TC,
What type aircraft do you fly? I'm in a Lear 45 and DA2000. We can match any descent rate the controller desires. That's the nice thing about light jets, we can come out of the sky like a brick.
I made a series of querries to US ARTCC QA officers about 2 years ago. All said that the mininum rate was 500 FPM. Beyond that, anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 FPM. !,500 FPM in the face of a 100 headwind is only about 500 FPM less than what you'd get using a 3.0 degree VNAV descent.
I've asked this question on other forums and get some pilots who say get down quick, others say it's ATC problem to let me know what descent rate they need.
The universial answer from both the ARTCC OA folks is if in doubt, ask the controller what he/she needs.
Take care,
Rich