La tache cheaper in restaurant than retail why?

Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum
21

I know the precise, unequivocal, and inarguable reason…

Wilfred van Gorp had not been there yet.

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22

When I see below market prices of high end wines in a restaurant, I will order them. During the worst of the pandemic I bought DRC and Rousseau to go from restaurant owner that needed the cash which was a win-win situation for both of us. They made a profit and I saved money over buying from a store. Because of the low supply and high demand for certain wines and spirits, stores can make a large markup by charging secondary prices and still sell the products.

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23

We were at a place in NYC a few weeks ago with a very good wine list. Prices on high end burgs were in many cases below current auction prices, presumably mostly purchased pre-pandemic. They had a specific page for Rousseau, with a list of a bunch of vintages of the big 3. Somm basically said “don’t even look at that page, we had one group come in and drink the whole page in one meal”.

I mean many of those bottles have risen in price by 50-100% since 2019. Current auction price is now what those places would have been charging with 2x markup 2 years ago.

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24

Alex got there before you and you didn’t even get an invite?! [wink.gif]

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25

nope. 14 LT wholesale was more than that.

26

It was an educated guess/range. I’m sure it’s not way off. Also, as we all know wholesale prices can vary wildly in each area, so the number in your head may be accurate in one area and way off another.

27

Did you ask to see if you could buy it to go? Technically not legal any more but I hope you at least tried.

28

What is vat ?
Also where are you located ?

29

VAT is Value Added Tax, standard in most of Europe. I hope Patrick responds with the name of the restaurant, I would guess it’s in France.

Dan Kravitz

30

I’ve been to restaurants with great wine lists in europe that would allow purchase of only one bottle from a page like that. Thankfully.

31

I think it’s more profitable to eat in restaurants, especially regarding some food like salmon steaks or pizza. All because restaurants buy such products in bulk, it is natural to buy them much cheaper and more profitable. In addition, restaurants that provide free food to those in need have certain tax benefits in many countries. So it turns out that sometimes paying a check in a restaurant is cheaper than buying groceries and cooking something exquisite and unusual. Therefore, you should not think that if you eat only at home, you will be able to save significantly.

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32

As someone who curates a large wine list, the reason is that the wine would have been priced on arrival at the normal margin. Then it is a case of the restarateur not following market prices or just being satisfied with the margin applied and seeking to reward their customers.
I often sell wines at under retail, despite following market prices quite closely. With 900 wines on the list it’s difficult to be across all prices.
With DRC the price escalation has been rapid. I have 2009 La Tache on the list that needs to go up by a few $.
A few years ago a customer releived me of 05 and 06 LT and another four bots of DRC as I was too cheap. We have a take away liquor license. The guest took the wines off premise and they were therefore not available for other diners. I still made resonable margin but I left quite a few bucks on the table.
It’s a balancing act.

33

My local merchant on vacation recently sent me a photo of a restaurant list of '17s in France with LT at 1800.

34

Patrick, might I ask what restaurant goes with this DRC list?

Gary