Liven up your lists
Wine sales account for 40% of a restaurant's business - fact. A good wine list will get you noticed by the critics - fact. Wine is now the most frequently drunk alcoholic drink - fact. So why are there still too many boring lists about?
Not to mention the fact that more than half the industry still has fewer than five wines on their list, with more than a third of you listing two wines or fewer. Heck, more than half of you don't even have an Aussie wine on your list yet, and only one in 20 on-trade outlets bother to promote the wine you do have, according to AC Nielsen.
Yup, the on-trade still has a long way to go - and we want to help. We love wine - so here's 28 pages of it: how to drink it (page 56), how to make it (page 60), how to match it (page 64), how to serve it (page 78), how to store it (page 76). And we've got the lowdown on the country's top 20 on-trade suppliers (page 68), as voted for by our leading restaurant wine buyers and sommeliers - with their top-selling wines, their favourite food matches, and their latest discoveries.
We also reveal the top five regions and countries that have really got them talking (page 72). If you haven't got wines on your list from these babies, you're missing a trick.
We show you how to boost your profits (page 78). As well as offering a decent selection of wines by the glass, there are endless ways to shift your list and gain your customer's trust - but the key factor, all agree, is training. If your staff know the list, they'll get behind it - it's that simple. Not so simple is training them up, but there are now many options available and Caterer shows you the way.
The Old World has finally wised up, realising that maybe the old ways were not always best. Offspring have scrubbed up their parents' cellars, installing shiny stainless-steel tanks and making wines that are ready to drink now - none of this 10-year wait nonsense. They've opened up to criticism and have even brought in consultants, who roam the globe transforming attitudes and plonk.
Most now know how best to ripen the grapes and how to make the best out of it when the weather doesn't play ball. And the scientific know-how these days is staggering, from knowing a grape's exact sugar level to measuring acidity and tannins, with the more switched-on able to express the subtle nuances of a particular corner of vineyard in their wines.
Yup, it's a good time to be learning about wine - and the more you taste, the more you'll learn, so get tasting. And where better to do this than at the London International Wine & Spirits Fair, which hits town in a couple of weeks (see page 83).
Fiona Sims, drinks editor, Caterer & Hotelkeeper
