Restaurants HATE To Sell Wine

(Editorial)

Restaurants hate to sell wine.

There’s no other possible explanation for the outright vino-usury found in dining establishments. They just don’t want to sell wine.

A LICENSE TO RIP OFF

I’ve never, ever been in an American restaurant where wine is reasonably priced, especially by the glass. That means I could pick on any restaurant with a license to rip-off wine drinkers.

But I’ll pick on the most recent one: Firewood Grill in Napa.

The Firewood Grill is an otherwise outstanding, family- and budget-friendly establishment with exceptional food and entrees starting at $7.95.

And wine marked up three to four times retail.

THE UGLY, UGLY FACTS

Submitted for your perusal:

Shooting Star Zinfandel (Jed Steele’s Second Label).

Retail: $11 for a 750ml

Firewood Grill bottle: $33 — 3X retail, 6X wholesale

Firewood Grill glass (6 oz pour): $8.50 –4X retail, 8X wholesale

The wholesale price is estimated at 1/2 retail.

When you price a glass of wine for damn close to the retail cost of an entire bottle, you probably ought to have a brain scan to see what sort of frontal lobe tumor has eaten its way through your better judgment.

EVERYBODY LOSES

The customer loses, for sure.

And the restaurant loses as well. Gee, no small wonder on-premise sales are down. As if no one ever tried a glass of a new wine, liked it and bought a bottle.

By-the-glass should be a relatively low-risk way for consumers to try something different. Instead, it — and by-the-bottle prices are painful and annoying thefts from the overall dining experience.

Wineries lose as well. Not only has a sale disappeared, but also less-well-available wines from smaller vintners never have a chance. Small wonder that consumers stick with the tried and true.

LOOK IN THE MIRROR

It’s easy to blame the recession, but restaurateurs need to look in the mirror the next time they wonder why wine sales are down. They’re getting what they deserve. Too bad they hurt consumers and wineries in the process.