Tag Archives: restaurant wine

Winebits 727: Restaurant wine, wine scores, wine trends

restaurant wine This week’s wine news: More bad news for restaurant wine, plus the new editor at the Wine Advocate says scores are staying and who knew organic wine is the next big thing

• Restaurant wine: Not good news, according to a study from a consultancy called Vintage Economics. The report is full of jargon and tries to sugar coat the results, but the news is there: Wine “has been struggling in the on-premise for some time,” with on-premise the trade name for restaurants. The study found that wine’s restaurant “penetration” fell by about five percent during the 2010s, and things only got worse during the pandemic. This is not good news for wine; a restaurant recovery is crucial to wine’s return to popularity. But the same thing hurting wine overall has hurt it in restaurants: lack of interest among younger diners and those who aren’t white. Do you think charging $35 for a $12 bottle of supermarket wine could be one of the causes?

• 100 points forever! The new editor of the Wine Advocate, Robert Parker’s legendary wine magazine, has said scores are here to stay. Joe Czerwinski told Esther Mobley of the San Francisco Chronicle that: “We’re quite old fashioned, I suppose. We see ourselves as being the independent consumer’s guide to buying wine. This is why we exist. That central mission hasn’t changed at all.” Interestingly, the headline on the article calls the 100-point system “notorious.” Which, of course, we know here. Sadly.

• Bring on organic? I’ve been writing about wine for more than 20 years, so I wasn’t surprised to see this in a trends story for 2022: Organic wine is the next big thing. Because, of course, it’s always the next big thing, seemingly popping up every couple of years. That it has never become the next big thing (organic wine sales in the U.S. may be in the mid-single digits) speaks to the way the business works – which was neatly summarized on the blog here. So, no, I wouldn’t bet on organic wine taking off in 2022.

Ask the WC 30: BYOB, wine for friends, California fires

BYOB wine
Not to worry — restaurants make money when they offer BYOB.

This edition of Ask the WC: The BYOB conundrum, wine for friends who don’t necessarily drink wine, and California’s 2021 wildfire season

Because the customers always have questions, and the Wine Curmudgeon has answers in this irregular feature. You can Ask the Wine Curmudgeon a wine-related question by clicking here.

Dear Wine Curmudgeon:
So this BYOB thing doesn’t track for me. Why should a restaurant — which seems to make so much money from wine — let me bring my own wine?
Perplexed diner

Dear Diner:
BYOB — or bring your own bottle — has long been part of restaurant wine. The reasons vary: Some restaurants offer it because they don’t want to bother with the aggravation that is a liquor license, while some see BYOB as adding value to their wine offerings. In addition, in some states, it’s legal to do BYOB but not legal to sell alcohol and some states forbid it. And don’t worry about restaurants being short-changed. Most that do BYOB charge what’s called a corkage fee, say $10 a bottle, for each bottle you bring in. I’ve long been a proponent of BYOB, since it gives diners who might not was to spend $75 for a bottle a chance to drink wine with dinner. This, of course, has elicited harsh criticism from many of my colleagues.

•

Hey WC:
Most of my friends don’t drink wine — when there’s a party, I’m about the only one who brings any, and hardly anyone drinks it. So what kind of wine should I bring? It’s kind of embarrassing to have take two mostly full bottles home with me.
Embarrassed

Dear Embarrassed:
Bring rose, even if it’s a little sweet, and make sure it’s as cold as possible — so, if necessary, put some ice cubes in it. The idea is to let everyone know that wine is as just as much fun as some overpriced carbonated water with a bit of booze and fruit flavoring. And rose, of course, is the natural version of that stuff.
•

Hello, Wine Curmudgeon:
I haven’t seen much on the blog this summer about the California wildfires. How have they affected the wine country?
Watching the news

Dear News:
That there hasn’t been much news is good news. This has been another difficult fire season, but — so far  — the fires haven’t affected the state’s wine regions too much. I’ve talked to several producers who have said they’ve mostly been able to finish harvest without too much worry about fires. This, of course, is far different from the past couple of years.

Photo: IntergalacticC vis Morguefile

More Ask the WC:
• Ask the WC 29: Birthday gifts, larger bottles, and on-line
• Ask the WC 28: Wine Curmudgeon ethics, sweet red wine, and wine spending
• Ask the WC 27: Pandemic wine sales, red Burgundy, wine competitions

Winebits 713: Sommelier arson, restaurant wine, Waters Edge

resaurant wineThis week’s wine news: Sommelier charged in Manhattan arsons spoke at wine event shortly after. Plus, no end in sight for depressed restaurant wine sales and Waters Edge wants to bring wineries to restaurant

• Sommelier arson: Leave it to the New York Post to follow up on the Manhattan sommelier arson scandal: “Celeb sommelier hobnobbed with wine industry elite days before arson arrest.” The real news in the story is that Caleb Ganzer, who is charged with setting three restaurant fires this summer, apparently admitted to one of the fires, though the Post reported he has no memory of doing so. The other thing to point out, in my role as wine advisor to the newspaper world, is that yes, the International Riesling Expo, which Ganzer attended, is a big deal. But industry elite is a bit much – this is only riesling, after all, and not cabernet sauvignon or chardonnay.

