I spend a lot of time bemoaning the state of restaurant wine service. Typically, restaurant wine is too expensive, wine lists are unimaginative and uninteresting, and the people serving the wine don’t know nearly enough. That’s why, when I find a restaurant that does wine service well, I need to note it.
Which brings us to Hector’s on Henderson. Owner Hector Garcia understands that it’s not enough to have quality food (and the food was excellent, especially if you appreciate chicken livers), but that a top-flight restaurant needs quality wine as well. He and bar manager Chris Sampson have put together a list that has all the expensive wines that that kind of restaurant needs to have, but that also has wine that the rest of us can afford. It features a lengthy selection of well-made $30 wine from places other than Napa and Sonoma – including Texas. This is very rare to see.
I had dinner there last Saturday night, and the four of us had two bottles of wine: A McPherson viognier from Texas and a Peirano Estate cabernet sauvignon from Lodi. I always enjoy the McPherson, and the Peirano (the same people who make The Other red and white blends) was outstanding. The total for those two bottles was $70, which is about what it costs to buy one quite ordinary bottle of Napa or Sonoma wine elsewhere.
