Starting a wine bar - need advice for restaurant supplies

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2USD for a quality wine glass? I guess you may want to try IKEA and their 'Svalka' series - perfectly acceptable for tastings I've heard from professionals. hth Anders

$2 per stem sounds pretty reasonable to me as a consumer. My INAO glasses from St. George (now defunct, I'm told) came in for just about that retail. If you're starting a wine bar, don't skimp on the glasses. To do so would turn away the wine geek crowd, who will otherwise be your best client base. Make sure that your glasses are good *enough* to attract repeat business. Keep in mind that unless your wine bar dispenses 2 Buck Chuck by the gallon, you're not going to see a lot of broken glasses on a per night basis, so you can afford a slightly pricey glass -- it'll pay dividends.

My $0.02, Mark Lipton

Mark is quite correct in my opinion when it comes to glasses.

I will not go back to a place that does not have decent wine glasses. And I am only part wine geek.

Good luck.

These are all useful replies, as I definitely understand where you're coming from on the consumer side. The problem is that in the bar/wine business the level of breakage runs at around 20% per year, so trying to strike a balance between quality and practicality is a problem.

My family has always had bar businesses, but I'm the first one starting one in the States. I know the European cost models but not the US ones.

-- James

Amortized over the number of glasses of (presumably expensive) wine you'll be serving and charging for, how much does that really come to?

I know, every little bit adds up, but if you sold the wine for a nickel more per glass, you'd be ahead, vs. using a cheaper thicker glass that might turn people off. I know I sometimes choose where to go based on the wine glasses they use, and I look forward to the experience.

Jose

Sadly the economics of the wine biz are similar to the restaurant biz, so even when you put down $50 on a dinner, the restaurant is only making 2-5% profit after all the costs. Which of course raises the question about why I don't just stick my money in a savings account!

The other problem is that in Texas, you have to pay a 14% tax on all alcohol sold if you have a full liquor licence, and consumers aren't aware as it's an inclusive tax (not added on like regular sales tax).

But I take everyone's points in this thread - it's certainly how I feel as a customer, so I will make sure that my glasses are up to standard!

Thanks, James

A friend of mine worked at a wine bar many years ago. He designed and welded on an adapter for Vacu-Vin stoppers to the tube for a vacuum cleaner. He then attached a foot pedal to the power line. To pour a glass of wine just open the bottle or remove the stopper, pour the wine, stopper the bottle, put the adapter on the stopper and step on the power control. The excess air was removed from the bottle. I thought it was quite clever.

Fred.

Yes, there's a professional version of fthe same idea (probably after he dreamt up his approach) that uses Nitrogen. The only problem is that every study shows a wine degrades once it's opened, pretty much however it's treated afterwards. But otherwise, his idea (and Nitrogen) can definitely a couple of days of life to almost any bottle.

As an aside, Andrea Immer has a fantastic wine buyers guide where she tests the life of a wine after it's open. Amazingly, even without complex treatment, wines last anything from a day to three weeks, depending on the wine.

- James

Good Shottweisel (sp) glasses run $5 each. Does not seem like much cost to me.

If you buy twice as many glasses, your breakage is down to 10%

Jose,

To echo yours, Mark's and Richard's sentiments, not long ago, we were hosting a board dinner in Newport Beach, CA/US and had gotten the concierge to make reservations for the event. I dined at the restaurant (a very nice one on at the marina), and was amazed at the low-end stems. While walking around the hotel property, I spotted a small dining room, off of the main restaurant area. The tables were all set with Riedel Sommelier Series glasses. Wow, in the dimly lit area it was quite an impression. I inquired, and found that it was the "chef's table" for the resort's higher-end restaurant. I immediately booked it, instead, and we had one of the most exquisite board dinners yet! Now, the chef, the sommelier, the waitstaff, and the food went a very, very long way toward that, but the glassware for our "wine dinner" was the final touch!!! I'm NOT advocating US$50/stem settings, but to usher the board members into this small dining area, with pinspots hitting just the place settings was a real treat for me. As we served about 8 wines that night, the settings were a photographer's dream. I have to admit that I got a bit lucky, however, if the place settings had included "jelly jars," I would not have changed the reservations - the glasses sold me on the spot.

Hunt

I took a look at IKEA's glasses, but am puzzled. What is a "wine tester's glass"?

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Jose

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Hi I understand that professionals tend to use standardized glasses in order to be consistent in their judgings. (Of course, other factors like light and temperature must be within limits too) Now, there is an international standard, INAO, if I remember correctly.

These Svalka glasses are close to that, I understand, and I use the red wine ones myself for my whites at the summer cottage...

The Optima series are big glasses and I've found them very good too, using the white wine glasses for my reds...! :-) They are expensiver, however (a whopping 2$ each... and much more fragile than the Svalka so I handle them with care) Anders

I used the Ikea glasses in England and they were very cheap there (one of the few items that's cheap in England). Thanks for the links - I'll definitely check them out.

-- James

I really liked that one! "Schott Zwiesel".

M.

Simply *my* favourite wine glass in the whole IKEA range. Works as a multy-purpose glass from anything from sparkling to red.

M.