This week’s wine news: Sommelier charged in Manhattan arsons spoke at wine event shortly after. Plus, no end in sight for depressed restaurant wine sales and Waters Edge wants to bring wineries to restaurant
• Sommelier arson: Leave it to the New York Post to follow up on the Manhattan sommelier arson scandal: “Celeb sommelier hobnobbed with wine industry elite days before arson arrest.” The real news in the story is that Caleb Ganzer, who is charged with setting three restaurant fires this summer, apparently admitted to one of the fires, though the Post reported he has no memory of doing so. The other thing to point out, in my role as wine advisor to the newspaper world, is that yes, the International Riesling Expo, which Ganzer attended, is a big deal. But industry elite is a bit much – this is only riesling, after all, and not cabernet sauvignon or chardonnay.
• Restaurant wine sales: The country’s biggest restaurant trade group says the uptick in the pandemic is hurting restaurants again, with 6 in 10 consumers saying they changed dining plans – with more than one-third saying they opted for delivery instead of going out. This is not good news for what has been an agonizingly slow recovery in the restaurant wine business; if diners remain reluctant to eat ut, they’re certainly not going to buy wine.
• Waters Edge restaurant and winery: Waters Edge, with 20 locations in four states, wants to expand throughout the country. Its franchisees have wineries at their locations, with no need for vineyards. Nation’s Restaurant News reports that the goal is to buy grapes from around the world, send them to the restaurant, and make the wine there. The concept is similar to the very successful Cooper’s Hawk chain, which pioneered the idea.