And I’ll bet they couldn’t tell the difference if their life depended on it.
I’ll bet 95% of those who tried the expensive wine vs. a $25.00 bottle couldn’t tell the difference.
I’m a wine connoisseur, I am especially discerning about the kind of box my wine is stored.
I never pay more than $5 a bottle......................
That $2,000 bottle of wine cost the restaurant $500, tops.
He wasn’t down $2k I’m sure it was more like $400 before markup. I once had a big bottle of champagne i got at my liquor store in New Hampshire for $300 saw the same bottle at a restaurant in Manhattan a year later for $2800 and you had to be a party of 8 or more to order it. Markup is huge.
Cangeta very good bottle of wine at Costco for under $15.
You make a mistake in business, you have to eat it.
Earlier this week, my husband and I drank a bottle of wine that was priced at $105. It was part of a clearance at our wine store: $125 for a mixed case of stuff the manager was clearing out.
As my late father used to say, “How much is a sick chicken worth? Whatever someone will give you for it!” This bottle of wine, though “priced” at $105, was “worth” about $10.50. It was good.
I purchased cases and cases of ‘89 and ‘90 Bordeaux. Sadly it did not last past 2000. No regerts.
Perhaps, I would’ve agreed to pay the restaurant owner his cost for the bottle. As a business owner, it sucks when a employee screws up and costs the business money. I realize that most people would not pay for the expensive bottle. I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking advantage of the situation. I wonder how many Freepers would do the same?
Aye, that is the rub, learning how good the good stuff is makes it either a goal or a curse.
As for me, I regard myself as being VERY FORTUNATE that my genetics gave me subpar taste buds in the wine area. It was so bad that in my 20s, shudder, I drank "Lancer's Rose" with Thanksgiving Turkey. Still, it is the ability to honestly enjoy what the French call 'plonk' or 'vin ordinaire' that gold-plates my Mercedes (actually a white Kia)! As I am happy with what I've got, what more can I praise God for?
I do feel for the restaurant proprietor and hope that the publicity from this gives him more patrons, there in the hell of COVID TYRANNY! One thing totally certain, his competition is already reduced and getting thinner every day.
“For the record, Pinot Noir now costs $88 at Balthazar — and their cheapest half bottle goes for $40.
I’ve never been a fan of Pinot Noir. Or Bordeaux for that matter. I couldn’t claim to be an expert but I really think California wine is just fine.
Keith McNally owns some of manhattans best eateries Including my old extreme late night haunt from the 80s called Odeon
His restaurants probably do 100 million a year in sales as a group who can afford the $2000 bottle of Rothschild
Helluva Pauillac
Probably pretty barnyard at first air....
Hope they let it adjust
The couple lucked out and avoided the problem mentioned yesterday: “How Income Inequality Has Erased Your Chance to Drink the Great Wines (NYT alert)”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3897073/posts
Waiter: “Would monsieur care for another bottle of Chateau Latour?”
Navin: “Ah yes, but no more 1966. Let’s splurge! Bring us some fresh wine! The freshest you’ve got – this year! No more of this old stuff.”
Waiter, appalled: “Oui, monsieur.”
Navin, to Marie: “He doesn’t realize he’s dealing with sophisticated people here.”
This had to be a hoax.
The restaurant set the whole thing up and got the restaurant’s name in free media.
The point of diminishing returns is about $10-20.
With a little bit of ‘study’, that is learning to identify basic things like aromas and flavors, most people can learn to appreciate the difference between bad stuff and wine that is competently made from good grapes.
Beyond that, it seems like the difference between a 175 mile per hour car and a 210 MPH car- a difference, yes, but only discernible for a very few experts.
Not a pro, but do live in the wine country, taste many weekends, and have studied enology and viticulture formally (feel free to freepmail me if ever visiting Sonoma/Napa)
“Hey, wait a minute. That’s not what we ordered. We ordered the twist off. That bottle has a cork and a bunch of dust on it.”