Wine list and wine by the glass: how to build a list that sells

Building the wine list: style, region or grape variety

Before you choose any wines, decide what the list is for. A wine bar lives on discovery and variety, a Heuriger on its own wine and its origin, a restaurant on wines that match the food. That determines how you structure the list. There are several proven ways to organise it, and they can be combined.

For most venues, organising by style works best, with region, grape and estate in the line below. Guests tend to think in terms of “fresh and light” or “full-bodied with meat” rather than vineyard sites. Within each group, list wines from light to full-bodied or by ascending price. Every group should cover a price range.

• One line of information per wine: name, estate, origin, vintage, one to three words on the taste, price per glass and per bottle.
• Short descriptions instead of jargon: “crisp, citrus, great with fish” helps more than a tasting note.
• Keep vintages up to date: when the vintage changes, change the list. Guests notice the difference.
• Alcohol-free alternatives such as dealcoholised wine, grape juice from the winemaker or homemade spritzers belong on the same list.

Many principles apply to every drinks menu, from layout to pricing. How to cost cocktails, beer and spirits and build the menu as a whole is explained in the guide to drinks menus and cocktail pricing.

Planning your wines by the glass

Wine by the glass is where many guests start. Anyone dining alone, a couple who want different wines or someone dropping in for just one glass orders by the glass. A good selection therefore increases sales, but it also ties up stock: every opened bottle has to be sold within a few days.

• Small venue, low wine sales: two or three whites, two reds, a rosé or sparkling wine in season.
• Restaurant with a wine focus: six to ten wines by the glass that match the dishes.
• Wine bar: a wider selection is the concept, but it needs inert gas preservation and weekly rotation.
• Heuriger: your own wines by the eighth and quarter litre, plus Gespritzter (wine spritzer) and grape juice.

Keeping open bottles fresh: chilling, vacuum, inert gas

As soon as a bottle is open, the wine reacts with oxygen. Fruit and freshness fade, and at some point it tastes flat or oxidised. How quickly that happens depends on the wine: light whites and rosés usually fade faster than tannic reds, while sparkling wine mainly loses its fizz. There are no fixed times, so tasting is the only reliable check. With the right technique, though, you gain days.

How to compare such losses with till data and stocktaking and reduce shrinkage overall is covered in the guide to stocktaking and shrinkage in the bar.

Pricing wine by the glass and by the bottle

Wine by the glass is priced differently from wine by the bottle. With glasses, you carry the risk of leftovers and you have more work per unit sold. That is why the markup per litre is usually higher by the glass. For bottles, many venues work with a somewhat higher cost-of-goods percentage so that good wines do not become too expensive to sell.

Here is how to calculate: the net bottle price divided by its volume gives the price per litre; multiplied by the serving size, it gives the cost of goods per glass. Add an allowance for pouring loss, meaning leftovers, tasting and breakage, which you determine in your own venue. Divide the cost of goods by your target percentage and add VAT. The table shows an example with a bottle at 7.50 euros net, 5 percent pouring loss and freely assumed percentages. Use your own figures. It is quicker with the drinks price calculator for wine by the glass, which factors in serving size and pouring loss for you.

Then round to a clean price and check whether it suits your venue and the market. An inexpensive house wine with a low purchase price can often take a lower percentage, an expensive wine a higher one, otherwise nobody will ever order it. Recalculate straight away when winemakers or suppliers change their prices. How to cost the dishes your wine prices should be aligned with is explained in the guide Costing dishes correctly.

Serving measures on the list and the glass

Guests need to know how much wine they get for their money. That is why every wine by the glass needs its serving size on the list, for example “1/8 l” or “0.2 l”. Price display rules require unambiguous prices, and only with the size can guests compare wines. The rules for Austria are explained in the guide Price display in Austria, for Germany in Price information in German hospitality.

On top of that, there are legal metrology rules for glasses and carafes. They may only have certain nominal volumes, and the fill level must be marked clearly and permanently, for example with a fill line. The permitted sizes differ between the two countries, which is especially noticeable with wine:

• Austria: According to the WKO (Austrian Economic Chamber), permitted sizes include 1/16, 0.1, 1/8, 0.2, 0.25 and 1/4 litre, plus 0.5 and 1 litre. The classic eighth and quarter are therefore still allowed.
• Germany: § 27 of the Mess- und Eichverordnung (Measurement and Calibration Ordinance) lists, among others, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2 and 0.25 litres as well as 0.5 and 1 litre for serving. A 0.125-litre glass is not on that list.
• Both countries: Buy glasses and carafes with a fill line from a specialist supplier who confirms conformity, and if in doubt ask the WKO, your IHK (Chamber of Commerce) or the weights and measures office.

Wine pairing with a set menu

A wine pairing, meaning a matching wine with every course, is a good way for restaurants with a set menu to make wine sales predictable. Smaller pours per course are common, so the pairing stays manageable over several courses.

Training your team

The best wine list does not sell itself. Your team does not need sommelier training, but everyone in service should know the open wines and be able to say two or three sentences about each. Short, regular tastings before service have more effect than one long training session. For deeper knowledge, WIFI and the WKO in Austria and IHKs and wine academies in Germany offer courses.

Showing your wine list online

Many guests check the website before their visit, especially for a wine bar or a Heuriger. A wine list as text, with wines by the glass, sizes and prices, helps them decide and is found by search engines, for example for searches like “wine bar with Grüner Veltliner” or “Riesling by the glass”. A PDF, on the other hand, is tedious on a phone and quickly out of date. How to build a menu you can update with one click is shown in the guide to the digital menu.