Dear Feastlings,
I’ve found it’s always best to couch a bit of bad news in a bit of good news, so here goes: Our wine prices are going up, but they’re also going down.
All of our wine in the shop is priced at a standard retail markup, or 50% more than we pay for the wines at wholesale. And that will continue, since as wine prices continue to rise, the markup is a built-in safety measure. For those of you who drink wine in the restaurant, though, we’ve changed our pricing structure for the first time in 13 years: wines for consumption here have been priced since we moved into this building at retail plus $12. As it happens, though, it’s not just wine prices that have increased. We pay more for the wines to be dropped off here now, and more for the glassware from which you drink it. We pay more for the insurance we pay so that you can drink here, and more for the refrigeration we use to keep it at temperature. The crew’s wages, the licenses- you get the idea. Everything costs more these days, and we’ve absorbed it as well as we could, but we’re hoping you’d like us to stick around for a while longer offering you food and drink.
I’d note here that our wine prices are not exorbitant by restaurant standards. I’ve seen a bottle that was on our list for $37 on someone else’s for $85, and that was here in town. So when I tell you that our built-in corkage will rise from $12 on a 750 ml bottle to $15, I hope you’ll realize that it’s still going to be less than half of what you might pay elsewhere, depending, of course, on the venue. Ever wonder why all those restaurants can sell you wine for half off on Monday or Tuesday nights? It’s because they charge twice as much the rest of the week.
As it happens, our wine prices are also going down today, for the summer months. You may recall that between Memorial Day and Labor Day, we offer some special values on wine- that 10% off you were getting on a case of 12? Now you only need six bottles to get that discount on bottles that don’t already have another discount on them. Buying 12 like before? You can have 15% regularly-priced wines until Labor Day rolls around.
I’ll also mention our other summer deal- if you find yourself smitten with the bottle you had at dinner, so much so that you buy a second one to take home, we’ll waive that built-in corkage on the bottle you just drank, so you’ll save $15 on the one you had at dinner for buying that second one. Everybody wins. Everybody wines.
As to wine, we’ll have our customary tasting on Saturday at 2:00 pm, and you can see that here:
And there’ll be more soon- more tastings, more special events, and let’s face it- probably more bellyaching as well. Still, you have a delete button for the emails, and you’re welcome to join us for a bite any time, still currently Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 am to 8 pm. With any luck, that will eventually change as well.
Stay well and happy in the meantime.
Doug