Why Don't local restaurants serve local wine?

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I stumbled onto this article:

http://www.1winedude.com/why-do-local-wine-and-local-food-hate-each-other-a-late-dispatch-from-dlw-2012/

which is something I have wondered about before as well. This is also discussed in "The Wild Vine" concerning the lack of Missouri wines in Missouri restaurants, particularly in Hermann.

I know this is not true everywhere, an obvious exception being California. Also, when I was in Ontario, in Niagara on the Lake, every restaurant we went to pretty much only served local wine. Of course the wine in Ontario was fantastic, so it was easy to see why it was served in restaurants.

I saw this to a degree in the Geneva/Seneca Lake region. Most wines were local, but it was more like 50/50.

Here in KY, I would probably faint if I saw a local wine on the menu, I can honestly say I never have. There are some great local wineries, and some of them do not overprice their wine. Many do, however, as if charging more brings a bit of quality to an otherwise mediocre wine. My experience is the overpriced wineries are almost always the worst around here.

I would imagine #3 in the article above is one of the biggest stumbling blocks, restaurants may be interested in local wines, but no one has taken the time to sell to them.

So I'm wondering what other people's experiences are looking for local wine in a restaurant.
 
We have a couple of local restaurant's that serve local wines. It is nice that they do that
 
Lot's of wineries here in VA - dozens within a short drive of my house. And the state seems to support the craft quite well, along with other local merchants. State run liquor stores all carry VA wines (none from other states), as do many grocery stores and restaurants. The restaurants that do seem to be more of the locally owned, higher end places for the most part though. I guess its tougher penetrating a national chain.

The trouble is, it's tough to support a vineyard/winery operation by selling in some of the smaller quantities that many of the local places produce (so I'm told). As a result, you don't find a lot of wines much less than $18/bottle.
 
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We don't seem to have a problem getting local wines in liquor stores here in KY, the local shops have entire aisles or at least a large section of one devoted to them. But not in restaurants, even locally owned ones.

I should also say my experience is limited mainly to central ky, Lexington area, I don't make it to Louisville often.
 
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We don't seem to have a problem getting local wines in liquor stores here in KY, the local shops have entire aisles or at least a large section of one devoted to them. But not in restaurants, even locally owned ones.

I should also say my experience is limited mainly to central ky, Lexington area, I don't make it to Louisville often.

lol. and while there are restaurants that serve local wines, we in PA cannot go to a grocery store and buy any type of wine. Beer is starting to slowly makes it way into grocery stores but that is very limited. Funny how different states have different regulations for selling alcohol
 
lol. and while there are restaurants that serve local wines, we in PA cannot go to a grocery store and buy any type of wine. Beer is starting to slowly makes it way into grocery stores but that is very limited. Funny how different states have different regulations for selling alcohol
But in some states like WV and KY you can "still", oops we can't go there.
 
in British Columbia restaurants do a pretty good job of this , 90% of all wine made in BC is sold in BC.
And there is a sence of local loyalty I've not seen in too many places.

My advice is if you live in regions that produce wine but are not major wine regions (ie California , Oregon , Washington State) and you frequent localy owned restaurants , ask for it especialy if you are a regular. encourage others to ask for it too.
You could even go as far as to provide the restaurant with the names and websites of some of the better examples of wines from the area.

restaurants are a risk adverse bussiness , but if there is a market for some thing , they could take the risk of bringing in a case or two , if that sells well , they will continue.


if you live in a state where local wineries can't sell to local restaurants , last time I checked most of us lived in a democracy , write to your elected officials , start a web site or face book page , get restaurants and wineries on side.

up untill 2 years ago it was technicaly illeagal to have a home winemaking competition in California , home wine making forum members getting active changed the law.
get active , be vocal.

with the big chains , well don't eat there support locals! but if you want to eat there , most of the big chain restaurants have websites and facebook pages , send them an email or post on their facebook page that you would go there more often but you'd like to see regional wines on the list. In this economy most bussiness are open to things that may capture new customers but not increase costs.
Chilli's , TGIFridays , The Keg and Boston Pizza all sell British columbia wines and beers where I come from.
 
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In Tennessee, wineries cannot sell directly to restaurants. Wine can only be sold on the winery premises, or sold through the state's large liquor distributors for wholesaling by them to liquor stores and restaurants. The liquor distributors want no part of small batch wineries, so they stock only the major lines. It's a major Bible Belt impediment to the establishment of commercial wineries in the state. Last I knew, there were 39, but it is a tough business model to be successful at, and some likely have closed.
 
Your Wine List Missed.........

