"Restaurants mark up wine by a lot more than you might expect."

Lucky you in the States if the mark-up on wines is "only" 2.5 times the price they bought it!

In France, Germany and the Benelux countries, this would almost be a bargain, as 3 is the standard (the French call it "la triplette") and 4 is not uncommon.

Yves

My thoughts exactly.

In Spain things are more reasonable, even in high-end restaurants. Once had Grange des Peres white (!) at Bulli for 65€, that's less than 2x. But then again, in Spain they don't drink nearly as much wine as in France or Italy.

How does one spell G - R - E - E - D ?

Godzilla

And how about a little sympathy for those in places with state-monopoly distribution, where the exact disparity between price-at-retail and price-in-restaurant is completely blatant and exasperating?

cheers,

Henry

"Henry" skrev i melding news:1jolyod.19i1ihv14ma7auN% snipped-for-privacy@eircom.net...

Uh? It is mostly 3x in Sweden and in Norway... The mark-up pays for storage (facilities, capital cost), glasses, music, dish-washing, service, tables, interior maintenance, advertisements and so on. Furthermore, service is included in the prices here whereas in the US I understand you are expected to tip 15-20%? Anders

If you tip 20% in a really good restaurant they practically run after you like a thief... for some reason, the better the restaurant, the higher the tip gets, so you are expected to pay 25% at a AAA 5 star...

I always thought that the tip was calculated on the food only.

Anyhow, the whole business about tipping in the US is insane. Not sure why the IRS lets this nonsense go on...

In the US it's customary to tip on the total food bill minus any taxes. Do waiters/waitresses in high priced restaurants work any harder than waiters/waitresses in hamburger joints? I think not. For good service on a $10 meal I'll leave a 25% tip.

JMHO Dick in the USA

"dickr2" skrev i melding news:ZiQio.92844$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe08.iad...

Hmm, a US wine-mark-up of 2.5x..., then 20-25%tip means a total of 3 to

Anders

Hi Anders, I should have clarified that when I referred to hamburger joints I wasn't thinking of the fast food chains like MacDonalds. We often go to a local restaurant where I know the owner and the staff and they serve good food! If I order a hamburger I'll usually order a glass of "house red", or a glass of Guinness. Still, the bill will be $15 and my tip will be 25%. I don't go to "classy" overpriced restaurants.

Skol! Dick

Try this place : 1 for 1.1, an NO tip

Michel

In Seattle it's routine three to four times.

About two years ago I had occasion to dine at Crush, a fairly new restaurant housed in an older two-story bungalow in Seattle's Madison Park area. The chef had recently won some big awards, was getting lots of media and apparently started taking himself too seriously.

I went online several days earlier to check out the wine list. I was horrified by the prices, easily approaching a 4x mark-up. So, I decided to raid my cellar and bring along a bottle of '96 Pesquera. I also inquired, via their web site, what they charge for corkage. I never got a response.

But boy, did I get a shock when the bill came. The corkage fee was $30! Maybe that's not much by New York standards, but by Seattle standards it's highway robbery. I once paid $35, but that was for bringing a special bottle to dinner at Canlis, long regarded as Seattle's #1 restaurant. Plus, Canlis has a 13,000-bottle wine cellar. I bought from that, too, and if you're going to maintain that kind of cellar for your clientele you're entitled to charge $35 for an outside bottle. I didn't complain.

But at Crush? Ridiculous. It cost as much to open the bottle as one of the entrees! If their wines hadn't been so outrageously overpriced to being with, I would have bought from their list. But I can tell you without equivocation -- I'm never going back to that place again.

Tell you where I am going, though, every chance I get. A wonderfully unpretentious Italian place called Angelo's in Bellevue, WA (across the lake from Seattle). The food is superb and moderately priced, but when I found a bottle of Amarone on the list for $30 I was certain it was a misprint. Nope, I was told. "Our owner doesn't believe in gouging people for wine." Chaa! I guess not!

After dinner I had a chance to chat with said owner. He flat out told me, "Wine is meant to go with food. If you don't buy it because it's too 'expensive,' you're missing a critical part of the dining experience. So, I decided long ago that I wasn't going to do what every other restaurant does. I'm not in business to make money off wine."

Give that man a gold star! (Depending which online reviews you read, he always gets at least four, and often five.)

I had dinner at Angelo's recently, and when Richard (the owner) found out it was my birthday he presented me with a bottle of 2003 Chianti Riserva as a gift. You think he appreciates my business? You think I appreciate his?

Some restauranteurs get it, some don't. I tend to patronize the latter.

JJ