HOW HARD CAN it be to put a wine list together?

A few famous names, some popular grapes priced at a profit, and the job is done. Right?

Wrong

A really good wine list— one that excites and challenges diners (but not overmuch) and offers great bang for the buck — is much harder to pull off. It takes time and effort. In the case of Quality Eats, a new restaurant in New York, it took almost three months.

They opened up the process to outsiders, including the to and fro between restaurant owner Michael Stillman and wine director Marc Passer, both 35.

The paid decided their Greenwich Village eatery, conceived as an “affordable steakhouse,” would have a wine list that was short and modestly priced. The selection, Mr. Stillman said, would have “a real neighborhood feel,” mixing well-known wines that comforted diners with ones that challenged them, a formula designed to entice patrons to return again and again. For example, to nudge diners out of their comfort zone, Mr. Passer might offer a Cabernet but not one from a famous region like Napa, sourcing it instead from a less popular—and cheaper—place.

To encourage experimentation, Messrs. Stillman and Passer planned to offer all of the wines on the list by the glass and bottle. For fun, they’re introducing a new concept—“stackable wine”—three separate, small carafes that can be stacked to create a standard 750 mL bottle. This would allow diners to order one-third white, one-third red and one-third rosé. They decided they would include nine to 12 stackable selections of popular varieties, with a stacked trio costing $40 (£26).

But this raised questions about the wine list. Should the stackable offerings be on the regular list or on a separate card? Should all the wines fit on one page? What typeface should Quality Eats use? “We want a wine list that everyone will get,” said Mr. Stillman, meaning one with a familiar look and feel. “Maybe the list would be in a report binder,” offered Mr. Passer. But Mr. Stillman was more focused on the expense of reprinting the pages of the list after repeated use, which he said could “easily cost $10,000.”

What about pricing? The markup on some wine lists in New York can be high, up to five times the wholesale cost of a bottle, and Fourth Wall’s uptown lists aren’t exactly cheap. The partners insisted that they wanted to keep Quality Eats’ markup in check. Mr. Passer thought it would likely be two to 2.5 times the wholesale cost. And he especially wanted the wines at the lower end of the scale to be impressive. “I want to wow someone with the entry-level offering,” said Mr. Passer. “When someone says, ‘I want the cheapest wine,’ I want to make sure it’s legitimately delicious.”

A few weeks after their initial meeting, it was time for the first of several wine tastings. Mr. Passer had emailed a number of wholesale-wine sales representatives, asking each to suggest bottles that were unusual or challenging “diamond-in-the-rough wines” and not from usual-suspect wineries. Nine of those who responded were scheduled to meet us in a private room in the late afternoon. They brought red, white, rosé and sparkling wines made from both obscure and famous grapes grown in regions all over the world.

“We’re looking for wines that are approachable and delicious,” said Mr. Passer as we entered the room where sales reps were waiting like so many prospective blind dates. The tasting, which lasted less than two hours and included close to 100 wines, was an opportunity for each salesperson to give a short spiel on each selection.

Two salesmen noted their wines’ exalted provenance: “It’s a northern Rhône declassified Cornas,” said one salesman, as we tasted and spat. “It’s like declassified Barolo,” said another of a Nebbiolo from the Langhe region of Piedmont. One sales rep tried an interesting tack, noting that his Syrah from California’s Sonoma Coast was “made by Alice Waters’s ex-husband.”

There were quite a few good wines and very few duds. None was particularly pricey; the most expensive cost about $40 wholesale. Most of the time, they both liked the same wine, although a few, like a California Tempranillo, left one of them unimpressed. For Mr. Passer, it wasn’t just a matter of his personal likes or dislikes; he had to figure out where and how a wine fit in with the rest of his list and had to anticipate the preferences of his customers. For example, Mr. Passer needed two Chardonnays, one that was entry level (“never say cheap,” he noted) and one that was pricier (probably Burgundy). He also needed at least two Pinot Noirs, one that was rich and fruity and another in an earthier style.

After several weeks and tastings, Messrs. Stillman and Passer whittled the possibilities down to a final list: 34 bottles, plus 12 stackable offerings. The list was arranged according to color and grapes (i.e., Arneis, Ribolla Gialla, Kerner, Sauvignon Blanc). The partners had also decided to put the stackable wines on their own separate table card.

The restaurant was scheduled to open the following week, and at the staff training Mr. Passer was opening a number of wines for the staff, instructing them not only in how to taste but how to talk about them as well. He wanted them to describe wines in a relatable way, avoiding fancy words or excessive adjectives. “Use words like ‘bright acidity’ or ‘well balanced,’ ” Mr. Passer said over the whine of a buzzsaw.

