Here’s a question I’d like to send out to the wine directors of the world: Why is there a page in your wine list called “Sommelier’s Selections” when it’s really the “let’s unload these losers” page?

I’ve seen these pages showing up on more and more wine lists lately, and I take the time to read each and every one of them, hoping to glean the point of view of the sommelier who picked the wines. And all too often, that’s not so easy, especially when what you see are bottles for $45 that you can find easily in your local wine shop for $15. Did the somm in question buy this plonk as part of a multi-case discount, in order to get access to higher-end wines that appear a few pages ahead in the book? Or do the wines just not fit into any other section of the list? After all, it can be hard to slot in that one bottle of Tribidrag from Croatia the former wine director took a flyer on. And sometimes the “sommelier selections” page is, as far as anyone sane can tell, just a list of random wines, sans any description as to why they were chosen.