Pricing Your Wine List: 5 Tips

Setting prices is crucial for the sustainability of your establishment. It allows you to establish a margin on your sales, while also considering the competition. Here are five tips for pricing your wine list, both by the bottle and by the glass.

1. Wine Complementarity

First and foremost, consider the logic of your wine list. It should offer a certain price complementarity by blending high-end wines with more accessible options.

Offer an affordable option to complement lunch menus, for example: one or two glasses of wine at an accessible price. Also, include some higher-priced wines to add flair to your list and pique your customers' curiosity.

As a guideline: a restaurant with an average check of around €15 (incl. tax) will offer wines by the glass between €4.50 and €7.50. For an average check of around €25 (incl. tax), wines will range from €7.50 to €12. For an average check of around €40 (incl. tax), wines will be priced between €12 and €20.

Finally, it's essential to maintain consistency by aligning wine prices with those of the dishes. There should be harmony in the pricing structure.

2. Value for Money

To determine the prices on your wine list, consider the quality of the products you offer. Several factors indicate quality:

• The production region and the terroir from which the wine originates.
• The estate, which helps identify the wine's rarity and the uniqueness of its flavors — a wine from a prestigious château typically falls into the premium category.
• The vintage: a wine from an exceptional year warrants an exceptional price.
• The production method: a wine from organic viticulture will generally be more expensive than a conventional wine of the same type, as it requires more labor and yields lower outputs.

3. Calculating Your Cost Price

To establish your prices, first calculate the acquisition cost: agreed purchase price, transport fees, and storage costs. Next comes the cost price — the total cost of the product at its final stage, which represents your break-even point.

To calculate it, add administrative, financial, and distribution costs to the acquisition price: transport, storage, service, and service environment. This is the minimum selling price to avoid losses.

To set the selling price, use a multiplier coefficient. For bottled wine, this coefficient averages 4.5. A bottle purchased for €5 (excl. tax) will be resold at: (5 × 4.5) × 1.2 (taxes) = €27 (incl. tax).

For wine by the glass, one bottle yields 6 glasses of 12 cl. It is advisable to increase the price by 5 to 10% compared to the per-glass equivalent of the bottle price, to encourage customers to order by the bottle and minimize waste. Based on our €27 (incl. tax) example, the price per glass would be between €4.70 and €4.95 (incl. tax).

The ideal price is accessible to the target audience, considers the competition, and remains profitable for your establishment.

4. Responding to Customer Demand

Consumption trends are evolving, and your wine list must reflect this, not only in terms of wine types but also pricing. Customers are often willing to pay more for a wine with a story — the story of its makers. Beyond the grape varietal, price is the second most important selection criterion.

The appeal of organic wines is evident even among younger consumers (under 25), who are willing to pay more for certified organic wine. The demand for wines from grower-producers, which are often harder to find, is also growing. This trend is accompanied by a more ethical approach to consumption, advocating for fairer compensation for winemakers.

5. Pricing is Covered… What About the Rest?

Creating your wine list isn't just about pricing. What information should you include? How should you categorize your wines? How can you avoid common mistakes that undermine credibility? Read: the 10 mistakes to avoid on your wine list and how to build a restaurant wine list.