Dave, I am reading your winemaker diary entries from last year. I find the comments about restaurant wine prices very interesting and oh so true! It's a pity we don't follow the BYO concept practiced widely in Australia. There are many fine dining establishments Down Under that are not licensed and allow you to BYO wine. I don't know if it is because of the cost or red tape involved in obtaining a licence but it is definitely good for the wine drinking consumer. Several years ago, my husband and I were at a club in LA. Our wine bill came to more than our food and I was so annoyed at having to tip 15% on the entire bill (the waitress merely brought us the bottle and opened it - we did all the pouring) that I only tipped on the cost of the food - the waitress was mad as hell!
With regards to the comments in Mark Brown's letter about wine prices in restaurants in Italy, I think it's the same at restaurants in Argentina - we paid the same price for wine in a restaura nt as we did in a liquor store. Price gouging is generally not tolerated when it comes to consumer products but restaurateurs seem to have carte blanche when it comes to their wine list prices. The average wait person cannot tell you anything constructive about the wine and if you are at a posh restaurant and order an inexpensive bottle, be prepared for the "look" from the waiter. It is equally galling to pay 8 or 9 bucks for a glass of wine you recently saw on special for 8 or 9 bucks a BOTTLE in the supermarket. We had a very expensive meal at "Aureole"at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas and the waiter couldn't even pronounce the name of the wine
I love to eat out occasionally but, fortunately, my husband and I also
love to cook so nights in with the "supermarket special" wine are more
of a frequent occurance. Not much David Coffaro wine in the stores down
here in SoCal, unfortunately for us.
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Restaurant wine prices
Linda Baker, January 30, 2002
Restaurant wine prices - Australian Restaurants - reason enough to fly 20 hours
Gilman Miller, April 25, 2002
Re: Restaurant wine prices
blusz, May 26, 2002Re: Restaurant wine prices
Jason Lovejoy, July 28, 2002
Re: Restaurant wine prices
Dave D, November 12, 2002RETURN