by the glass

[Thomas]

Jason, Kevin and all,

Seems we got this subject going.

Perhaps there is a larger problem that restaurateurs cannot deal with at all -- advertising and promotion. The wine industry (distributors included) does a miserable job at promoting or advertising wine to the general population. Hopefully, Gillespie's program getting started in Albany, NY and Houston, will prove effective.

Restaurants can do what they can do, and it is true that selling wine in the restaurant, one by one, is difficult. But I maintain that unless restaurants make wine accessible through pricing (perhaps on the same level as the dinner it matches) reluctance to buy will persist.

I have a friend whose wine list has won consecutive Spectator awards. But he complains constantly that he hasn't enough room in his cellar for the inventory (he triples wholesale in his pricing). I keep telling him that the reason his cellar is stocked is becasue he isn't moving enough wine, and the reason for that is his pricing. he replies that he must get the price in order to make a profit, to which I say, "you aren't making a profit if the wine is in the cellar." And the circle goes round and round.