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Wine & Spirits
Wine & Spirits - Fall 2006

Our Critics Pick the Best in the World of Wine

Best Wine-Pairing System
BIN 36

Any sommelier will tell you that pairing wine and food isn’t rocket science. Well, actually, they’ll tell you that it is in order to maintain their tactical advantage. Brian Duncan, wine director of Chicago’s BIN 36, a wine-and-food megalopolis, has a new way to simplify ordering wine to match with food. In his bin system, every wine by the glass has its own bin number. On the menu, instead of just leaving the pairing for the hummus plate up to the waiter, the menu recommends BIN 15 or BIN 46. The former is an Italian white, and the latter is a Grenache-mourvedre blend from France’s Languedoc. So, if the diner feels too embarrassed in front of his date to attempt to say, “I’ll have the Verdicchio di Matelica from Bisci,” he can just say, “I’ll have the BIN 15, please.” Fifty bins provide a lot of diversity. It might not be rocket science, but Duncan has created a pretty smart system.

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