Wine Prices in Restaurants

We have some good news for you and some bad news. The good news is that despite the rotten growing year that hit most of the wine grape growing countries and the magnificent year enjoyed by our west coast, there will be little or no increase in the price of your favorite wine. The current economic uncertainty has made the increasing of price in the $20 to $29 class, is very, very doubtful according to the Silicon Valley Bank, a major lender to the wine industry. The lower priced wines took a price jump during 2012 which had some effect on sales but not a major one. The place where the prices will jump is in the higher priced wines, $50+, where as much as a 10% rise may be seen.
An area where price is a significant consideration is at restaurants. We constantly receive letters and emails from readers complaining about the outrageous price of wine in restaurants. Very often, the price in a restaurant is higher than the shelf price at wine merchants. We are aware that some restaurants use wine as a profit making tool and, since the diner is “captured,” if they wish to enjoy a wine with their meal, the sky is the limit. This, however, is not the case with most restaurants. One must consider all of the parameters involved with serving a wine to a diner. The restaurateur must first purchase the wine from the same distributor that supplies the wine stores, implying that he/she is paying a wholesale price; which is the case. The wholesale price for the wine however, does not take in to account all of the facets associated with serving wine to a diner.
The restaurateur must first put in a supply of wine that compliments the style of food that he/she presents. This supply must be more than one or two bottles of a variety but at least enough to cover any and all requests. It can take several days for a distributor to replenish the stock so the owner must go by the Boy Scout motto, “be prepared.” Looking at the average wine list, that preparation could incur a considerable cash outlay. Next there must be a place to keep the wine; not too cold and not to warm and if possible in a commercial wine cooler. That costs money and takes room which looses income in the space that could probably be better utilized.
But there is more, there is the cost of the glasses. Ordinary cheap wine glasses will not do. Restaurant wine glasses must have thin bowls that compliment most varieties of wine and no rims as a rim deflects the wine to the wrong part of the mouth and breaks up the stream of wine and these glasses are not cheap. Wine glasses also cannot be cleaned along with the regular dishes and utensils but requite special care costing time, money and they too require valuable storage space.
If you doubt any of these facts, call your favorite restaurant and ask them if you can bring your own wine. You will encounter the term CORKAGE. Corkage is the charge from the restaurant for all of the items involved in serving a patron a glass of his own wine.
While dining in a restaurant there are things to be wary of. If you do not know what wine you will want to order off of the wine list, guess. If you ask the sommelier of water for a suggestion, you may be directed to a wine that the restaurant wants to get rid of. Restaurants are still a business and it is not beyond the management or even a wholesaler to offer an inducement to the help to get rid of wines they are overstocked with; in fact it is a common practice. Just as a side note, the practice of inducements by wholesalers extends to the wine store also so, as we always admonish, caveat emptor, let the buyer beware.