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Richmond Wine Stock

Imagine going to the movies on Christmas Day to see the newly released "Marley and Me."

You arrive at the mall, family in tow and plop down $25 a head for the ticket and refreshments. You'll pay $5 for a Coke, composed of five-cents of liquid, and nearly $10 for a tub of popcorn that you could make at home for about a buck if you drench it in real butter. You grumble, but realize that you aren't only buying snacks, but an experience --the experience of watching a first-run movie on a big screen, in a theater with staff that picks up the greasy popcorn tub under the seat in front of you, stocks the bathrooms with TP and sells you those golden tickets.

Jennifer Aniston's 8M salary is raised through your purchase of Goobers and SnowCaps, because as exorbitant as the ticket price may seem, the theater doesn't take in enough money from ticket sales to pay for the privilege of being the first place you can see Jenn's hot bod and hot dog. I have seen many movies and heard many complaints about the price of popcorn and soda pop, but never once have I heard a customer tell the person pouring the soda that they could buy that same drink at the Price Club for a buck.

They shut up and pay the price, grumbling under their breath, or they sneak a drink in their bag, because to argue the point is superfluous. The same logic can be applied to restaurant wine prices. **

When you order wine in a restaurant, you are ordering an experience. You are paying the Chef, owner, waitstaff, landlord, cleaning crew, et al. You are supplementing the glass breakage costs.

And, you will pay anywhere from two times the wholesale price of a bottle of wine to four times its wholesale. This means if you can buy your favorite pinot noir for $10 in a retail shop, that same bottle will cost anywhere from $12 to $24 (or more) at a restaurant, with an average cost of $18 for the bottle if you live in RVA.

So, how does one order wisely knowing they are about to pay dearly?

Don't order wine by the glass. This is where restaurants make the most money. The mark-up on wines by the glass is often five times the cost of the bottle. The rule of thumb is to capture the cost of the bottle on one glass of wine.

If the bar offers less-traveled grapes by the glass, such as gruner veltliner or refosco, then order up. Unusual varietals tend to be reasonably priced to encourage diners to try something new and to prevent the wine from sticking around until last call.

Don't order the least expensive wines on the menu. If the wine costs under $20 on a wine list, it's probably a workhouse with a long profit margin of four times its wholesale cost.

Do order wines in the $50 range on the menu.

Restaurateurs know that this is harder price point to sell and while they want to offer a full wine list, they don't want to sit on higher priced wines. These guys are usually priced to move. If you can buy the wine for $25 retail, it will likely sit on a wine menu at two times to three times its wholesale cost, $45 or less. Elect one member of your group to lead the quorum on which bottles you'd like to share.

Splurge on luxury. Bottles priced near a hunsky may have a token mark-up. That bottle of Dom Perignon listed at $165 on the wine menu, costs the restaurant about $130. They aren't buying the wine by the pallet-load, so don't even mention what it costs at Sam's Club. Restaurants wish they could buy a bottle that cheaply.

To every list of rules, there are exceptions. There are restaurants in RVA that have lower -than -area- average wine mark-ups, such as Enoteca Sogno , who has a wine list with bottles not far from retail price and Q Barbecue, whose house wines are good and cheap. Honorable mentions go to Verbena , Avenue 805 and Café Rustica , all with lists priced near two and half times their bottle cost.

Know of others? Let us know in the comments section. But, be nice! It isn't fair to compare the wine prices at Flemings or Can-Can to the prices at Enoteca Sogno. They have completely different rents and overhead. If the place looks posh, most likely wine prices will be posh too. Someone has to pay for the leather banquettes and Godzilla-sized floral arrangements.

**Disclosure : I'm currently employed in Charlottesville, but, I've worked with Richmond restaurateurs in various capacities for 15 years. There isn't a restaurant I couldn't be connected to in RVA, including every restaurant named in this article.

Featured Wine Tasting of the Week:

Bella Vino Stony Point, Saturday, December 20, 3 to 9 p.m.

Lassalle Champagne 1er Cru "Cachet d'Or"     Champagne, France The Furst Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg 04 Alsace, France Twelve Pinot Noir 06 Yamhill-Carlton, OR Rojo Mojo Monastrell Bullas, Spain Capitoso Rioja 2005 Rioja, Spain