Wine bargains now: the expanding world of wine makes serving good vino easier than ever

Cheers, Sept, 2005 by Ken Collura

Those of us who sell wine for a living in the restaurant and hospitality trade are constantly monitoring things like cost of sales, profit and loss mandates, always striving to keep our inventories in check. When wines are flying out the door, things are good; when cellars are loaded to the hilt with high-end bottles, it's bad.

What sometimes gets lost in our efforts to drive revenue through sales is how we bought the wines in the first place. A restaurant can field an army of crack salespersons on their floor, but if the buyer wasn't attentive at the point of purchase, the numbers will always come out askew.

As a wine director and sommelier, I personally deal with both ends of the buy/sell equation. Want to know what's rowing the vinous boat for both my customers and myself in 2005? Bargains. Deals. Good wines at a good price. And I'm here to happily report that getting these tasty, reasonably priced beauties to place before your clientele is easier than ever before.

CHOICES GALORE

Do you remember, about 10 years or so ago, how there was a perception among some high-end restaurant goers that a bottle priced below $25 on a wine list had to be somehow flawed? I have a distinct memory of overhearing a woman say, "Charlie, let's not try that wine. I've never heard of it and it's only $25. Here's another that I know I've seen before, and it's only $39." (I got a kick out of how she used the word "only" in both the derogatory and laudatory sense.)

Today's market, which is chock full of grape varieties from the world over, has encouraged customers to jettison the belief that new and relatively inexpensive equates with problematic. This same change in thinking seems finally to have caught on with the nation's restaurateurs as well. Mid-range bistros featuring wine lists bursting at the seams with chardonnay, cabernet and merlot (with a starting price point of $42) have dwindled decidedly. They're not pterodactyls yet, but the sooner they become extinct, the better.

Please don't misconstrue what I mean. I adore selling big-ticket items, and I carry them all: cult California cabs and Aussie shiraz, Barolo, Bordeaux, Burgundy; you name it. Every truly diverse list needs them, and my eyes brighten whenever I see them going out to a table. But that's just the thing: they go out. Diners that order Raveneau Chablis or Shafer Hillside Select rarely ask for the sommelier's assistance. They already knew what they wanted when they pulled into the parking lot. It's the small, unheralded bottle that needs our help out on the floor.

I have a practice that I strictly adhere to: Never lose a potential wine sale to iced tea or soda due to a lack of breadth of selections on the wine list. In a quality-oriented, yet value-conscious marketplace, any listing without at least a few solid $24-$30 bottles is neglecting an opportunity to excite the casual wine drinker. And once excited, that casual drinker often becomes more interested and avid. Tables that formerly ordered wines by the glass will advance to full bottles, and four-tops that had shared a single bottle in the past may order a second. I've seen it occur dozens of times throughout the years.

WHAT'S A BARGAIN?

It's all about relativity. Bargains can be found in the middle and upper echelon sectors as well the lower. For example, I was recently offered the opportunity to purchase the current release of a prestigious Oregon pinot noir. It normally comes to me at $28-30 wholesale and I turn it around on my list in the neighborhood of $75-80. But this time, the offering was $19.95. I don't know why; perhaps the distributor over-ordered. Things like that happen often in this business. I quickly scooped it up, and I'm zooming through it on my by-the-glass list (at $15 a glass) and at $60 a bottle, which is well under what I previously charged, although it is important not to charge too little and thereby denigrate the wine. This is a strong deal for both the public and the restaurant. That's my definition of a bargain.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are a plethora of wines you see stacked high in the grocery stores. Without a doubt, the price is right. But just because a wine is priced well does not make it a bargain. Bad wine at a great price is a bad deal. Every time.

The quality of low-end wines can be passable in some cases, worse in others. And, once again, the public's perception always comes into play. Do you want your intermediate to higher-end customers noticing these wines on your list, therefore possibly lowering the esteem of the entire list in their eyes? I don't believe in ever placing mediocre products on my list. There are just too many good values out there. So let's talk about that.

BEST BARGAINS

Below are a few of the sweet deals in the market today. Most are generally available, but some may not be so easy to find. Those of us with determination usually get rewarded. Sometimes I feel like one of those pigs in Piedmont, Italy, traipsing around in the woods searching for truffles. It may take a little work, but the end result is worth it. The prices listed are ballpark wholesale bottle prices: