When the late Zuni Café owner Judy Rodgers was alive, she had a directive for her dining establishment’s wine director: There must always be lots of white wines readily available for $12 a glass.Now, the$12 glass has actually become evasive, said Zuni wine director Thierry Lovato. His new affordable-wine standard is $14, which is the lower end of the range on Zuni’s current by-the-glass list. Whereas in 2016 the typical rate of a glass of wine at Zuni was $13.73, it’s now$17.40. The trajectory of white wine glass prices at Zuni is reflective of dining establishments throughout the Bay Area. Comparable walkings have actually occurred at restaurants like Rich Table($13.81 per glass on average in 2016;$17.35 in 2022)and Nopa ($12.94 in 2016;$18.11 in 2022). This industry-wide pattern is not always reflective of restaurants taking a greater margin on white wine sales. Rather, it’s due mainly to the fact that the cost of white wine
has actually escalated.”It’s extremely simple,”stated Lovato.”It’s been harder to serve the things we utilized to serve due to the fact that the rate has actually skyrocketed.”By almost every metric, dining out is more costly than it used to be. Food costs were more than 10%greater in November 2022 than in November 2021, according to the U.S. Dept. of
Agriculture, and”food-away-from-home costs “(i.e., food not bought as groceries )are anticipated to increase an extra 4%-5 %in 2023. But the cost of a glass of white wine at many Bay Location dining establishments has actually increased more considerably than total food expenses, a Chronicle review shows. Between 2016 and 2022, at dining establishments like Zuni, Rich
Table, Kokkari and Chez Panisse, the typical price of a glass of red wine increased by 20%-25%. Kokkari has worked to keep red wine costs reasonable, though the average glass of red wine has actually risen
to over$ 15. Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle Eventually during the last seven years, a$ 17 glass of red wine started to appear normal. Specific white wines that clients constantly demand, like Cabernet
Sauvignon from Napa Valley, are ending up being particularly inaccessible. “To discover a good bottle of Napa Taxi for $18
(a glass)is getting hard,”stated William Boumier, the general supervisor at Kokkari. Champagne, a perennially popular order at Zuni, presents a similar problem. Back in 2016, Lovato had the ability to use glasses of Champagne for$16. Now, he said, it’s almost difficult to discover
bottles that he can note for less than$ 22 per glass.(One of the Champagnes on Zuni’s current glass list is$35. )