives to be a few steps ahead of demand. “We’re listening to our customers and responding in a proactive way.” For upscale dining chains like Chicago-based Wildfi re, adopting sustainable practices that are a good fi t with their existing operations was made easier by an on-premise program developed by DeLoach Vineyards. Inspired by the success of the wine on tap at TWO urban licks, an Atlanta restaurant with a custom gravity-fl ow system for pouring 42 stainless steel barrels of wine, Brad Wermager, wine and spirits director at Wildfi re, added the DeLoach Vineyards’ Barrel-to-Barrel program to the company’s 300-seat Atlanta and Chicago locations. DeLoach is part of Boisset Family Estates, a San Francisco-area based company widely recognized as a global leader in sustainable and alternative wine packaging. DeLoach provides Wildfi re with handsome French oak barrels that hold ten-liter eco-bags of their organic California pinot noir and Wermager simply re-orders the eco-bag refi lls. “Out of 30 wines by the glass, the DeLoach wine on tap at $9 is our third best seller,” said Wermager. “It basically markets itself; customers see the barrel on the bar and they ask about the wine.” Wermager intends to expand the company’s wine on tap program when more varieties become available. For now, Deloach’s Barrel-to-Barrel program has signifi cantly reduced 34 | MAY 2011 At Wildfi re in Chicago dishes like lamb chops are served with sustainable wines, like those from the DeLoach barrel. the by-the-glass carbon footprint for Wildfi re and has become a key way of promoting sustainability. Boisset will launch a similar program for Raymond Vineyards in March 2011. www.cheersonline.com