Can this be true?

Excerpt from a Jancis Robinson interview (just a little something someone mailed me):

Neal Martin: "Why are British consumers unwilling to pay more that £4.00 or £5.00 for a bottle of wine?"

Jancis Robinson: "I think naturally we are a bit mean. We don`t treat wine the same way as they do in America. I remember visiting one restaurant in Santa Monica when the sommelier said that if a wine was priced under one hundred dollars, it was almost impossible to shift. You wouldn’t find that here."

Maybe I'm missing the point and there's a special brand of people living in Santa Monica (not entirely sure I've ever been there, but may have)? Sounds very much unlike the problem most Swiss restaurateurs are faced with.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti

David, this will be a good thread! It is not only in Britain where this could happen. Many non-wine drinkers would never think of spending more than $15 Cdn on a bottle of wine as they enter the store. They have yet to be signed up for one of my wine basics tastings!! One will get them hooked then eh.
In one of the restaurants I am involved with,for some diners, wine is not the important item of the evening out. They tend to be the ones who will choose Beringer Blush or Piesporter whatever. Last night was Valentines and at the Grill where I was hosting, I was surprised with the good wine choices of most customers. But it was a special occasion and a time to impress!!
Regarding what HRH Jancis thought, I feel she is a tad wrong but I do not live in Santa Monica!!

Many Brits, even if they are happy to spend silly amounts of money on other luxury items, are very reluctant to spend much on wine. I think that is the meaness Jancis refers to.

I will leave it for others to comment on the extent to which that is the case elsewhere.

While it's fun to make national stereotypes, I doubt seriously most British dinners at Gordon Ramsay, the Fat Duck. Joel Robuchon, Gavroche, St John, etc are paying (or expecting to pay) £5 bottle for wine. I don't know what restaurant in Santa Monica is being referred to, but it's a community with a lot of high end places (Chinois, Valentino, etc). My guess is that it is probably true that in a place where you are automatically dropping 3 figures per person dining there, that there is limited demand for moderate bottles. But my guess is that is true in US, UK, EU, and elsewhere, too.
There is zero demand for $100 bottles at Applebees, Mom's Good Eats, and Hooters, I'd guess.

Jancis Robinson: "I think naturally we are a bit mean. We don`t treat wine the same way as they do in America. I remember visiting one restaurant in Santa Monica when the sommelier said that if a wine was priced under one hundred dollars, it was almost impossible to shift. You wouldn’t find that here."

Without knowing any more details the Santa Monica Sommelier comment makes a lot of sense if one assumes a couple of things.
1. The restaurant is a nicer place that people go to celebrate or for high end dining. Decent assumption since they have a Sommelier
2. Wine list pricing is 100% markup over retail or greater. Another decent assumption since that is more the norm than the exception

If I am going out for a special meal and I want a nice wine to go with it, I am thinking a retail bottle between $30-$60. At 150% markup a $100 bottle is a $40 bottle retail. Sure there are nice bottles below $30 retail as well as places with wine list that include bargins but unless it is a real wine geek place you are likely not going to find gems from off the beaten path. So, I could easily see how it would be hard to move a bottle less than $100 in the scenario I imagine.

Now here's a "secret": the reason my wine buddies and I tend to order high-end wines from restaurant wine lists is because they're the only ones with little or no markup (they're in fact often less expensive than they would be to buy at auction - to think of a fairly recent example, try and buy 2000 Lafite for under 300 Euros). More "sensible" choices often seem priced too closely to "trophy bottles" because there, the markup may indeed exceed 100%.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti

Like comparing a suburban amateur softball team in Slovakia with the White Sox...

HRH does throw the odd stupid analogy out which detracts from a somewhat valid point.

- UK supermarket wine buyers do buy cheap - it's nothing more important to them than a tin of beans or a packet of biscuits. I'm sure Wal-Mart shares a similar buyer profile. For these folk, simple uncluttered flavour which is able to deliver the alcohol without rough edges is ideal. These are not wine enthusiasts, rather people who drink to unwind, relax, etc. They are a majority in UK (and I suspect many other countries). Just like those who eat McDonalds, Cadbury's, Mr Kipling and other such foodstuffs, they're unconcerned by subtleties in taste and prefer to spend their time and money on things more important to them. Who says they're wrong? What if their spare income goes to charity, or on feeding a growing family on a low income?

- As Bob says. Tastings are the way to spark an interest in those that would appreciate the benefits of trading up. In 1980's and early 1990's this was the realm of Oddbins and they offered good wines on tasting to inspire new enthusiasts. These days, typical in-store tastings at Oddbins or Majestic (or the supermarkets) are cheap (£4-7) wines. At the supermarkets the tastings come in small plastic 'sample' beakers, which I'm sure do a good job at masking the taste of the wine. There are tasting opportunities though - at independents, occasional visiting wine events (e.g. Australian wine board), private tasting clubs, professional wine tasting event organisers, plus grand events organised by Wine Int, Decanter etc. Not enough IMO to target those £5 wine drinkers to see how many would appreciate more expensive wines. They need an opportunity to make that leap. Oddbins proved it could be successful in tapping into that market (albeit not in generating the profit, due mainly I suspect to it's high rent city centre stores). There is room for others - Majestic perhaps, but I fear their range is worsening as the competition from Nicolas (nee Oddbins) recedes at pace.

However, to give a different perspective on who's at fault...
UK wine critics are failing to encourage people to see beyond the supermarket £4-5 'specials'. Their newspaper columns consistently push the latest pseudo promotion of supermarket wines that spend 80% of their life on some sort of 'offer'. Jancis AFAIK is not one of the worst offenders here (Jane McQuitty jumps out as a serial offender in this respect). Perhaps her next editorial needs to highlight the way wine critics allow the newspaper editors to define where the recommended wines must come from.

regards

Ian

There is a perception that there is a category of US wine buyers who judge wine on price and judge that the more expensive it is, the more better it is.

It is noticeable that wineries such as South Africa's Vilafonte, who are aiming at the US market have priced their wines at the very top, and I have been told by more than one wine exporter about very expensive brandss designed just for that US market.

I think it is impossible to find a £5 wine in a UK restaurant; mark up is at least twice retail cost and many of the UK equivalents of Hooters, Huckabees etc use bulk imported wines with unique labels so one can't compare prices and these wines would be priced 600-800% of a real cost.

There is a perception that there is a category of US wine buyers who judge wine on price and judge that the more expensive it is, the more better it is.

A perception in GB, you mean? That silliest and most useless of all equations (seriously, I wouldn't know of anything less true to think or say) that what costs a lot of money must be good (the other way round is often true, unfortunately) can't possibly be reserved to any nationality, though: I know people in this country who believe that...

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti

[David M. Bueker]

Just a point - on an average wine list at a good restaurant there are many decent but undistinguished wines that cost upwards of $50-$75. There is no earthly reaqson to buy them unless you are solely looking to provide charity to the restaurant's bottom line. Recent examples: Frei Brothers Chardonnay 'Best vintage avaialable' $68, Chateau Ste. Michelle Indian Wells Riesling 'Best vintage available' $74. These are unpardonable prices for mediocre (at best) wines and should be 'impossible to shift.' The restauant should burn to the ground with the unopened bottles.

More often there is some level of value above $100 as the markups are not so bad. I recently saw the 1995 Ridge Monte Bello on a list for $150. That's actually a very good price for a very fine wine and has nothing to do with "a category of US wine buyers who judge wine on price and judge that the more expensive it is, the more better it is."

USA restaurant markups make wine a joke.