• Restaurant wine sales: The country’s biggest restaurant trade group says the uptick in the pandemic is hurting restaurants again, with 6 in 10 consumers saying they changed dining plans – with more than one-third saying they opted for delivery instead of going out. This is not good news for what has been an agonizingly slow recovery in the restaurant wine business; if diners remain reluctant to eat ut, they’re certainly not going to buy wine.

• Waters Edge restaurant and winery: Waters Edge, with 20 locations in four states, wants to expand throughout the country. Its franchisees have wineries at their locations, with no need for vineyards. Nation’s Restaurant News reports that the goal is to buy grapes from around the world, send them to the restaurant, and make the wine there. The concept is similar to the very successful Cooper’s Hawk chain, which pioneered the idea.

Winebits 706: Chateau Ste. Michelle sale, restaurant wine, Total Wine

money
Let’s see. … What other wine company should we buy?

This week’s wine news: Chateau Ste. Michelle is gobbled up by a private equity behemoth, plus restaurants re-jigger alcohol sales, and Total Wine revenue reaches $5 billion

• A new era: Private equity behemoth Sycamore Partners, whose holdings include Staple’s, Aeropostale, and Nine West, will buy Ste. Michelle Wine Estates for $1.2 billion. It’s almost impossible to overestimate the importance of this deal; when private equity discovers wine, the wine business has changed forever. Washington state’s Ste. Michell, the eighth-biggest producer in the country, makes more than 8 million cases a year. Its brands include 14 Hands; Chateau Ste. Michelle and its well-known supermarket riesling; and a variety of more expensive labels. This deal not only means dramatic changes at Ste. Michelle — look for the new owners to try to dump its supermarket brands and to cut costs with layoffs, canceling grape contracts, and other “rationalizations.” But it also means, given the way private equity works,  that almost every large U.S. wine producer, save for the top dozen or so, is now for sale — whether it wants to be or not. Does it also mean that wine wholesalers, other than the top half-dozen, are also potential equity acquisitions?

• Bring on outdoor dining: Nation’s Restaurant News reports that restaurants across the country are tinkering with their wine, beer, and spirits efforts in the wake of the pandemic. The goal is to figure out how to keep what worked during the past 18 months, dump what didn’t, and decide what comes next. In some states, that means an end to cocktails and wine to go; in others, that means adding retail sales in addition to traditional on-premise sales. One thing that isn’t changing: Contactless check-in, virtual menus, and mobile ordering. Interestingly, one chain executive said she will change expansion plans from the northeast to warmer states, where patio dining is possible most of the year.

• $5 billion for Total Wine: Total, the country’s only true national wine retailer, saw revenue jump to $5 billion from $3 billion just a couple a years ago. Chalk that up to expansion and increased business during the pandemic. The chain has 216 stores in 27 states, and expects to reach 230 by the end of the year. It’s particularly keen on Texas, where it has 36 stores, the most of any state. Its CEO told Shanken News Daily that the company is actively looking to open more stores in Texas.

Photo:Brock Wegner on Unsplash 

 

Winebits 703: Underage drinking, restaurant wine, “cult wines”

How will the restaurant business lure wary consumers, happy drinking at home, back to their tables?

This week’s wine news: Underage drinkers prefer beer and spirits to wine. Plus, getting consumers back to restaurants may not be easy and a lawsuit about “cult” wines.

• Finishing third: Underaged drinkers much prefer beer and spirits to wine, according to a in the Journal of Alcohol and Drugs (via Wine Industry Insight). This tends to confirm something many of us have suspected over the years, that teenagers who drink illegally find it easier to get beer and whiskey. If nothing else, those two are much less expensive than wine. The study reports that more than 60 percent of those aged 12-20 preferred beer, about one-third chose spirits, and just 5 percent wanted wine. Interestingly, the study reports that the world’s drinks companies get about 10 percent of their income from underage drinking.

• Luring us back: A British study says it’s not going to be easy to lure consumers – and especially “the switched on, digitally driven, happy at home consumer” – back to restaurants as the pandemic ends. The report, detailed in a British trade magazine, says it will be “much harder” to entice people to go out at all, since we’ve become so much more comfortable at home. It cites the growth in sales of home meal kits and the increase in subscriptions services like Netflix and video gaming. Yes, the study not about U.S. consumers, but the parallels are there – and the same old, same old restaurant wine service may not cut it any more.

