restaurants

Ordinarily, I approach heavily themed franchise restaurants with a wary eye. I don’t have a major problem with the Hard Rock Cafes and the Planet Hollywoods of the world, but I do tend to get a little cynical when large corporations try to replicate creative concepts with an assembly-line mentality.

So when I first heard of Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., a worldwide restaurant chain based entirely on one specific movie (“Forrest Gump”), I couldn’t help but sigh — while also marveling at the evil genius of this concept’s marketing potential.

I must admit that as much as I enjoy a glass of wine, I have managed to stay only marginally knowledgeable of what is truly a vast subject. There are so many subtle variables in any given glass of wine — not to mention all the grape varieties, vineyards and individual wineries in play — that to acquire even a dangerous level of knowledge has always seemed an intimidating task to me.