Tonight whilst making strawberry chardonnay cupcakes for my grandboss's retirement potluck, I am drinking Zinphomaniac 2014. It's really good - I haven't had a straight up Zin in a while, and usually consume it as part of a red blend.
I figured as much. No wine for me lately. I royally fucked my back up and got placed on a bunch of meds that don't like alcohol. Thinking of cracking some cab tonight though. Also, there are some awesome documentaries on Netflix right now. There's "Somm" about the master sommelier exam and "Somm: into the bottle" which is more about vineyard history. Both are excellent. And "Sour Grapes" about a wine forger that bilked people out of $35 million in fake wines, including bottles of Romanee-Conti at $20k a pop.
i like to try to go to local wineries whenever i go anywhere and try their wines, more of a "small batch" wine- it's normally pretty good. i really like wine, but i wouldn't consider myself super knowledgeable or anything.
I loooved Somm and Som: Into The Bottle. During the latter I got a plot bunny for a future book set in a vinyard, but now I can't remember the details. Perhaps I shall need to rewatch? I will have to check out Sour Grapes for sure, that's a new one for me!
I'm looking into getting my somm certification. Level 1 is pretty easy... if you $500 check clears you prettt much pass. Level 2 introduces the blind tastings, and you have to pass level 2 to call yourself a "certified" somm. I'd like to think I could get that far... don't think I have the palette to get much further. The service part would be a breeze for me but the tastings? Dear lord... you have to have access to four figure wines just to be able to practice.
Never got around to trying the Zin, always passed it up. Might pick one up though just to see. I haven't been to a local winery yet, but I've also been avoiding the ones in my state...maybe I'm judging before ever giving them a try, but I also rarely get local wines for a reason. There's only a handful of good ones out here, sadly. There's one I might try going to sometime, but I still have to find an opportunity to do so, it's a bit of a drive. Meh, Homer is the only true wine expert on here I think. Laurin and I are just enthusiasts I suppose (not that I'm trying to be presumptuous), and Iain...well, I'm not sure what Iain is exactly, some sort of undead Mick Jagger? XD Feel free to join the discussion though. I don't know, might be a hoot to see people's reactions if you served a bunch of top tier wine snobs a pricey Margaux in a very cheap glass...they'd lose their collective shit. Of course, this would be a very expensive gag...and I doubt you'd progress to that second level afterwards. haha
Iain's not sure what he is either, but he has a question for @Homer Potvin (or any other USians lurking on the thread). Finally remembered to pop across the street to the liquor store and check out the Carlo Rossi. Carlo Rossi "California White Crisp White Wine" and "Red Moscato Rich and Smooth" are both 560yen a bottle. Purchasing power, call that $5.60USD, in terms of today's exchange rate, it's $4.90USD. Any idea what those would cost in the US? (yeah, I know that state taxes affect things too, but I'm just looking for a basic comparison rate, lack of taxes on hard liquor keep Jack Daniels and Wild Turkey cheaper in Osaka than Chicago).
Carlo Rossi is $7 for a 1.5L. Hard to tell from the pick, but @Iain Aschendale wines look like 750ml?
I don't think it's going to be cheaper overseas, there's the import to consider. Import always jacks up the price of anything.
Yup, that's a 750ml. Nope, as I explained, due to the tax structures, imported American whiskies are cheaper in Osaka than they are in Chicago, so that's not always the case.
Yet the wine seems to cost a bit more... weird. Is wine not a big thing over there? Aside from sake and the other rice wines?
That seems so strange though. The taxes on alcohol in the US is mostly in serving alcohol. Stores don't see as much regulation just selling it. I'll admit I know very little about the tax structure on alcohol, but I do know that a bottle of whiskey is a lot cheaper in a liquor store than it is in a bar. Then, in Osaka, they had to import that Jim Beam all the way from the states; the same way we had to import that Sake. I guess there's something I'm not getting maybe? I'm actually curious now to compare more prices.
That's the markup, not the taxes. The target liquor cost for a restaurant is around 30%, which means you pay more than three times the price the bar pays (usually from the same liquor store you would shop at). For some drinks, like a rum and coke, the cost is less than 10%... that's a 1000% markup! I love America! Wine is a little different. It tends to fall into tiers. Very few people will pay more that $50 a bottle, so that $49 bottle you buy in a restaurant might have cost the joint anywhere between $20-$30. It's all in what the restaurant thinks people will pay for it. Beer too. It's hard to sell a beer for more than $7 unless it's some kind of craft specialty. High end whiskey's have much lower profit. A $75 bottle of Lagavulin will produce around fifteen 1.5 ounce drinks at $5 liquor cost. We can get away with tripling that to $15-$16, but that's cutting the profit margin dangerously close. And if someone wants a 6 ounce rob roy made with Lagavulin (which would be pretty dumb) we can't very well charge $60 for it. I mean, I would, but I'm a whore. Restaurants make nearly all their money on booze. The food is often a break even proposition at best. Food costs used to come at around 20% or so, but with the rising price of food I've seen them creep up into the mid 30% range. 35% is the red line. Anything over that and the restaurant will fold once they exhaust their payroll accounts and operating capital. I had this exact conversation with an owner I used to work for a few years ago. Told him that if he kept selling his food at 40% he would be out of business in a few years. Sure enough, SPLAT! Fucking owners never listen. They all think they're rock stars.
The weird thing in Japan is that the cost of liquor can vary wildly based on how they think people will perceive it. A 700ml bottle of basic Captain Morgan costs between $12-15 (I'm going to dispense with the exchange rates). A bottle of Captain Morgan Lime Bite costs $35 if you can find it, more expensive than Maker's Mark, on par with Wild Turkey 13. In the states, Lime Bite is like $2 more than basic Captain.....
That's really strange...based on how it's perceived? Damn, we need to convince the US that Don Perignon isn't perceived well in the states and get this price down so I can try it.
