In today’s “great idea” news, we learn that Zagat has commissioned wine educator Kevin Zraly of Windows on the World Wine School and former wine director of Windows on the World restaurant to break down for you the wine lists at 115 of the city’s restaurants so you know the best bottle values before you go. Specifically, Zraly assessed what percentage of each wine list was priced below $100, and what percentage was below $50, to assist him in estimating overall value. He also commented on the strengths of most of the 115 wine lists and lists his value bottle recommendations for each restaurant. Taking a quick look at the full list of recommendations here I have to say this is pretty groundbreaking stuff. I can’t recall anyone having done such an in-depth overview of the wine lists at so many of the city’s  top restaurants, especially someone as vino-gifted as Kevin Zraly. For example, looking at Zraly’s breakdown of The Modern’s wine list, you learn the following: of the 800 or so wines on the list, 22% are less than $100 and 4% are below $50 and, as he writes, “You can tell immediately the time and care that’s been put into this wine list. Up front they offer “gems” – 95 wines under $75, and a lot start at $34. They also list the euro price.” Perhaps most useful, however, are his best value picks, of which he lists 3 whites and 1 red between $52 and $65. We’ll keep an eye on this team Zagat-Zraly wine value research.

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