The Wine List Once Over: Homer St Cafe & Bar

How's the Yaletown stalwart on the vino?

July 16, 2018

The Spot: Homer St. Cafe, the casual upscale joint that’s a go to for the Yaletown (and Downtown) crowd.

The Theme: No clear theme: the list looks shorter than its 43 bottles because it’s all on one page, but that one page covers a lot of territory.

The First Impression: It’s less expensive than I remember. Good variety.

The Steal: Not a lot, but the Bartier Bros very good Cerquiera Vineyard Cabernet Franc is $26 at the winery and only $52—that’s a very low 2x mark-up, especially for a swank spot such as this. They’re even better on the Moet & Chandon Brut—whereas bold name Champagne is often punitive for diners, here they only charge $125 for a bottle that’s $65 at the BCLDB.

The Not So Much: There’s nothing terribly unfair here. It’s odd given what a good deal the Bartier Bros is that all the other Okanagan wineries—Tantalus, JoieFarm, Meyer Family—are more in the 2.5—2.75 times mark-up, but that’s not unreasonable for a spot like this.

Cool Factor Bottle: The Pinot/Poulsard/Trousseau from Jean Bourdy is biodynamic wine from the Jura region of France and a capital H hipster wine (and a pretty fair price at $85). The Comte Abbatucci Vermentino from Corsica ($95) is a close second.

The Head Scratcher: There are 7 California wines on the list and they’re all weirdly old fashioned wineries. Benziger, Murphy Goode, Ferarri-Carano, Kendall Jackson?  These are the exact bottles they poured at the wrap party for season 3 of Miami Vice.

The Grade: B+. This is a good, compact list that’s not overly expensive, especially considering the location and profile of the restaurant.