As mentioned in my last post, we recently purchased a bottle of the Viader for our anniversary. The few days prior to our anniversary, I had hit all sorts of wine shops, Internet research, and even Sam's Club for those random good deals in search of a wine that was in our desired price range (75-$100) that wasn’t on the list that would also be ready to drink now within an hour of decanting. Thus, I got a few recommendations.
Well, I have a beef to pick with the wine stores. For the love of god, there are two questions you should ask me, both equally important:
1) Can I help you find something?
2) What do you normally like / did you have something in mind?
Recognize that just because I’m in a store looking for a recommendation on a “nice bottle of red to drink for our anniversary in the $70-$100 range” that doesn’t mean I don’t have a few ideas of my own. And, most importantly, its important to know if I like smoky, cedar box wines, chewy highly tannic wines, or a nice fruit forward California Cab. (In truth I like them all, but I prefer a wine I can enjoy a little bit with AND without food and some work better than others)
But did the wine store person ask me this? No, they just went around recommending what they like, as if I don’t have tastes of my own. Maybe its because you think I don't know anything, maybe its because you have no concept of how others tastes differ than yours, I'm not sure...I just don’t entirely get why you don’t ask me what I like first….the ramifications are really strong if your taste and mine don’t mesh. If I don’t like the wine, then I’m upset I took your word on it. I might not ever return to the store and tell everyone about what a horrible recommendation you made….or if you’re lucky, maybe I'll avoid you like the plague. Either way, your best interest (in a city with more than one wine shop) is to make sure I like the wine, even if you don’t. After all, I’m the customer. Sure, throw out a couple of things “outside the box” of what I might think I like….but overall, tailor what you recommend to things you think I will actually enjoy, or find someone who can.
Luckily I know just enough about wine to know the stuff he recommended is stuff I probably wouldn’t like, so I took his opinions with a grain of salt. (also known as ignored his opinions completely) But if I hadn’t and I had blindly bought something, I probably wouldn’t have liked it and that, my friends, could’ve ruined our anniversary dinner. Disaster avoided, but barely.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Insane wine list markups
Last weekend was the Lush 1 yr Anniversary. We celebrated at Morton’s Steakhouse and it was lovely. They do a good job with making special occasions feel special - they print out a personalized menu and take a picture and put it in a paper frame, etc… The food was great (although very expensive!), they cooked my steak perfectly, the service was great, and the ambiance was good for an anniversary. We had a great time.
However, their wine list is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO overpriced. Really, a bottle I know for a fact is $27 retail they have on their list for $88. Wow.
Typically yes, we all know that restaurants mark up their liquor. That is a large source of profit for them and its not that I oppose to it any more than I oppose a can of soda costing 75 cents when it really costs less than 30 cents or paying $5 for a $3 item at a gas station - it’s a convenience factor. Its convenient for me to go into a restaurant and have a number of wines to choose from that I don’t need to go find. HOWEVER, I do oppose such an unreasonable markup. Most places would charge around $55-65 for that $27 bottle. The kicker is that Morton’s also doesn’t really decrease the markup percentage as the wine gets more expensive – a $90-105 bottle of Far Niente Cabernet is on their list for $261. I’ve worked in the restaurant business and typically while a $30 bottle might be marked up 50-120%, a $100 bottle is usually marked up 30-60%, particularly if the wine is readily available and usually the percentage markup would level out at around 30-40%, maybe less. (this doesn’t apply to a cellared wine, which could be marked up a significant amount from original retail, which is expected)
I feel this markup takes advantage of two groups…one, is the special occasion group. You go to a nice place and you want to order a nice bottle and you end up paying out the arse for it. The other is the business group – you’re taking a client out to dinner on the company tab and you want to impress, so you order a well known bottle, which is marked up 200% but what can you do? You want to impress! Of course, being in the "special occasion" group and thus having to actually PAY for our own wine, we were slightly unhappy with this knowledge.
So what did the Lush’s do? Well, we were already splurging on dinner and certainly weren’t going to pay that markup! I requested they fax us their wine list – their 11 page wine list – and searched for a bottle that wasn’t on their list. This is difficult, because most read to drink and readily available wines are on their list already and I certainly didn’t want to bring something that is on their list. They were very heavy on California Cabs and light on Bordeauxs, but most readily available Bordeaux are 2005 and I didn’t want to drink a young Bordeaux.
In the end, we purchased a $90 bottle of Viader cab sauv/cab franc blend and paid their $25 corkage fee. We had them decant it immediately upon being seated and enjoyed a pre-dinner martini (extra dirty, of course!) while it opened up. The wine was fantastic, of course and of course we offered our server a sip. I didn’t give them a chance to offer a decanter – after she asked if we wanted her to open it now or if we wanted a drink, I said both, please open it and decant it now and I’ll have a martini. I’m not sure if she would’ve offered the decanter – probably not - but she brought it promptly and we never had to pour our own wine, so overall I was happy with the wine service.
We might pick up a bottle of Bordeaux and save it for our 5 year anniversary and go back then. We’ll see. In the meantime, consider this a Wine Public Service Announcement - bring your own wine to Morton's!! (and consider getting a copy of the wine list prior to going out!)
However, their wine list is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO overpriced. Really, a bottle I know for a fact is $27 retail they have on their list for $88. Wow.