• Cult wine lawsuit: This story, from Wine-Searcher.com, features two of the WC’s favorite bits of wine foolishness: Lawsuits and wine snobs. A company that says it owns the phrase “cult wine” is suing another company that says it owns the phrase. The dispute is apparently over a $15 wine, which every wine snob will tell you is in no way a cult wine. True cult wines, like this one and this one, cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars – if not thousands. The story is quite complicated; so complicated, in fact, that it’s not clear if either company can actually win.

Winebits 701: Focus groups, mergers, restaurant wine

focus groups
“OK — so you like cabernet sauvignon, but you like it better without the tannins and acidity?”

This week’s wine news: How focus groups “dumb down” a product, plus will the last Big Wine merger take place and middling news for restaurant wine

• Focus groups and “dumbing down:” Focus groups remain one of wine’s most insidious problems, having given us sweet “dry” wines as well as “smoooth” wines without any varietal character. How do focus groups work? One of the writers of the James Bond movie series offers a terrific explanation: “From my experience, here’s what happens to movies when [focus groups] start invading the creative process: Everything gets watered down to the most anodyne and easily consumable version of itself. The movie becomes an inoffensive shadow of a thing, not the thing itself.” One of his examples is the popular movie musical “Sweeney Todd” – research indicated it would be more popular without its songs. Remind anyone of too many cheap cabernet sauvignons on the supermarket Great Wall of Wine?

• More mergers? The wise guys are still buzzing about the next great booze merger, where Pernod Ricard (Campo Viejo, Kenwood) is once again rumored to be after Brown-Forman (Korbell. Sonoma-Cutrer). The deal, given the way the world works today, would have little to do with wine – Pernod wants Jack Daniels, Brown Forman’s flagship brand, so it can better compete with Diageom (Crown Royal, Johnnie Walker) in the whiskey market. Because, of course, Pernod’s sales of $10 billion annually puts it at a tremendous competitive disadvantage.

• Not such bad news: The outlook for the restaurant wine business is sort of looking up, according to a report from distributor-compiled sales reports. SipSpurce reports that about half of the restuaurants that closed at the beginning of the pandemic have reopened through April, calling it “significant progress” in the return to a more normal restaurant world. The report expects restaurant wine sales to grow, and that the business reached bottom in February. The bad news? Retail wine sales declined 0.6 percent in the first quarter of this year – something that was totally unexpected.

Photo: Campaign Creators via Unsplash

 

Winebits 697: Sauvignon blanc shortage, restaurant wine, Fred Tasker

sauvignon blanc
“Anything but this. … How will I survive a New Zealand sauvignon blanc shortage?”

This week’s wine news: A possible New Zealand sauvignon blanc shortage, plus prices for restaurant wine, and long-time wine writer Fred Tasker dies

• New Zealand sauvignon blanc shortage? Extreme spring frosts in New Zealand – October 2020 or so in the southern hemisphere – may cut the country’s sauvignon blanc production by almost one-third, reports thedrinksbusiness.com. This matters because New Zealand is the world’s second-largest sauvignon blanc producer after France, and U.S. supermarkets are replete with quality $10 Kiwi sauvignon blanc. Plus, several producers said the country may not be able to meet global demand in 2021. The story in the link is short on actual numbers (and also includes the usual hyperbole about quality that seems to show up in every harvest report). So how small the harvest will be, and whether it will be short enough to send prices up, remains to be seen.

• Restaurant wine prices: British researchers may have dispelled the long-standing belief that the second cheapest bottle on a restaurant wine list is a rip-off. Economists from the London School of Economics and The University of Sussex Business School found that the mark-up on the second-cheapest wine is significantly below that of the four next most expensive wines on the list. Previously, it was assumed that the second-cheapest bottle was “significantly overpriced” to take advantage of those of us who are too embarrassed to order the cheapest wine (not the WC, of course). If anything, found the study, we should avoid selecting from the middle of the list, since they tend to have the heftiest mark-up. So, the caveat: The study used London-based restaurants, and there is no guarantee that British restaurant pricing is similar to U.S. pricing.

• Fred Tasker, 1942-2021: Fred Tasker, the long-time wine writer for the Miami Herald newspaper, died last week. He was 79. Tasker was the wine columnist for the Herald for two decades, retiring in 2012, and also covered wine for a Miami NPR program. Tasker was one of the leading newspaper wine columnists in the country at a time when newspapers covered wine, joining people like Rebecca Murphy in Dallas, Bill St. John in Chicago and Denver, Robert Whitley in San Diego, and Michael Lonsford in Houston. They played a key role in the U.S. wine boom, offering reviews and analysis that reached a wide audience.