Fleming's wine website makes choosing easier

       You want to take your boss/mother-in-law/new squeeze to a fancy restaurant, but you’re terrified of the wine list. What to do? I often recommend visiting the restaurant a week before and getting a copy of the list to study at leisure. Make you look like a swell.
     Now Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, the national steak-'n'-taters chain with a venue in Coral Gables, has put a lot of that info online, to save you a trip. Online wine lists are not unusual, but Fleming's takes theirs a step or two further.
      At vinevoyage.com you can see the entire wine list online. That includes Fleming’s 100 wines by the six-ounce glass and 80 more wines by the bottle -- described not only by the winery and the grape, but also by relative heft (a shiraz is listed as lighter than a syrah, for example).  Also online you can put together a “wine flight” of two-ounce pours of three different wines, pictured at left, to see what you like.

     The website also features videos interviewing the winemakers and exploring the vineyards of four or five of the wines featured -- including Napa Valley's Quintessa.

     “We’re trying to make our wine list non-intimidating,” says local Fleming’s wine director Tim Trushel.

     Just one big hole in the concept: The website doesn’t list prices. So if you want to avoid a painful surprise, maybe you’d still better visit ahead of your date and peruse the list in person.
Anyway, it’s a good start.