Bettin' the house

Ordering the house wine at most restaurants is like playing poker. Or maybe more like Russian roulette. You never know what you are going to get. And it could be potentially deadly. Well, maybe not deadly, but if you've ever had a REALLY bad glass of wine, you know what I mean.


For example, a couple of weeks ago when I ordered the house Cab at what used to be a pretty nice restaurant where my MIL lives, I got Barefoot Cabernet individual twist off bottles. Not the greatest. (And yet, I still ordered another glass. Why? Cause the second glass can't be any worse than the first, can it? Anyone else do that?)


The Rosso from Olive Garden? Not too bad. Not sure I'd buy a bottle of it, but I don't mind it.

I'm pretty sure I can honestly say though, that after having a house wine I said, "Oh, I should go buy that one!"

Why is that? I know they are typically cheaper and that restaurants make the majority of their money off of booze cause they can mark it up so high, but really. Why can't I get a good glass of house red wine?

Maybe I'm expecting too much. I realize there are some places that don't cater to wine drinkers, so they just buy whatever is the cheapest for those that happen to drink it (I'm assuming this is what happened with the Barefoot Cab incident), but there are more and more people out there that are drinking wine these days (especially up here). And even more, that expect a good wine with their supper (or dinner if you don't live in the Dakotas).

Maybe I live in the wrong part of the country to be ordering house wines.  I found this article, that talks about why you SHOULD order the house wine. Interesting.

What about you? Any good house wines that made you want to go out and buy a bottle?