in San Diego, said that as restaurant sales of jug wines have fallen in the last three years, “premium cork-finished wines have been picking up some of the slack.” These are wines like Parducci, Fetzer, Wente, Round Hill, The Monterey Vineyards Classic wines, Glen Ellen Proprietor’s Reserve, J. The result is that jug wines have dropped in sales every year for the last three.ĭon Jennings, wine specialist with Mesa Distributing Co.

So in order to serve better wine restaurants have begun to favor better made and more prestigious wines. And they are starting to say “no” when they don’t like the answer. producers call these products either by their own name such as Inglenook Navalle Geyser Peak, Almaden, Giumarra, Franzia, Cribari, JFJ Bronco, Louis Glunz, and Taylor California Cellars, or by names created to identify the brand-wines such as Summit, Della Casa, Stone Creek, Vintner’s Choice, Carlo Rossi, CC Vineyard, and Master Cellars.īut consumers are becoming more savvy than they once were many are now asking what the house wine is. What you get for this price is totally undistinguished table wine usually made from grapes grown in the central San Joaquin Valley and usually sweet or flabby or both. But the profit margin is even greater for those who buy 30- or 60-liter kegs of wine, which can bring the cost per ounce below 2 1/2 cents. Since the average price of a glass of this wine is between $1.50 and $2, the profit margin hovers around 1,000%. That means that an ounce of this stuff costs about 3 cents, or about 20 cents for a 6-ounce glass. Prices run about $20, less with discounts for volume purchases. The 18-liter box is actually a bag-also referred to as a pouch or a bladder-filled with wine and placed in a cardboard box with a spigot. Here house wine began to be defined as something brought in to satisfy the customer who wanted a glass of wine and didn’t care about its breeding. Los Angeles, of course, has no premium vineyards and little local wine. Much of it had no name and most of it had never seen the inside of a bottle. In Europe, house wine was usually something made by the proprietor or bought from a neighbor who made it from local grapes. It was mostly undistinguished red wine and it was served in a carafe (often chilled). And no bargain either.īefore wine was discovered by the upwardly mobile in the United States, vin de table was de rigueur in most restaurants. Restaurant owners love to hear that phrase.ĭesigned primarily to line the pockets of restaurateurs, house wine-not to be confused with wine-by-the-glass programs-is usually poor wine.

House wines