If your trying to get a chain restaurant to stock local you may as well forget about it. The wines are decided way up the "chain" of command and its all about stuff that can be provided across the entire region or even nation. You may have a decent chance if its a locally owned and operated restaurant. Some seem to be friendlier to local wine than others. Our state Vine and Wine Association has some pretty nice cards to put in your wallet for when you go out to a nice restaurant and there is no local option. I have left quite a few in the last 2 years in with the bill. I like the entire statement from the upside down wine glass to the ending sentence. The point is made politely. The back of the card tells them where to go for more information as well as a list of wineries near them. NM Wine Growers Association

Card.jpg
 
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A few observations after reading this thread:

1) Now I see why home wine making is so popular some places. I didn't realize that buying wine, beer and spirits was still so difficult in so many places. We're apparently spoiled here in CA by being able to get alcohol at any drug or grocery store. (OTOH, when we went to Utah for vacation, we took 2 cases of wine with us, after, on a previous trip, trying to find gin on Sunday.)

2) Some restaurants here not only have local wines on their wine lists, but have no corkage fees if you bring in your own local bottle of wine.

3) It sounds like it might be time for some guerrilla marketing in some places. Where it's legal, if I were a local winery, I'd consider giving a case or 2 free to a restaurant with the proviso that they add it to the wine list, even just as a short term "special".

Then have friends and family drift in over the next week or two, and order that wine with dinner. Not a flash mob, or a cash mob, more of a splash mob.
 
Continued from above...

4) Here, the wineries have events for the public and their wine clubs, and sometimes partner with local restaurants to supply the appetizers, food and wine pairings, or entire meals. That's a great way to build a relationship between the 2. The restaurant gets exposure for their food, the winery gets a partner that might carry their wine. One restaurant/caterer evens sells their own cookbook at the events.
 
Nice country

IBGLOWIN,NEW MEXICO,was a treat for the senses and the spirit,liked it very much,want to go back to Santa fe for a couple of days then head north ..:i
 
Some restaurants like to have continuity in their menu. That means having the same wines all year and from year-to-year. In some areas, the local wineries are too small to provide that continuity.

Of course, that shouldn't stop a restaurant from having a set wine list, and some local 'seasonals'.

Steve
 
Thanks Joe!

Our blue sky's and amazing sunsets are world famous. Hopefully someday our wines will be as well! :hug

IBGLOWIN,NEW MEXICO,was a treat for the senses and the spirit,liked it very much,want to go back to Santa fe for a couple of days then head north ..:i
 
I really like the card that you leave at the restaurant, like ibglowin said, it's polite, but gets the point across.

I also did a bit of digging and found that there are restaurants in lexington that serve local wine:

http://www.kentuckywine.com/where-to-buy/

A small percentage and mostly local places, but I do go to a couple of them occasionally, but I go for lunch, so since I have to go back to work I don't even look at the wine list. Time to go for dinner I think. A few of them on the list are high end places, which might be why I haven't been there!

Several winerie's cafes on the list too, which is not surprising. Still a very small subset of restaurants though.
 
Local wines

My take on local wines this ,speaking strictly for New Jersey wines .and are wine group we have two local wineries and to them in their minds, their wine is what should be which is understandable. However most of local wineries that this wine group has tried we have found that the wine is just about average some cases better than ours in some cases not so ,I think that restaurants who sell wine by the bottle are selling to people who know wines . As a rule or there with people who know wines. The different caricatures, and nuances. So wine like a Francis Ford Coppola , which is a national brand and a very good wine I might add might have, and it's in a restaurant over laurenway way winery here in New Jersey. Also I think that all local wineries do have a good wine in which embeds time and effort. However , it usually seems to be the off wine , not the basic wine, example on the wineries down here makes an excellent sangria but most of the rest of their wine isn't that good, another winery and South Jersey makes an excellent blueberry champagne and a super may wine and even a brand called pink Lady, but once you get past that the basic wines that we know Chardonnays Cabernets just aren't there . This is the rule and South Jersey that we found to be true. However if you up to the finger Lakes and I have will find that most of the wines are usually sweet wines and are true to themselves . However the basic wines once again that we know are not as good I think this all has something to do with locality topography and all the other ingredients they go with the propagation of grapes........... so whatever you prefer drink and be merry......:)E
 
Downunder most restaurants are supplied by large wine agents/wineries. They pay for things like wine list printing, Coasters, Aprons for staff with company logo's on, wine chillers etc.
I know from personal experience the first thing that happens when you try and sell wine to them is that they hold out their hand for money.
Sad but true
 
Wouldn't the simple answer be because it's not fancy to use local wine?

...or is it fancier if it's local? ._.
 
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