Libation Station... "The Wine Shop Chronicles"

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Tasting Notes and Other Observations...


One thing Georgiann and I love to do is experience "OPF" (other people?s food). Unfortunately, with the wear and tear of societal and cultural strains with respect to time and exhaustion and the resulting degradation of the prepared dinner experience, at home with friends and/or family, that concept usually means dining out more often than not. When we do go out, we almost always bring our own wine. We aren't saying ours is better. We just know how much it costs, what it tastes like with what, and where it's been hanging out and with whom. Then there is the corking fee (the amount restaurants charge to open your wine instead of theirs. The fee can be $5 to $20 usually).

So after a wonderful meal with friends at a local restaurant and incurring a hefty $20 corking fee for each bottle we brought of a 2001 Italian "Oh my Gawd!" Gemola Cab Franc/Merlot and a 2000 (one year on oak and three on chestnut barrels) "Kill me now!" Nebbiola ...I began asking some reasonable questions. Does the restaurant deserve to be compensated for the extra effort and hassle of pouring your wine versus theirs? Does the waitperson deserve an extra spiff on their tip for the effort? And what defines "how much" extra is deserved or deemed reasonable?

This is a touchy subject depending on who is being touched and where. The purpose for delving into this subject is not to proudly display my membership card from the SPD (Society of Pissy Diners). This is basically a public service announcement. It really is all about choice. Contemplating all of this, trying to find some semblance amongst the ionic particles floating about the fog by applying math has recently caused me to collapse into an imploded puddle of goo. Please bear with me and believe me... this is painful.

Restaurants usually charge 100% to 200% above wholesale. Wine shops usually charge 30 to 40%. So a $40.00 bottle of wine from a shop can be $72.00 at a restaurant. In this scenario, a $15 cork fee makes the bringing of your own wine a deal. Most restaurants mark their cheaper wines up even higher. So bringing a good bottle has more value relative to the corking fee as opposed to a cheaper bottle.

Conservatively speaking, I came up with the following logistics: A waiter takes an extra 5 minutes to pour your wine, including opening, fetching the wine glasses, decanting and returning to fill your glass. The corking fee is at $15 and numbers are rounded off because I hate math.

$15 cork fee equals 5 minutes of labor.

60 minutes divided by 5 minutes of labor equals 12 potential other people?s wine openings per hour.

12 potential openings per hour times the $15 cork fee equals $180 per hour (the restaurant gets this, not the waiter).



Now the tip:



A $50 meal plus a $72 bottle of the restaurant?s wine plus a 20% tip equals $146.

A $50 meal plus a $40 bottle of your wine plus a $15 cork fee plus a 20% tip equals $126. A reasonable deal, right?



Conclusions from the above scenarios shows that the waiter is getting a $24 tip with the restaurants wine and a $21 tip when you bring the same wine and add the $15 cork fee. That is a $3 difference. The waiter gets no more from the restaurant for the added work and $3 less from you with more work. The restaurant gets the whole $15. In per hour terms, that?s $36 less per hour for the waiter versus $180 more per hour for the restaurant. Hmmm.

If you find parts or all of this unreasonable, how do you leverage against it? Only tip the waiter on the amount of the meal and not the cork fee? That seems like adding insult to injury and a reason the waiter may not be too enthused to pour your wine since the restaurant gets paid regardless and their tip is less for the same amount of work. If you have a party of greater than six at the table, the tip may be included in your bill making that option moot. Waiters could unite and go on strike and demand a fairer share. We may or may not all benefit from that. Besides, waiters are easily fired. More insult to injury.

Buy only beer or just have a glass of water? You could tip the waiter more, which would add more to your bill and most likely make it easier to just buy the restaurant?s wine... which is what they wanted in the first place. One could stand on a table and shout at the restaurant, "Just say no to any and everybody's wine but yours and stop ripping people off!!!!" or in turn, people who love to dine out no matter what could shout back at me, "Shut the hell up. All this analyzing is ruining my dining experience!!!!"

Again, this is all about choice. I really like the idea of preparing our own food and sharing it with our friends and vise versa... wine included. Less shouting and math and more money left over for gas and heat.



***Disclaimer***

Because different people live their lives in different dreams and see things differently from different perspectives and in fact, someone else's calculator may work differently than mine, the proceeding observation and therefore conclusion by no means represents an absolute in all circumstances.

Posted by RM Dustin :: 6:30 PM :: 0 Comments:

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Saturday, October 07, 2006

news stuff...


The art of conspicuous consumption... a dual bladed sword, sometimes quite a bit more dull on one side than the other. We all either tip-toe around or torpedo through this mental environmental wall, breaching the need-want-gotta have hull of a, should I say, well anchored mall? That is the realm where most of us play. The other side, the dark side where market forces piddle and twiddle manipulative strategies, time and supply-side buttons are pushed. This is where things get a little whack.

Imagine the discovery of a palette of 1999 cabernet, tucked back in a cobweb infested more than forgotten corner of a state sanctioned warehouse where such a consumable is deemed storable. Imagine the delight of those that know such things, that this vintage is completely exhausted except for a few bottles the winery tucks away for show and tell. Imagine the horrific realization of an ironic twist of unreasonable conclusions, that this wonderful find is an actual hindrance to the bottom line of the owner of the warehouse, thus relegated for discount because it is taking up too much space where something else draped with a funky label could rest that might really improve someone?s monthly numbers.

As wine ages it usually gets better, right? Balance is achieved as tannins mellow, flavors meld, something only time can accomplish with the help of a moderately cool consistent temperature, omission of ultra violet energies, and of course, a cooperative cork. This wading though a minefield of such risk is rewarded with consideration for increased value... one would think. Instead, this particular wine in question is in the way, not properly blessed with the ratings and rankings by those elevated to sanction such standards, not because it was a bad wine, but because it just got skipped... thus the slap in the face of the delicate quality by the brutal quantity. This is the realm of distribution.

As far our friendly distribution authority is concerned, more is better. In fact, more is a frenzied state of the ultimate nirvana. It is membership to the halls of the sublime epiphany, the preposterously profound, the undeniably unkind. For a tiny little shop as ours, to get a reasonable amount of consideration for a supposedly rare hard to find wine that the market demands attentive response to, or to get on a waiting list, no matter how we complain, pound tables, threaten to discontinue relationships and the such; the only true qualifier is quantity. If we buy everything on the shelf, we get this bone tossed our way, the only bone we really want, the one we feel has any meat on it.

So with that said, and in the name of all that is holy, we submit to the Church of More and are announcing a 25% discount on certain matched cases from certain distributors that apply this leverage. We believe it will pay off in the end although we do not appreciate being manipulated in this fashion... it is what it is. We will eventually get some of the real outrageous stuff, our customers will get a killer price break on the good stuff (take that Costco and QFC, Safeway, Haggens, etc), and of course the distribution authority will get what it really wants... more.

On a side note...

With the help of Halsten Hunter, an 18 foot hay wagon, the generosity and patience of John Bell of Willis Hall Winery, we have procured the 9 Barrels of the Apocalypse. I dub them that due to the way I feel after carrying them... the buggers are heavy. So now the hallway outside the shop is dotted with wine barrels. We're not sure what we will do with all of them, space is becoming an issue, but I'm sure we'll think of something.

Posted by RM Dustin :: 3:58 PM :: 0 Comments:

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