Half-bottles in restaurants

[Pan]

In a thread about a New York restaurant called Landmarc that makes many half-bottles available, oakapple made the following post:

I'm particularly curious about the decision to offer so many half-bottles. You don't often find half-bottles in stores. Does the restaurant have to make a side deal with a few vineyards? Or, do certain vineyards make a point of marketing half-bottles just to the restaurant industry?

In response, I'd like to ask a series of frankly ignorant questions, so that you all can teach me a thing or two about the way the wine service in restaurants works, and what considerations they deal with.

If you sell a more or less even number of half-bottles, all you have to do is distribute the contents of x bottles of wine evenly between 2x customers, right? Then, the only other cost is the labor involved in opening the bottles and pouring them, right? (Well, and storing the half-bottles, as I'll discuss later.) But the same labor that would be expended in opening a bottle for one order is now distributed between two orders, exclusive of pouring the wine into a carafe or something. So is there really anything non-simple about providing half bottles of popular wines in a restaurant? OK, perhaps the wines probably have to be popular enough not to be stored outside of the bottle for a long time, but that seems to be the only drawback?? I just don't get it. Is there really any significant problem, other than that restaurants may feel that making half-bottles (or, indeed, wines by the glass, I suppose) available will decrease their sales of whole bottles?

[Busboy]

This is pure speculation, but...

I think it's lack of demand. And I think it's because Americans don't drink at lunch. In France, people like to have a spot of wine with lunch, but they do have to go back to work. So they split a half-bottle or share a half of red and a half of white, have a glass-and-a half with each course and, by the time their generous lunch hour and coffee service is over, they're fully functional again. At the cafes, a demi-liter of rose serves the same purpose.

In America, no one drinks at lunch, and they don't mind getting a little buzzed at dinner. In addition, they seem less likely to change wines with each course. So they just get a full bottle of the stuff. Restaurants, with scarce cellar space, therefore don't waste it on the half-bottles nobody wants.

(waiting for Bux or menton1 to slap me down...)

[Craig Camp]

Money is the answer.

It is expensive for wineries to produce half-bottles. It is expensive for wholesalers to maintain inventories of half-bottles and full-bottles. For a good restaurant to have an excellent wine-by-the-glass program AND an excellent half-bottle program is expensive - and for that matter why have a large half-bottle list if you have a great wine-by-the-glass list? In fact, since every good dry wine is offered primarily in full-bottles and they are cheaper to buy and produce why not just create an outstanding wine-by-the-glass program - it has to be cheaper and certainly offers more options.

My experience as a wholesaler and an importer was that everybody complained and asked for half-bottles, but almost no one ordered them and those that did almost never re-ordered.

...and the other answer is they just don't sell.

[Marlene]

It's becoming more common here in Ontario. For example, hubby likes white, I like red. I don't really want to drink a whole bottle of red by myself. Ok, maybe I do, but I shouldn't. The half bottles are wonderful for that sort of thing.

And here, the business lunch never seems to be complete without a little wine, but not too much. Again, half bottle to the rescue.

[AlexBernardo]

Also just speculation, but I think it's plain ignorance. I think US restaurants can sell more half-bottles if they have more available, especially if they bring in high quality stuff that may be too pricey in 750ml, but more affordable in a split.

In France, not just singles order half bottles, I see tables of 2-4 people ordering a mix of 750ml and half bottles so they can try a variety of wines from the list to match each course and also have some fun tasting, too. I've done this myself and really enjoy it, as I'm able to try different wines with my dinner companions and not get plastered.

Alex

[Pan]

Money is the answer.

It is expensive for wineries to produce half-bottles. It is expensive for wholesalers to maintain inventories of half-bottles and full-bottles.

So half-bottles aren't simply whole bottles that were opened and divided in half at the restaurant. As they say, you learn a new thing every day...

[slkinsey]

Money is the answer.

It is expensive for wineries to produce half-bottles. It is expensive for wholesalers to maintain inventories of half-bottles and full-bottles.

So half-bottles aren't simply whole bottles that were opened and divided in half at the restaurant. As they say, you learn a new thing every day...

Right. A half-bottle, in this case, is a bottle that is one-half the size of a full bottle.