As the staff tasted the bottles, Mr. Passer described the wines—from the grapes to the region where each wine was produced—and then quizzed them in turn. Did any of them drink Merlot? Did they know the flavors that oak-aging gave to a wine? And when a producer notes that a wine has been aged in 25% new oak, what does that mean anyway? A woman raised her hand: “A freshly killed tree?”

Quality Eats opened on time the following week. The bar was finished, the wine list was printed and the staff was conversant in proper winespeak.

It hadn’t been easy or fast, and the locals who stopped in for a glass of Cabernet Franc from Domaine Philippe Alliet in the Chinon region of France’s Loire Valley might never realize how much work went into the wine list. But then that’s the point. A really good wine list looks effortless.

AT FIRST glimpse of the sisters, it’s the most natural idea in the world – a TV cookery show filmed at their café and craft boutique in the idyllic setting of Renfrewshire’s Quarriers Village.

Articulate, talented and ambitious in equal measure – with good looks to boot – what’s not to watch as Gillian, Nichola and Linsey Reith go about the roles they’ve slipped into since each ditching the corporate ladder and opening the doors of Three Sisters Bake in October 2011?

Speaking at the Glasgow launch of Three Sisters Bake: Delectable Recipes for Every Day, a book of their own sweet and savory creations, elder sister and front of house manager, Gillian, 34, explains the small screen interest.”There’s a couple of things in the pipeline,” she says. “I know that television takes a long time to pan out, but we are very excited by the possibility that it might happen.” With opportunity on their hands to bring something fresh to the cookery show formula, Gillian adds: “It’s the fact we are sisters, that we all work together and that baking is such a trend at the moment. It’s true a long time was spent creating a colourful environment in the café. I think it creates a nice backdrop for the kind of medium that television would allow.” WITH noses for an ambitious venture – despite having been described as crazy by their family and friends for starting up a brand new eatery during a recession and in a town with a population of 1,000 – the sisters can now tell their tale in anecdotal reflection.”Everyone including our parents thought we were completely mad,” Gillian says. “We imagined we’d spend the first six months wandering the local villages begging people to come and visit us by bribing them with scones.”Luckily we were proved wrong and were met with a stampede of customers the first day we opened. It could only be described as something out of Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares as we struggled to keep up with the queues with very few staff.” The 50-seater café was inspired by the café culture and relaxed eateries of Sydney and Melbourne, experienced by Nichola, 33, and youngest sibling Linsey, 29, during gap year trips. Admitting their successful trendbucking hasn’t been without its challenges, Gillian, who along with Nichola has a young child, shared her method in balancing motherhood with business life.”You do feel the cliché of the guilty working mother, though I guess you have to make every minute at work count because you could be spending time hanging out with your baby and having fun with them,” she says. “So we make sure we’re there for a good reason and we’re not just wasting time.” While most would be somewhat envious of the sisters’ walking away from the nine-to-five humdrum, Gillian is quick to add: “We’re not driving Mercedes just yet. We’re still in our clapped out bangers and rented flats. Though we don’t have that dread on a Sunday evening that you’ve got to go into work on a Monday morning. That’s gone.”It’s that way because we absolutely love what we do and our business is now a reflection of our complete personalities and what we want to be doing, so you can’t be dissatisfied with that.” While thanking their parents for the moral support in every venture they’ve undertaken, Linsey, 29, a trained chef with experience of working in Europe’s most exclusive holiday resorts, always keeps a special word for their grandmother Lillian McCallum.”Our granny had a sweet shop in Kirriemuir and we thought it was normal on a Saturday morning to watch our granny make tablet and help count sweets into a bag for customers,” she says. “Cooking and baking is in our genes from her as she is an amazing cook.”She had a quibble with us when she came to the café for the first time about the price of a bowl of soup because she knows how much it costs to make a pot of soup.” HEADING up the baking team at the cafe, middle sister Nichola, 33, who walked away from a career in pharmaceuticals, is also delighted with the tone of the book. “Many of the photos were taken in Quarriers Village and Arran. The book has a very Scottish feel to it, which we are really happy with.” The sisters always dreamed of opening a café in their old stomping ground of Renfrewshire, having grown up in nearby Bridge of Weir. Not resting on their laurels, the sisters also recently announced the opening of a signaturerange ice cream café in nearby Langbank later this month. Kate Pollard of Hardie Grant Publishing spoke about the cookbook’s early demand: “We’ve had such a great response to the book in London. We’re hoping people in Scotland really get behind it.” Perhaps pre-empting their future in roles fit for a television career, Kate adds: “It’s been overwhelming. The sisters, they are such stars.” Three Sisters Bake by Gillian, Nichola and Linsey Reith published by Hardie Grant is available now priced £20. Chapters include Brunch, Soups, Salads, Lunch, Bread, Dinner, Cakes and Sweet Treats.