Wine World

With the countless offerings of wines from more vintners than we can keep track of, it’s hard to know where to begin your tasting adventures. Fortunately, several restaurants and newly opened wine bars throughout the Gulfshore are offering more wine samples and by-the-glass sales than ever before.

But serving more wines in smaller portions creates a challenge for restaurants. What should they do when a bottle is opened and a glass poured, but then no one else orders a glass of that wine for the remainder of the evening? Even with the cork replaced, a bottle left on the bar overnight will be ruined by the next evening. Culprits traditionally blamed for the demise of fine wine include heat and oxygen. Oxygen is clearly Public Enemy No. 1. Too much exposure to oxygen, and a wine will die.

Controlling a wine’s exposure to oxygen is a particular problem for restaurants that wish to serve wine by the glass. A solution has been to either limit the number of wines by the glass or dramatically increase the cost per glass so the restaurant covers its wholesale cost for that bottle.

Wine preservation systems have helped today’s restaurants offer more wines by the glass while keeping costs in check. One popular preservation technique involves the use of refrigeration and inert gases. Several gases are heavier than oxygen and, at least as far as wine is concerned, are inert. Many of these, such as nitrogen and argon, are used to flush the air within a partially empty wine bottle prior to re-corking. By preventing the oxygen from coming into contact with the surface of the wine, the gases extend the shelf life of an open bottle of wine.

Refrigeration is effective in preserving wines as well. The combination of inert gas and refrigeration can allow an open bottle to last for three to four days. This technique is put to use extensively at Fleming’s Steak House. At Fleming’s, its entire wine list (with the exception of a small selection of reserve bottles) is available by the glass—more than 100 different potential selections.

In my experience, Fleming’s offers the broadest selection of wines by the glass available locally, allowing for adventurous and creative food-and-wine pairings. Flemings offers wines in flights of three two-ounce pours, rather than a standard six-ounce glass. During a recent visit, our flight began with a zesty glass of Groth sauvignon blanc, appetizers were accompanied by a rich ZD chardonnay, and our entrées with a Cambria pinot noir. Had we ordered these wines by the bottle, the financial cost would have been prohibitive, and we would have needed a cab to return home.

A slightly more advanced approach combines the use of inert gas and temperature-controlled storage into a sealed glass cabinet, called a Cruvinet. At the time that a bottle is opened, a special rubber cork with two flexible plastic tubes is inserted into the neck of the bottle. One of the tubes is connected to pressurized nitrogen, while the other is connected to a spigot in front of the bottle on the cabinet. When a wine is ordered, the pressurized nitrogen forces the wine through the second tube and out the spigot. As the wine does not come into contact with oxygen except briefly when it is opened, a proper Cruvinet system can extend the lifespan of an open bottle of wine for up to a month.

Several restaurants in the Fifth Avenue dining and shopping area utilize Cruvinets to allow them to offer diverse and exceptional wines by the glass, notably Truluck’s, Zoë’s and The Mangrove Café. The first restaurateur in the area to feature the use of Cruvinets, Mangrove Café owner Doug Amaral, implemented an aggressive high-end by-the-glass program as a result of frustrations experienced while dining in Chicago. Doug prefers cabernet, his wife, Diane, prefers chardonnay, and neither was prepared to drink an entire bottle of wine with their meal. The only wines available by the glass were low-end and uninspiring. It seemed perplexing to Doug that, during such a fine dining experience, their wine options were not similar in quality.

Zoë’s sports one of the most remarkable collections of rarities by the glass in its Cruvinet. "We wanted to give people the chance to taste wines that they wouldn’t otherwise have an opportunity to try," says Larry Andrews, Zoë’s proprietor. In the winter, when turnover is brisk and the cool weather calls for heavier wines—the big guns make an appearance; noteworthy wines include 1996 Peter Michael cabernet sauvignon Les Pavots, 2001 Phelps Insignia, 2004 Kongsgaard chardonnay and Turley’s 2003 Old Vines zinfandel.

The latest advance in wine preservation and dispersal is the Enomatic system, which resembles a Cruvinet, but does not require a bartender. Rather, it functions much as a self-service vending machine, with the prices of the wines, per ounce, displayed above the bottles. A user inserts a pre-paid debit card and presses a button above the bottle to specify whether a one-, three- or six-ounce pour is desired. The Enomatic machine automatically calculates the cost of the glass of wine, and deducts it from the user’s debit card.

Naples Tomato features multiple Enomatic systems and, as a result, a wonderful selection of wines by the glass in all price ranges. Its Enomatic cabinets are tastefully arrayed around the perimeter of a luxuriously furnished tasting room. The sofas and chairs encourage patrons to relax and explore the world of wine. Currently, a rare and highly regarded Fisher chardonnay from Whitney’s Vineyard is offered by the ounce, along with a remarkable shiraz from Mollydooker known as the Enchanted Path. Vintners with Southwest Florida ties were well represented, as I spotted a Swanson Alexis, Domaine Serene pinot noir, Gargiulo Vineyards merlot, and a syrah from Figge Cellars.