Landmarc is kind of a special case. They don't sell wine by the glass, but instead offer many wines by the half-bottle with by-the-glass prices. This works brilliantly for them, but I'm not sure how well it would work for everyone.

[Marlene]

Um, no Pan they're not I have a whole wine rack downstairs, devoted to half bottles just for me

[Craig Camp]

if they have more available, especially if they bring in high quality stuff that may be too pricey in 750ml, but more affordable in a split.

The better the wine is the less likely a producer is to put it in half-bottles. It is well known wines mature better in larger bottles. Some obsessed producers will bottle some small productions from great vintages only in magnums (1.5L) bottles. So considering the best wines are not (and should not) be put in half-bottles the offering better wine argument is out the window.

[Marlene]

if they have more available, especially if they bring in high quality stuff that may be too pricey in 750ml, but more affordable in a split.

The better the wine is the less likely a producer is to put it in half-bottles. It is well known wines mature better in larger bottles. Some obsessed producers will bottle some small productions from great vintages only in magnums (1.5L) bottles. So considering the best wines are not (and should not) be put in half-bottles the offering better wine argument is out the window.

True. Anything I have in half bottles is not the really outstanding stuff. It's more an everyday wine rather than something special. I have a few Shirazes in half bottles, and a number of wines from the Carmenet winery in California.

My good stuff, (the Amarone's etc), or anything I have that is being cellared for a while are all full bottles - on the other 3 wine racks. Well, hubby does get one wine rack for his wines

[Pan]

So another question: In places where you can get wine by the carafe, is that usually poured from full bottles? I figure so, but considering how little I know about this stuff...

[Craig Camp]

So another question: In places where you can get wine by the carafe, is that usually poured from full bottles? I figure so, but considering how little I know about this stuff...

Well in most places in Italy it probably comes out of a tap - connected to a beer keg type of thing. In the USA it probably comes out of a large bottle or a box, although there are tap wines there also. Some places serve a half or quarter bottle portions out of a regular 750 ml. size bottle in small carafes - like the Batali restaurants.

...Pan you just are not drinking enough wine.

[Marlene]

You don't drink much do you Pan?

[blil]

As a wine industry vetran, I can attest to half-bottles (and magnums) being a PITA. Different labels, different capsules, changing out parts on the bottling line, ordering different glass from the distributor, etc. make it something of a hassle.

And anything larger than a magnum usually has to be hand-filled, hand-corked and hand-labelled.

There's a reason why most half-bottles cost more than 50% of a 750ml. And there's a reason why magnums generally cost more than twice that of a 750ml.

[Pan]

You don't drink much do you Pan?

No, not that often.

[Fat Guy]

I drink plenty of half-bottles at home, and have through persistence been able to find some very good wines in that format. Argyle, for example, bottles a limited amount of reserve pinot noir in 375ml bottles. And of course if you purchase Bordeaux as futures (or you know somebody who does) you can often have them bottle it in any format you like. There are also a few good wineries that have carved out a niche as reliable half-bottle producers. Champagne and sparkling wines in particular tend to be available in 375ml bottles.

But the number of wines available in full bottles is, oh, about a million times greater than the number available in any other format. And in a restaurant setting, half bottles are relatively unnecessary because you can sell wine by the glass. At home, if you're a solo drinker or you just want a glass of wine, you have a logistical problem if you open a 750ml full bottle, because all the basic home-preservation methods suck. Whereas in a restaurant you can sell by the glass or quartino (250ml mini-carafe) and radically simplify your inventory.

There's another problem with half-bottles, which hasn't been mentioned here: they tend to be of inferior quality to full bottles. In my experience half-bottles just don't age well, and this becomes quite noticeable within the first year. I've had occasion to compare half and full bottles of the same wines on occasion and within a few months you start to notice a marked inferiority in the half bottles. I think this is because the half bottles are less well insulated against temperature fluctuations. They also may have more of the wine exposed to oxygen, but I'm not sure. I do know, however, that full bottles are better than half bottles -- even more so than magnums (1.5l bottles) are better than full bottles.

[Craig Camp]

...Champagne in half-bottles. What's that for?

