Restaurant Markups

If I can read between the lines a bit, I think you're asking how to get the most bang for your restaurant buck. Forgive me if I ascribe unintended meaning.

My experience is that in most upscale restaurants, the going rate for quality wine is about 2x the retail price. Pick an aged, first-growth though and you may be in uncharted territory. Rarity adds to value--you probably couldn't find those wines easily in any retail store you are likely to encounter.

There are the occasional sucker hole restaurants that seem to cater to the foolishly wealthy or the expense account traveler (think about the comparative cost-value for first clbutt versus coach on an airline ticket!) These places charge 3x and more for wines that often are familiar labels to regular wine drinkers. I try to avoid those, or if caught by surprise then to seek something unfamiliar so I can drink in relative economic ignorance.

A full 750ml bottle runs about 25 ounces. For quality wines by the glbutt, a typical pour is four ounces, so they get six glbuttes-bottle. Do the math and you'll usually find about a 30% premium to drink by the glbutt. The up-side is that you can experience more variety of wines and enjoy more appropriate wines for your dining courses. (House wines are generally poured more generously, but are not of any great distinction.)

One major advantage (to me) is that when I dine out, I can experience a "filtered" wine list--one in which an expert has chosen wines of good quality, representative characteristics and good value. It's better for me to pick from those list than to blunder around a wine store looking at label art or trying to find something obscure from a recent Wine Spectator "best buy" recommendation. I'll often talk with waiters, sommeliers, or maitre'd regarding comparisons of two wines and their impressions. Wines that I like, I'll then scout out and buy at retail for stocking the cellar.

Ed Rasimus Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret) "When Thunder Rolled" www.thunderchief.org www.thundertales.blogspot.com