CHEF SURVEY – What’s HOT in 2010: Locally Produced Wine
See what the Chef Survey from the National Restaurant Assocaition (www.restaurant.org/foodtrends) said about the top trends in Alcoholic Beverages.
Come on Texas Restaurants, lets get with the program…..The Texas Wine Program
Keeping up with food and beverage trends is crucial to develop the right menu mix. That’s why restaurateurs turn to the National Restaurant Association to help them stay abreast of the hottest menu trends.The association each year surveys professional chef members of the American Culinary Federation. The latest survey, conducted in 2009, was based on the input of more than 1,800 chefs. Respondents ranked 214 items by how trendy they would be in 2010.
Alcohol and Cocktails
1 Locally-produced wine and beer 79%
2 Culinary cocktails (e.g. savory, fresh ingredients) 73%
3 Micro-distilled/artisan liquor 72%
4 Organic wine/beer/liquor 64%
5 Food-beer pairings 63%
6 Craft beer/microbrews 62%
7 Bar chefs/mixologists 61%
8 Gluten-free beer 60%
9 Specialty beer (e.g. seasonal, fruit, spiced) 58%
10 Organic cocktails 56%
I want to give special thanks to the delightful Miss Jane Nickles at www.winespeak101.com for giving me a heads up on this survey. This is great news for Texas wines that have the quality to be placed in the best restaurants. See the recent head-to-head blind taste off of Messina Hof wines versus some of the best selling wine brands in America (https://vintagetexas.com/?p=1355).
The problem, Russ, as always, is that chefs don’t make buying decisions. Those are left to the sharp pencil guys, who don’t understand that there is more than one way to sharpen a pencil.
If the pencil guys figure out that they can charge more for a special feature Texas farm-to-market table menu with Texas wine, then perhaps it might work. What do you think?
There is a Local Restaurant that does Pair Farm to Table with Local Texas wines. I have a small farm in Seguin. I also promote my own Farm to Table Program. I have had the privilege to work with one very fine restaurant and a great bunch of Chefs starting back in spring 2009. They have been pairing Texas Wines with Local Texas grown produce with great results. As of this week I have made the first Delivery to another Newly opening establishment and with meeting over the past months with the Chefs, they have expressed great interest in the Farm to Table Locally Grown Produce Program that I promote and have made plans to implement the Local idea into their menu. Also I am still in the planning stages with a third Chef owned restaurant that I hope to bring on board in the very near future. I am in the market for more “partners” within my program. To see and learn more about this exciting opportunity see our website at http://www.uncertainfarms.com/farmtotable.html and please e-mail me your comments and ideas.