RESPECT FOR WINE S ia, — Like Mr. Gabor Denes, I too had
wondered Whether Leslie Adrian was talking about the same lIgland which 1 know. In the past eighteen years, baPent largely in Central Europe, but partly in gland, 1 have the definite impression that the L'verage British restaurateur, sommelier and inn- eeper is certainly equal, if not superior, to his 1:reneh, German and Austrian equivalent in the know- 'edge and care with which he serves wines. I am 0‘v talking not of 'a dozen or. so' restaurants in '-ondon, but the average place listed in the two loides to wining and dining which I use—and this 'cans more than 2.000.
Outside France, the continental hotel'er or maitre d'hôtel knows and cares little about red wines, nor is he given to advising or discussing the merits of vintages named on his wine list in the manner which has become the norm in most self-respecting res- taurants in London and the provinces. I just wonder where Leslie Adrian can have been doing his/her serious eating and drinking recently.
Parenthetically, I liked the charmingly helpful wlnestore assistant in Manhattan, who, when I was in search of a drinkable Rheingau during a recent stay in New York, produced a 1959 Schloss Johannesberg with: 'On the other hand, Sir, if you wish to invest a little more money, I am told this is considered a very good make: Bonn
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