[Craig Camp]

I open 30 to 50 bottles a week (much to the pleasure of my father-in-law) and I usually try to taste bottles over at least a 3 day period. The way wines are made today very young wines are quite stable over at least a 2 day period - especially if refrigerated. Young whites last well over a 3 or 4 day period in the refrigerator with no problem.

Considering that the vast majority of wines are made to be consumed young I don't see the problem of finishing a bottle over a 2 day period.

[AlexBernardo]

To digress a little, from my experience half bottles age fine. I've had countless half-bottle Bordeaux and Burgundies, both reds and whites with 5-15 years from vintage date and they're drinking well. Just a few weeks ago, I was in Beaune and ordered two magnificent half bottles from the list: a 1967 Beaune Bressandes from Chanson and a 1994 Gevrey Aux Combottes from Dujac (both wines, incidentally, from overall weak vintages).

Anyway, I do hope that US restaurants would stock more half-bottles as I think there is a good demand for these.

Alex

[LOS]

[Generalization coming] As others have hinted, restaurants in Europe tend to carry a much wider range of half-bottles than do restaurants here in the US. They are still are not even 10% of the wines on the list, but they are there. In the US, they may not be there at all. I've been told at some European wineries that they make half-bottles solely for the restaurant trade.

Here in the US, there is neither the same level of supply nor the same level of demand. I'm not sure whether the chicken or the egg came first.

[Fat Guy]

It may just be a coincidence, but the only two older half-bottles I've ever ordered in restaurants -- both in France -- did not show well. If I can find my notes I'll post what they were -- one was a Louis Latour bottling and the other was Alsatian -- but I remember with the Latour selection the restaurant had it in full and half bottles and I ate at the place several times over a period of days, ordering the full bottle one day and the half bottle the next day. It was such a disappointment, the half bottle, that, combined with my other bad older half-bottle experience, I swore off older half bottles altogether. In terms of the younger ones -- the ones I drink at home -- my storage conditions aren't particularly good and I have a feeling the half-bottles amplify the effects of temperature fluctuations. This would make sense since they're essentially less well insulated. And since I get a lot of Argyle wines in both formats I've had occasion to get to know these wines as they age in the different types of bottles. To me, the half bottles just don't handle time as well. At this point I pretty aggressively try to turn over my entire half bottle inventory every year.

[Craig Camp]

At this point I pretty aggressively try to turn over my entire half bottle inventory every year.

I would say that is a very sound strategy.

[Brad Ballinger]

The only 375ml bottles I've purchased retail have been sweet wines. The 375ml table wines I've purchased have all been in restaurants when dining alone. When 375s aren't available, I'll order a full bottle and take the rest home (where permitted) or give the rest to the server (which usually results in a free dessert or something like that).

And magnums of Champagne are great (providing the methode champenoise took place in the magnum bottle, and wasn't just two 750s poured into a magnum, which does happen).

[Fat Guy]

A couple of random thoughts:

- I do think there's a certain drama to opening a half-bottle that isn't matched by a quartino or by-the-glass wine. Although, if wines by the glass or quartinos are poured tableside it's nearly as dramatic -- not to mention there can be the opportunity to taste before committing to the pour. I actually wrote an article for Food Arts about by-the-glass programs a few years ago but I can't find it and I can't remember what I said.

- It's interesting that France is so far ahead of the US in terms of half-bottles on wine lists, yet the US is so far ahead of France in terms of by-the-glass programs in fine dining restaurants. Indeed, I can't actually remember any Michelin three-star restaurant I've been to that had any kind of serious by-the-glass list.

[docsconz]

I love the half-bottle format and buy them whenever I can find worthwhile bottles. I particularly like them with a simple weeknight meal. I don't have the patience to not finish a bottle of wine when it is opened. I also like ordering a half-bottle per course when in a restaurant with just my wife. Unfortunately, a good half-bottle selection is difficult to find. Some wines I have in.375's include Chateau Montelena Estate 1997 (still drinking nicely), Ridge Lytton Springs, Allegrini Amarone, Carmenet, guigal Brune et Blonde, Ch. Vieux Telegraphe CDP and others. They are available, just hard to find.