Winebits 827: Restaurant wine, Aussie wine, Napa Valley

This week’s wine news: Diners don’t want to overpay for restaurant wine, plus less shiraz down under and Napa’s preponderance

• No kidding: A majority of diners want the average price of restaurant wine to be less than $60, according to a recent survey. To which the WC has nothing to offer but a sigh. The report, paid for by a restaurant trade magazine, offers few surprises and reinforces the idea that restaurant wine still has not recovered from its decades-long malaise. How about fewer than 10 percent saying the wine list “is important” when choosing a restaurant? Or that less complicated wine lists are better? The release doesn’t discuss the methodology, so I can’t vouch for the results. But it strikes me that a survey taken by a trade magazine would tend to be more favorable to the industry, so these results — as bad as they are for eestaurant wine — might actually mean something.

• Less shiraz? The headline on this story is a bit exaggerated, given what the story actually says. But anything that says Australian growers and producers are looking at making less shiraz — their national grape — is worth a notice. The reason, says the piece, is changing consumer tastes. We want lighter red wines than the 14.5 and 15 percent shirazes that Australia is known for. To which the WC can only sigh again.

• A preponderance of Napa: Is it possible that more than one-quarter of California’s wineries are in Napa, even though it produces just four percent of the state’s wine? That’s what Tim Carl writes on his Substack, which looks at Napa’s role in the California wine business. The story needs some editing, but that doesn’t take away from its point: Something is not right with the wine business if those numbers are correct. Which doesn’t surprise the WC at all.