Wine Mark Ups in restaurants-I came across an article in www.jancisrobinson.com were wines in restaurants were debated and their profitability discussed. It was stated that the areas discussed (UK) used mark ups of 60%-70% and food costs at 22%-25%. I find it disgusting that South African restaurants can have mark ups of 150% to 250% and get away with it. If consumers stand together and refuse to pay exorbitant prices for wine that was not even stored properly or matured at the restaurant's expense, with a few exceptions, like Browns and The Butcher Shop and grill, than what right do they have to make more money than the wine farm itself? and most of the time the wine lists are atrocious with so few good wines available and only wines from one or two suppliers with loads of cheapies selling at premium prices.
Guys, you need to take your own wine! If we refuse to buy high priced wines and all take good quality wine with us we will still save money. If your retail price for a bottle of Chardonnay is R100, hypothetically, then the restaurant price will be R250 (more or less as the restaurant will not be paying retail prices) so if you take that bottle of wine with you and pay R50 corkage, you still save R100, the price of the second bottle!!
I always like to suggest to retail customers that they have a so called "restaurant rack" in their cellar were they keep the wines from R100 upwards and take these wines with them when they dine out. You will off course have your own benchmark and can take something a little cheaper but remember that if you take a cheapie you will be saving far less and have to drink bad wine with good food (maybe have a separate set of wines for your franchise sojourns)
So we hope to see you shopping up a storm and buying nice wines to dine with.
Maud
September 20, 2006
September 04, 2006
The public's ignorance-I had two very amusing comments this weekend regarding wine and thought i would share it with you. In a country like South Africa were our rugby players are gods, one such a former World-Cup-winning player is Kobus Wiese. Over the weekend while consulting for a wine store in Fourways, a lady came in and asked for Weisser Riesling. I then showed her our local selection and she chose the Hartenberg which she then told was owned/made by Kobus WIESE. I said "No 'mam this is not so, I know the winemaker and the owner and it's not Kobus Wiese, to no avail, she left with a bottle of WIESE-Riesling and I'm sure the winemaker will be happy he made a sale. Hopefully she will like the wine and continue buying it when she one day realizes her mistake, if ever!
Another amusing incident was in the local newspaper in the area were i live where I have to admit wine knowledge is very sparse. The article went along the lines of two people who got very sick after they discovered "glass" in their wine. I personally thought that the volume of wine caused the vomiting not the glass but to any event the winefarm answered the query by stating that when wine goes through temperature fluctuations crystals can be formed in the wine. They were of course talking about tartrates which are mostly found in white wines that have been over chilled and on the corks of red wines especially ones that have matured in the bottle. So no, I doubt if the two sick gentlemen were sick from drinking wine and the article ends off with the negative connotation that what happens if others drink wine and get glass in their wine! As if we don't already have a shrinking per capita consumption of wine!!
As I said at dinner on Sunday, it is our responsibility as wine lovers to educate this world on wine and that includes your ignorant friends.
Happy teaching.
Maud
Another amusing incident was in the local newspaper in the area were i live where I have to admit wine knowledge is very sparse. The article went along the lines of two people who got very sick after they discovered "glass" in their wine. I personally thought that the volume of wine caused the vomiting not the glass but to any event the winefarm answered the query by stating that when wine goes through temperature fluctuations crystals can be formed in the wine. They were of course talking about tartrates which are mostly found in white wines that have been over chilled and on the corks of red wines especially ones that have matured in the bottle. So no, I doubt if the two sick gentlemen were sick from drinking wine and the article ends off with the negative connotation that what happens if others drink wine and get glass in their wine! As if we don't already have a shrinking per capita consumption of wine!!
As I said at dinner on Sunday, it is our responsibility as wine lovers to educate this world on wine and that includes your ignorant friends.
Happy teaching.
Maud
The public's ignorance-I had two very amusing comments this weekend regarding wine and thought i would share it with you. In a country like South Africa were our rugby players are gods, one such a former World-Cup-winning player is Cobus Wiese. Over the weekend while consulting for a wine store in Fourways, a lady came in and asked for Weisser Riesling. I then showed her our local slection and she chose the Hartenberg which she then told was owned/made by Kobus WIESE. I said "No 'mam this is not so, I know the winemaker and the owner and it's not Kobus Wiesse, to no avail, she left with a bottle of WIESE-Riesling and I'm sure the winemaker will be happy he made a sale. Hopefully she will like the wine and continue buying it when she one day realizes her mistake, if ever!
Another amuzing incident was in the local newspaper in the area were i live where I have to admit wine knowledge is very sparce. The article went along the lines of two people who got very sick after they discovered "glass" in their wine. I personally thought that the volume of wine caused the vomiting not the glass but to any event the winefarm answered the query by stating that when wine goes through temperature flactuations christals can be formed in the wine. They were of course talking about tartrates which are mostly found in white wines that have been overchilled and on the corks of red wines especially ones that have matured in the bottle. So no, I doubt if the two sick gentlemen were sick from drinking wine and the article ends off with the negative connotation that what happens if others drink wine and get glass in their wine! As if we don't already have a shrinking per capita consumption of wine!!
As I said at dinner on Sunday, it is our responsibility as wine lovers to educate this world on wine and that includes your ignorant friends.
Happy teaching.
Maud
Another amuzing incident was in the local newspaper in the area were i live where I have to admit wine knowledge is very sparce. The article went along the lines of two people who got very sick after they discovered "glass" in their wine. I personally thought that the volume of wine caused the vomiting not the glass but to any event the winefarm answered the query by stating that when wine goes through temperature flactuations christals can be formed in the wine. They were of course talking about tartrates which are mostly found in white wines that have been overchilled and on the corks of red wines especially ones that have matured in the bottle. So no, I doubt if the two sick gentlemen were sick from drinking wine and the article ends off with the negative connotation that what happens if others drink wine and get glass in their wine! As if we don't already have a shrinking per capita consumption of wine!!
As I said at dinner on Sunday, it is our responsibility as wine lovers to educate this world on wine and that includes your ignorant friends.
Happy teaching.
Maud
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