Wine Pricing

During an otherwise magical dining experience I had recently with my family at one of Paris’ 3 Star Michelin temples of gastronomy the only negative turned out to be the wine. The restaurant’s list, which was a magnificently bound and illustrated leather-covered volume of several dozen pages, featured very few entries for less than 100 Euros (or $140). I ended up selecting a personal favorite, (the Domaine Ostertag “Vieilles Vignes” Alsace Sylvaner 2005) which happened to be among the least pricey wines that the restaurant carried, because I thought it would fit the dishes we had chosen magnificently. When I placed the order, however, the wine waiter seemed displeased and suggested I substitute another more expensive wine, which I might have been inclined to do on his recommendation, except for the fact that I had once visited the estate in the Loire Valley and, delicious though I knew the wine to be, it did not strike me as appropriate to the food. The Sylvaner was great but the whole experience, including the four glasses of lovely Rose Champagne that the smiling Maitre d’ suggested as a starter when we first sat down, (and which turned out to cost upwards of $32 per glass), left me with the suspicion that something other than my interests as a guest were being served.

 

It also stimulated my thinking about several statements from US restaurateurs just this last month about how, with great fanfare, they were re-thinking their strategies and reducing wine prices to attract customers in response to the current Recession (or “the crisis,” as the Europeans call it). Welcome as the readjustment would be to me if I were a guest, in each case selectively adjusting prices lower now, a year and a half into the downturn, strikes me as a case of “too little, too late.” What happens when the economy picks back up? How soon will the next re-strategizing occur? How do you trust the integrity of a business that is only giving you a break because it desperately wants to fill seats? Why couldn’t they have charged a reasonable price before?

 

In my opinion restaurants have gotten wine pricing all wrong. There is no reason diners should pay through the nose to enjoy something delicious. This is one of the reasons I came to work at Legal Sea Foods five years ago and it remains a pillar of our philosophy: we want wine to add, not detract, from the overall experience. There’s less chance this will happen if you feel you’re being overcharged. It may require a bit of effort to source and find value but it’s something we’re committed to. No “re-strategizing” here. If wine enhances a meal and great pricing makes people happier so that they’ll return more often, we stand behind what we’ve always done: trying really hard to give you the best prices you’ll find anywhere.

 

If you want to start with Champagne, I invite you to come in and try a glass of the lemon-scented elegant Taittinger Brut for either $9.95 or $10.95, (depending on the state; taxes are different everywhere). That’s our first response to the Recession. Have a glass and the economic mess doesn’t seem so bad.

 

How about trying one of our tasting flights where you get to experience and compare 2 ounce tastes of 3 different wines? A recent award from Boston Magazine where our Park Square location was honored to have received the citation for having the city’s finest wine list, mentioned the flights we offer for less than $10 including “Treasures of the Loire Valley” which includes a  domaine-bottled Sancerre, “Terroirs of Chardonnay” featuring the wine selected as Chile’s finest white in a massive blind tasting I judged at earlier this year, and “Red Wine with Fish,” with the brilliant Halleck Estate Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley, among others. All of our restaurants have similar offerings. Many are serving wines for less than $6 a glass: Vinho Verde from Quinta da Aveleda, a great Tempranillo from Paso a Paso in La Mancha, the Argentinian Torrontes from Trapiche.

 

If you’re interested in a special bottle but don’t want to spend more than $30, there are 45 of them listed in Massachusetts and a proportionate number in other states. We select them with quality in mind first, but we price each for value. Many are estate-bottled. Examples: Chablis from Jean-Marie Brocard, Macon-Charnay from Jean Manciat, Muscadet from Michel Delhommeau, Sauvignon de Touraine from Domaine de Chevaunet, a Hattenheimer Kabinett from Karl Molitor, an Ockfener Bockstein Spatlese from Dr. Fischer, a Beaujolais from Paul Janin, an “Old Vines” Garnacha from Atteca in the Calatayud and numerous others.

 

It’s a strategy we’ve believed in for a long time, through many Recessions, because we always want you to think of us first to try great wines with your dinner and we want you to come back often.

 

Sincerely,

 

Sandy Block, Master of Wine