I have had the pleasure of eating at San Francisco’s Farallon Restaurant many times. Last week I ate there one more time and the food was once again wonderful. However, I could not help but be struck by the wine list, from which it was far easier to pick a bottle of wine from Europe than from California. How is this possible in a city surrounded by California’s most famous vineyards?

I can understand that an Italian or Spanish restaurant may want to feature wines from those countries as part of their ambiance, but a restaurant specializing in fresh local seafood? How can they justify not featuring the wines of their area, which are highly respected.

Anyone who reads this blog knows of my love of the wines of Europe, but I often see this type of reverse snobbism that infers that the wines of Europe are somehow inherently superior. Maybe the wine buyer of Farallon prefers the crisper, dryer style of European wine , as do I, but I don’t believe that such wines cannot be found in California. They may be hard to find, but they can be found.

A California cuisine restaurant in San Francisco featuring local ingredients should not have a better selection of white Burgundy than it does of west coast chardonnay.