With my wife we are planning our honeymoon to California. We are happy and for me is a chance too see more of the United States, a country I love.

We planned the trip on our own using also local excursion services. We are really happy to go out there so we also prepared a list of restaurants. Well it is our honeymoon and we want to bring back good memories, without totally empting our pockets.

So we started our research on the internet and i tell you there is one trick it always works, even if you don’t like wines. It is difficult to judge the price of the restaurant just by looking on the menu prices. Quality of the ingredients size of the portions quality of service might explain the higher costs of the menu. So one thing that for me is very revealing instead, are the prices on the wine list.

Due to this criteria, we delisted about one third of our choices, and I am sure we will not regret.

So how does this work? Very easy many of the restaurants publish the prices of the wines in their cellar on their web site. For me it is acceptable a mark up on the normal retail price of 200 300 per cent, which means that a bottle at retail that you pay 10 dollars should not cost more than 30 dollars. Well  I prefer you check on your own, but I discovered wines like centine produced by banfi, retail price about 10 dollars marked up to more than 40 dollars. This is not even smart as you put on your list wines that are quite popular, and i have not even to check the web to see its real retail cost.  A higher mark up could be explained if the restaurant offers a selection of rare wines. But when you see higher prices, and the wines of the wine store, you know already this is a place to avoid. Of course there are always exceptions like if the restaurant is placed in unique places. Think for example Jules Verne’s on Eiffel tower in Paris or La pergola in Rome, which beside the view is a three star michelin. Don’t bother to check their web sites , both are smart enough not to publish their wine list.

Times of recession offer opportunities of planting the seeds of future success. For me a correct price policy is at least giving the customers part of the wine selection at decent prices, considering it an incentive.

You will gain probably a lot of new customers, who will come back in the future, or instead by overpricing many like me will be not even approaching the entrance.

There is one more detail that should receive more care. The wine list should have the vintage years printed. Restaurant owners often don’t bother because than they have to update it, or even worse they don’t update and expecting a bottle of 1997 vintage Tuscan red, they arrive with a 1999. For wine lovers there is always a huge difference, between different vintages. You can always use this choice system with an opposite approach, and it works even better. Through the internet I selected restaurants with great wine lists offering rare bottles at bargain prices. I never went to wrong places, because the accuracy in the wines was then reflected in extraordinary excellent food.

Dear reader now that you are more aware keep your eyes open, a wine list in a restaurant tells you much more about the place, than you could imagine.

Mangia Tommaso!

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