The Curse of Knowing Too Much About Wine

Whenever my knowledge of wine prevents me from enjoying a particular restaurant I am reminded of Horne Fisher who lamented I know too much.  This was the unenviable position I found myself in during a family dinner at a waterside restaurant in Connecticut.   After choosing my entrée I eagerly turned my attention to one of my idiosyncratic pleasures—perusing a wine list.  I was mortified, horrified to say the least.  All of the wines on the menu were grossly overpriced.  So much so, that under different circumstances I would not have ordered any wine or would have simply left.  In this instance leaving was not an option plus everyone was relying upon my wine selection for the dinner.  Not wanting to put a damper on the evening or inflict my discomfort onto others I kept my chagrin to myself—until now. 

There seems to be some misguided belief in today’s restaurant business model that wine with lunch or dinner is a luxury.  Anyone who enjoys food as much as I do and those who read this blog know that this could not be further from the truth. Wine is a fundamental part of any meal, as essential to the dining experience as the quality of the food, its presentation and a properly trained wait-staff.  It is anything but a luxury! Hence when I am faced with a situation, as I was in Connecticut, where a Vinho Verde that retails between six to eight dollars a bottle is on the wine list for THIRTY THREE DOLLARS, I am outraged.  That represents a markup of over four times the highest retail price and more than five times the lowest retail price!  Another outrage I endured was the bottle of Vouvray I ordered for the dinner.  This wine normally retails for about twelve dollars a bottle; we paid FORTY-FOUR DOLLARS for the “luxury” of having it with our meal.  There is no justification for marking up wine to this extent.   

Restaurants are “for profit” businesses just as any other business.  I respect this and know that profit is essential for them to continue.  Operating such public establishments is also a very demanding business fraught with the contentious issues of dealing with a wide variety of people, inconsistent labor supply and very long hours.  Hence my very high regard for restaurateurs who choose to earn their living in this manner.  However, when it comes to restaurant pricing for wine I am at times appalled and outraged.  

As a consultant who has developed wine programs for many restaurants, I know that a bottle of wine is generally marked-up about 2 to 2 ½ times the retail price. Knowing this, I am put-off, annoyed and at times insulted by markups that far exceed this common practice. My only conclusion regarding restaurants that do not follow this convention is that they are more concerned with making enormous profits on wine than they are with providing a pleasurable dining experience.  Therefore, rather than bearing the burden of knowing too much in such establishments—I choose to dine elsewhere.