EVERYONE AGREES ON WINE BY THE GLASS, SAYS “LE MONDE”. BUT LET’S NOT OVERPRICE A TREND THAT HELPS RESTAURANTS, CONSUMERS AND PRODUCERS FIGHT THE CRISIS

Le Monde, the leading French newspaper, recently dedicated an entire page to “Wine by the glass”, equally liked by restaurant owners and consumers. The newspaper, reporting on a 2009 study by France Agrimer, states that wine by the glass is now the rule in French restaurants and 90% of the restaurants offer, on average, at least four different wines. But, Le Monde writes, “the average price by the glass is what infuriates: the price bounces up to 2.90 euros on average for a 12 cl size glass. The study in 2006 had recorded a much lower cost and the changeover to euros was quite upsetting. The higher prices have had unfortunate consequences: for a “bag in box bought at 8 euros, the price of an Ardèche table wine, the restaurant earns about 2 euros a glass. Wine continues to be restaurants highest mark-up. Not to mention the creativity regarding the capacity of the glasses: the study measured the capacity of a glass at 12 cl, but in reality it very often is 10 cl and even 8 cl”.
Sure, “wine by the glass” in itself, like any tool, is neither good nor bad: it depends on how you use it. Italy, which, at least in the production of tools for pouring wine is the leader country (see ‘La Prima’ in yesterday’s WineNews on the worldwide success of Enomatic), has also been able to make wines that had been inaccessible because of high costs and mark-ups available to the general public’s consumption. Everyone benefits from this trend: it’s true that a restaurant earns more by selling a bottle of wine “in glasses”, but it is also true that the customer can afford to enjoy more expensive wines, bought by the glass. We must be careful though, not to charge too high prices, not to speculate, because if we break the bond of trust on wine by the glass, everyone hurts: restaurant owners will lose a great channel to deplete stock and make money; consumers will have access to fewer wines and producers will see their orders reduced.