Stop, you’re killing me with the jug wine

Monday, August 25, 2008

Part of my initiative or movement, is also to get restaurants and bars to carry better wines at inexpensive prices, which in reality is not asking much of the proprietors at all. I mean, in a pinch, something from Gallo, Inglenook, Almaden or Carlo Rossi might hit the spot, slightly scratching one’s wine itch, and I will admit that I love the Carlo Rossi Chianti, but at a restaurant, it’s quite a rip off. Not only are you demeaning my taste, but you’re also gouging me on the money side.

I mean, let’s break down the economics of it, with a five liter bottle costing about $14, that gives you a total of at least thirty-three glasses of wine, and at $4 a glass (I am saying that the place is being quite generous in its pricing), then they are making a profit of $118 or 842%, which is ridiculous. Hell, even a payday loan isn’t that high!

And the reality is that most of these spots can easily afford buy a mixed case of decent, if not great quality, wines in standard 750ml bottles. Honestly, I can understand if at first you don’t have the capital to go and outfit your bar with the a great selection of whites and reds for by-the-glass purchasing, but if you slum it for a couple of weeks, and maybe a couple of low priced happy hours, you’ll then have enough to get yourself a decent range from a producer like Barefoot, a better producer like Santa Julia, or a wonderful producer like Rex Goliath. In these cases, a case would cost anywhere from $54 to $80, and you’d have a happier clientele.

One friend offered the adage, “that even a trash can get a steak by the end of the night” and I think that even the most surly client in some of the seediest dives still deserves a better glass of wine, don’t you? So stop killing me with the jug wine and step it up just a notch. I am quite sure that you’ll see an improvement of ordering from your customer base.