Sometimes you’re taking it easy.
Sometimes you’re alone.
Sometimes you both don’t want the same thing.
Sometimes you just want a glass of wine, not a bottle. And that’s OK. I’m a firm believer that Bottle Pressure is a real thing. And it’s not necessarily the bar or restaurant’s fault. Sometimes I see that thick wine list and all the potential stories to be told within it, and I just want to try a bottle of something soooo bad.
And that’s where the system is designed to work against you. One of the reasons you feel Bottle Pressure is because all the good stuff is normally by the bottle. For years, especially in our parent’s generation, the Wines By The Glass section was the well-drink equivalent of whatever wine the place could buy/sell for cheap. While that is still true for a lot of places, there are a few things you can do to not waste your own time and money during those moments when a glass just makes more sense than a bottle.
Try Before You Buy
One of the benefits of ordering by the glass is that the bar/restaurant has committed to opening the bottles of these wines. Most of the time they just sit opened and waiting to be poured.
As a former server I can tell you I REALLY want to sell you alcohol. Anything I can do to bump my tip your check total up I am down for. So if giving you a free taste of a wine, that is already open anyway, is what it is going to take to get that glass full on your table, I’m gonna do it. Plus restaurants, especially on the weekends, are often running contests for servers on who can sell the most alcohol, so just know you hold the power at the table.
Getting that free taste helps in two ways. First, you are greatly decreasing the likelihood that you are going to commit to a glass of a wine you don’t like. Secondly… FREE WINE!
Now, that being said, this shit ain’t Costco. Don’t be that free sample person. Nobody likes that a-hole in cargo shorts that is blocking the whole flipping aisle because they want to try the teriyaki meatballs for the third time. Make an educated guess on a wine you may like, try it, and if it’s not right commit to another. Don’t ask for more than one taste, you’re embarrassing yourself.
Ask About The Secret Menu
This won’t happen often, but it’s worth a shot. Here’s a story I’ll share from just last weekend.
So I’m in Vegas on business, rolling solo, and I got a hankering for the red stuff. I walk my way over to one of the nice steak houses in town, which there are many of (Remind me to tell y’all about Craft Steak some time) and take a seat at their bar.
As I alluded to before the Wine By The Glass list has evolved greatly during our generation. This is obviously the case at a nice steak house. I had settled on getting myself a nice Grüner Veltliner, I mean it’s freaking hot up in Vegas, a white wine sounded good. I made my order with the bartender and as he was turning away, I stopped him and asked if they had anything off the menu they were pouring tonight.
He replied that he thought they might, and went to fetch the sommelier. The somm returned and said that they were pouring both an Orin Swift Mercury Head and a Caymus Signature Selection Cab by the glass that night.
Now both of these bottles are on their list in the $250-300 range, and most of us know that’s double the retail price, but for $40 I was able to have a glass of either one. Likely the somm had opened them for a private or staff tasting and had them left and needed to off load them. Either way it was to my benefit.
The average bottle of wine has roughly 5 glasses of wine (5oz pours), so I was getting a glass of premium wine at a discount price:
5 glass x $40 = $200
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “You still over paid because you can buy those bottles for $125-$150 retail.” You’d be right, and you’d also be annoying. Don’t be that guy.
The point remains that the Wine By The Glass option is still a good one, if you employ a few bits of knowledge. So don’t give in to Bottle Pressure, unless it makes sense for your evening. You can get good wine by the glass on your own terms if you have the right guide.
