Restaurant Wine Shouldn’t Be A Pain In The Wallet

So I was out for a glass of wine last night in a Hollywood spot that shall remain nameless because I actually like the place- the food is good, the vibe is cool and I can get some interesting wines by the glass. But it’s really irritating (especially in this economy), when the by-the-bottle price is three times higher than what it costs in the store.

And listen, I know that restaurants needs to make money and stay in business. But marking up wine that much makes it feel like loan-sharking, or highway robbery (to quote my grandmother).

Let’s take last night’s bottle of wine which cost us $33.00 (it wasn’t half-bad by the way, and I’ll review it in a bit). I can buy it at my favorite wine store for $11, so sure enough, it was marked up three times (and the restaurant paid less than retail, probably six or seven dollars). So when I made the choice to buy my food from the eatery instead of staying home, I also chose to give them an extra twenty bucks for the privilege of drinking wine from their stash. Not cool in my book.

The good news is, quite a few eating spots are offering wine-markup-reduction promotions in this economy. Here in Los Angeles, Boa Steakhouse has a Sunday night special: All bottles of wine are half price. Very cool in my book.

According to this article at WinedandDined.com, several restaurants in New York city are offering promotions to combat the recession. Additionally, restaurants across the US are encouraging diners to bring their own wine and/or cutting their corkage fees according to this story at TampaBay.com care of the St. Petersburg Times. I humbly suggest you check around the restaurants in your city; there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to find some recession-relief specials.

Now, let me step down off of my soapbox and review last night’s wine.

The bottle was from the good folks at Vinum Cellars, the 2006 PETS Petite Sirah. ‘Pets’ is a nickname that veteran wine growers use for Petite Sirah, including Ken Wilson, the guy that grows the grapes that go into this wine . To honor Wilson’s late dog Tanker, a portion of the profits from the sales of this wine is donated to the San Francisco SPCA. (Over $25,000.00 has been donated to date.)

I’ve already mentioned that the wine retails for $11, but it’s been recognized as a decent bottle: Food & Wine Magazine included the ‘06 PETS in their list of
“67 Best American Wines $15 & Under”.

The wine is a deep purple color with an earthy, lavender nose.  On the palate, concentrated fruit:  some blueberry, though a bit tart, more like a huckleberry.  Subtle flavors of vanilla are present along with a slight mineral edge and some good tannins to boot.  This wine was great to wash down the burger I was eating, if you like Petite Sirah, you could drink this all by itself.

I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t like paying $33 for this bottle in the restaurant,  but its a good deal for 11 bucks at the wine store.