I'm writing in response to "A Cheapskate's Critique of Wine List Prices" by Lettie Teague [July]. Having lived in Belgium for several years, where passion for good food and wine is high and there is a bottle of wine on every table, I find the U.S. restaurant experience to be absolutely terrible when it comes to ordering wine. I've pretty much given up on finding a reasonably priced bottle and refuse to pay the high cost for what is essentially supermarket-quality wine—never mind trying to order something nice at three to five times the retail price. I either pay the corkage fee at a high-end restaurant, where I can enjoy a nice wine from my cellar with the meal, or visit one of the more casual BYOB restaurants nearby for a less formal affair. It's time for consumers to stop paying ridiculous prices for wine.
Alex Troya, San Diego, CA
A great deal of what Lettie Teague says in "A Cheapskate's Critique of Wine List Prices" is right on. However, the comparison between retail and restaurant pricing is based on a simple fallacy that retail prices are fair. After 25 years in the wine business (both retail and restaurant), I have come to the conclusion that the fault lies not in the extravagant restaurant markups but in the ridiculously low retail markups. As a retail store owner/manager, I was continually surprised by the number of people who came in expecting some sort of discount. And as a restaurant wine professional, I am perturbed by the lack of attention paid to liquor markups, which are generally even higher than wine markups. To pay $16 for a martini is commonplace, yet most wines by the glass at that price have a great deal more to offer.
Peter Nelson, Boston
As a food and wine lover, I am consistently disappointed by excessive wine markups. Restaurateurs are missing an opportunity to establish long-lasting relationships—and as a result, contributing to their own failure—by continuing to employ the practice. Restaurant owners should realize that their best customers, foodies who love wine and have money to spend, will not continue to patronize restaurants where they feel taken advantage of. I often glance around and wonder whether people drinking only iced tea don't like wine or just can't fathom paying four times the wholesale price for a pedestrian selection of wine served in cheap glassware.
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