Niki Leondakis, COO, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, talks about helping consumers explore new beverage choices— and the effect of currency values on wine preferences.

Wine flights are attracting a great deal of interest around the world. What is your policy on wine flights?

We have always had a strong focus on wine in our restaurants; wine flights are a great way to introduce guests to the variety of wines available to them. It is also a more approachable way to taste many different wines in one visit. In addition, with the increased popularity of small plates in today’s dining, having small tastes of different wines greatly enhances the overall food and wine experience. Many of our restaurants have created interesting and frequently changing wine flights, aligned with the restaurant’s concept or location.

Often, hotels and restaurants don’t spend enough on wine training because they rationalize they are training servers who may soon be working for a competitor. What is your approach to wine training, and are you satisfied with the results?

We can never train our servers enough. We approach training programs with the philosophy that servers are a reflection of our restaurants, and, therefore, their thorough knowledge of wine service and the restaurant’s wine list is imperative. We have company-wide wine service standards customized by each restaurant, depending on the labels on their wine list. Before a server steps onto the floor, he or she receives full training on the restaurant’s specific list. We have daily training as well as regularly scheduled training classes. As diners become more sophisticated about wine, our focus is constantly on the training and retraining of restaurant teams, getting them passionate about the wine and food we offer in our restaurants.

Wine preservation is an issue when a hotel expands its by-the-glass and/or by-the-taste offerings. Do you specify a preservation system for your restaurants, or is the decision made at the property level? If you do specify a system, does one shoe fit all, or do you draw on a variety of approaches?

We encourage our restaurants to find the right way to preserve their wines. For years, it was believed that cruvinet systems were the only answer to preserving wines once they were opened. In general, vacuum pumps work very well. The key is to create a wine program that works so wines get poured quickly. There is no perfect solution but a constant monitoring of the quality, using smaller bottles for Champagne by the glass and selling quartinos or other sizes so wines by the glass are sold in a variety of ways.

While California wines are the largest selling type in the United States, it is suggested that this country will be the world’s top imported wine market by 2010. French and especially Italian wine exports to the United States, for example, increased in 2006 and 2007 as a result of new packaging, more fruit-forward blends and varietals, plus more savvy on how to address the U.S. wine-consuming public. How has this affected your selection process?

Our selection process is largely dictated by the restaurant’s food program focus; Italian restaurants offer a vast selection of Italian wines, French restaurants feature a large selection of French wines. American concepts feature a majority of American wines. Finally, wine selections in the restaurant must complement and complete the culinary program.

Despite the trend over the past few years, we are seeing a real impact from the strong value of the Euro. Some French and Italian wines have traditionally been great value wines compared with the inflated prices of California wines over the last decade. However, we are now seeing the price of European wines climbing as well.

In five to ten years, how do you see the hotel beer, wine, and spirits business changing? Will wine continue to increase its share of the beverage alcohol business in bars, restaurants, in-room dining, and banquets? Will the beverage alcohol knowledge of restaurant managers, banquet sales managers, and servers be far greater? Will imported wines have a larger share of sales in the United States, or will California maintain its market share?

Wine, beer, and spirits are, and will always be, an essential part of the dining experience. There is, undoubtedly, a stronger focus on beverage than ever. More and more, we see a push from guests to consume organic and sustainable products. Consumers are also more adventurous with wine and seem to embrace the concept of wine being an integral part of the meal.

Restaurants will certainly benefit by having a beverage expert on staff to help craft great cocktails and lists, as demonstrated by our partnership with Jacques Bezuidenhout.

The domestic economy always impacts people’s habits. Currently, we are seeing guests opt for the $5 beer instead of the $10 martini. As mentioned above, I believe the value of the Euro versus the U.S. Dollar will impact the share of wines imported into the United States. Strong value wines from places like Chile and Argentina may increase their share if European prices climb.

What are your favorite wines and why?

My favorite wines are those that go well with food. Wines with good levels of acidity tend to always be a good match to food. I am partial to Italy as we have many Italian concepts in our restaurant portfolio—Valpolicella, Barbera, and Dolcetto to name a few. In the summer, I am partial to refreshing, crisp white wines such as Sancerre from France or Sauvignon Blanc from California. Pinot Grigio is also the perfect summer wine.