“OUT OF SIGHT MARKUPS”: 400% FROM WINE CELLAR TO BAR. IN 2009 WINE CONSUMPTION WAS 43 LITERS PER CAPITA COMPARED TO 45 LITERS IN 2007, SAYS ASSOENOLOGI, WHICH REPRESENTS 90% OF ITALIAN ENOLOGISTS

Watch out for scams on the prices of wine in some bars or restaurants. A glass of wine can cost 400% more than the actual cost of a bottle at the cellar. The warning comes from Assoenologi that calls price mark-ups on wine “absurd”. “A glass of wine can cost up to five times more in a restaurant,” than what you pay at the cellar. In the summer be careful of “scams” at the myriad of wine and food events throughout Italy where you could end up paying as much for a glass of wine as for a bottle”.

This is the warning the General Manager of Assoenologi (the association of Italian enologists), Giuseppe Martelli, launched and emphasized, “the wholesale price of wine in 2009 was about as much as mineral water”.

The wholesale prices of grapes in 2009 fell between 20 and 40% over 2008. We must also remember that, according to the Italian Statistics Company, Istat, household food consumption decreased (35.6% said in 2009 they had reduced the amount and / or quality of food products purchased over 2008, including wine). ”It’s absurd”, Martelli continues, “in some places, a glass of wine costs 6 / 8 euros”.

For example, says Assoenologi, the average price of a bottle of DOC wine is about 6 euros. Each bottle contains about 4 glasses of wine, which when sold at 6-8 euros per glass, brings revenue of 24-32 euros, “equal to 400% more than the original price”.

Things get even worse if you consider that the wholesale price of a bottle of IGT wine is between 3 and 4 euros at the cellar. “Considering the price of 6-8 euros a glass, you can end up paying a glass of wine almost the same as two whole bottles” notes Martelli.

According to Assoenologi, which represents 90% of Italian enologists, in 2009 wine consumption totaled about 43 liters per capita, compared to 45 liters in 2007. The tendency is to decrease and Assoenologi estimates the level of domestic consumption will fall below the threshold of 40 liters per capita by 2015.