Typically yes, we all know that restaurants mark up their liquor. That is a large source of profit for them and its not that I oppose to it any more than I oppose a can of soda costing 75 cents when it really costs less than 30 cents or paying $5 for a $3 item at a gas station - it’s a convenience factor. Its convenient for me to go into a restaurant and have a number of wines to choose from that I don’t need to go find. HOWEVER, I do oppose such an unreasonable markup. Most places would charge around $55-65 for that $27 bottle. The kicker is that Morton’s also doesn’t really decrease the markup percentage as the wine gets more expensive – a $90-105 bottle of Far Niente Cabernet is on their list for $261. I’ve worked in the restaurant business and typically while a $30 bottle might be marked up 50-120%, a $100 bottle is usually marked up 30-60%, particularly if the wine is readily available and usually the percentage markup would level out at around 30-40%, maybe less. (this doesn’t apply to a cellared wine, which could be marked up a significant amount from original retail, which is expected)
I feel this markup takes advantage of two groups…one, is the special occasion group. You go to a nice place and you want to order a nice bottle and you end up paying out the arse for it. The other is the business group – you’re taking a client out to dinner on the company tab and you want to impress, so you order a well known bottle, which is marked up 200% but what can you do? You want to impress! Of course, being in the "special occasion" group and thus having to actually PAY for our own wine, we were slightly unhappy with this knowledge.
So what did the Lush’s do? Well, we were already splurging on dinner and certainly weren’t going to pay that markup! I requested they fax us their wine list – their 11 page wine list – and searched for a bottle that wasn’t on their list. This is difficult, because most read to drink and readily available wines are on their list already and I certainly didn’t want to bring something that is on their list. They were very heavy on California Cabs and light on Bordeauxs, but most readily available Bordeaux are 2005 and I didn’t want to drink a young Bordeaux.
In the end, we purchased a $90 bottle of Viader cab sauv/cab franc blend and paid their $25 corkage fee. We had them decant it immediately upon being seated and enjoyed a pre-dinner martini (extra dirty, of course!) while it opened up. The wine was fantastic, of course and of course we offered our server a sip. I didn’t give them a chance to offer a decanter – after she asked if we wanted her to open it now or if we wanted a drink, I said both, please open it and decant it now and I’ll have a martini. I’m not sure if she would’ve offered the decanter – probably not - but she brought it promptly and we never had to pour our own wine, so overall I was happy with the wine service.
We might pick up a bottle of Bordeaux and save it for our 5 year anniversary and go back then. We’ll see. In the meantime, consider this a Wine Public Service Announcement - bring your own wine to Morton's!! (and consider getting a copy of the wine list prior to going out!)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
When does "Its o.k. – don’t worry about it" mean more?
Lets talk about the various meanings of “Its o.k. – don’t worry about it”. It seems like it would be a simple phrase, but it has many meanings. For example, if you break my $1 stemless glass at a BBQ at our house and I tell you its ok, don’t worry about it, I mean it. Really, I have no interest in you giving me a dollar or trying to find a replica. I’m serving wine out of $1 glasses because I don’t want to care if they get broken.
But what if you broke a special commemorative glass that I got from a winery, a signed bottle, or even just a decanter? Would I still say “Its o.k. – don’t worry about it” as you fell over yourself apologizing? Probably, but the meaning is different. In the $1 stemless scenario above, I mean please do not worry about replacing it, its really ok. In the scenario where the item costs significantly more than $1 or holds some sentimental value, I mean don’t worry about as in don’t stress about it, stuff happens, I’m not going to be mad at you for breaking it (well, not for long anyway). But the underlying thought is “you broke something of mine, please replace it”. Often in that scenario I really don’t want money, particularly if it’s a gift or a commemorative item –because its just strange to receive money from friends, but that's me.
Now, the next question is at what price point does the ““Its o.k. – don’t worry about it” really mean “don’t worry about it as you quickly go get me a replacement”? I’m not sure but I’m thinking $10+, because if I was at your house and I broke something of yours that had an appearance of $10+ in value, regardless of how many times you told me “Its o.k. – don’t worry about it” I would still get you a replacement or a bottle of wine - something. Accidents happen but I don't want you paying money for my clumsiness. I’m not sure how I would handle a commemorative item, so please don’t let me handle them after drinking! ;)
If you’re reading this and are wondering what of mine got broken that I’m whining about - nothing. My decanters, bottles, and glasses are intact. Well, I broke my own glass by clicking my teeth on it last Saturday which ended up in a near glass chewing incident, but that doesn’t count. :) I’m just musing about wine social niceties.
What do you think? When does “Its o.k. – don’t worry about it” really mean more than that??
But what if you broke a special commemorative glass that I got from a winery, a signed bottle, or even just a decanter? Would I still say “Its o.k. – don’t worry about it” as you fell over yourself apologizing? Probably, but the meaning is different. In the $1 stemless scenario above, I mean please do not worry about replacing it, its really ok. In the scenario where the item costs significantly more than $1 or holds some sentimental value, I mean don’t worry about as in don’t stress about it, stuff happens, I’m not going to be mad at you for breaking it (well, not for long anyway). But the underlying thought is “you broke something of mine, please replace it”. Often in that scenario I really don’t want money, particularly if it’s a gift or a commemorative item –because its just strange to receive money from friends, but that's me.
Now, the next question is at what price point does the ““Its o.k. – don’t worry about it” really mean “don’t worry about it as you quickly go get me a replacement”? I’m not sure but I’m thinking $10+, because if I was at your house and I broke something of yours that had an appearance of $10+ in value, regardless of how many times you told me “Its o.k. – don’t worry about it” I would still get you a replacement or a bottle of wine - something. Accidents happen but I don't want you paying money for my clumsiness. I’m not sure how I would handle a commemorative item, so please don’t let me handle them after drinking! ;)
If you’re reading this and are wondering what of mine got broken that I’m whining about - nothing. My decanters, bottles, and glasses are intact. Well, I broke my own glass by clicking my teeth on it last Saturday which ended up in a near glass chewing incident, but that doesn’t count. :) I’m just musing about wine social niceties.
What do you think? When does “Its o.k. – don’t worry about it” really mean more than that??
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