Wine needs a new social contract.
-
A Jancis Robinson piece, with which I agree with most everything.
There is a neighborhood breakfast and lunch place with very good food and service. They've started serving dinner Th-Sun, with a full bar. Unfortunately their wine list was clearly chosen by a distributor trying to move some slow-moving product. I ordered a higher end Pinot Noir the other night and it had obviously been opened the prior weekend and was oxidized. They took a bath on that bottle as I sent the glass back.
I'm going to speak with the owner about revamping his wine list, free of charge. If I can get his wines down from $12-$16 by the glass to between $7 and $10 tops, he will sell more wine, attract more wine drinkers and lose a lot less money on bottles gone bad. I think he'll make more money. Wine people like to go where the wine is well chosen and inexpensive. Who knows, it could become a sideline for me.
https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/wine-needs-new-social-contract
-
Hate the outrageous by-the-glass prices! We are blessed locally with really fine, delicate pizza, and one place serves a not at all bad red wine at $8. With a baby spinach/fennel salad and plain pie, it’s a very nice afternoon.
-
I don’t know much about the business side of wine, but aren’t the distributors part of the problem? Apart from pushing certain wines, don’t they discriminate against small wineries or somehow make it hard for them to get to market?
And as you say, the huge restaurant markup is a big problem.
