Restaurants Rethink Wine Prices

Restaurants are increasingly deciding the fate of wine sales, and in many cases they are doing it through pricing, not just through the cellar list. In Italy and abroad, operators are rethinking how wine is presented, marked up and explained to diners as consumption continues to soften and customers become more sensitive to what they see as a fair price.

The shift is visible in two very different places: Oakland, Calif., where the restaurant Sirene has built its identity around wine rather than food, and Lodi, in northern Italy, where La Coldana has drawn attention for keeping bottle markups far below the industry norm. Both cases point to the same conclusion: wine can still be a strong business driver when restaurants stop treating it as a simple add-on.

For years, wine in restaurants was used mainly to support margins. In Italy, the standard markup has often been 3 or 4 times the purchase price, a level that many consumers now find hard to accept. That model has become harder to defend as drinking habits change, alcohol limits tighten and demand weakens across much of the wine trade. Producers are responding with no-alcohol and low-alcohol wines, but those products are only part of the answer. The bigger issue is how restaurants position wine at the table.

At Sirene, the idea is not to use food to sell wine. It is the other way around. According to reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle, the restaurant wants to be a wine destination first and a dining room second. The bottles are visible as soon as guests enter. The list is arranged by style and feeling rather than by label hierarchy. The focus is on small producers and less conventional wines. The owners have made clear that they are not trying to win traditional industry awards for their list. They are trying to build an identity that brings people in.

That approach marks a break from the old formula of Bordeaux-heavy lists and prestige labels used mainly as status symbols. Instead of following a standard template, Sirene uses wine as part of its brand. The result is a restaurant where the bottle selection is not background material but part of the reason people come.

La Coldana offers a different but equally revealing model. The restaurant, which also operates as an enoteca with kitchen service and events, is part of a broader project led by Alessandro Ferrandi and Fabrizio Ferrari. After giving up its Michelin star and moving toward a less rigid and more sustainable style of cooking, the restaurant filled up again. Its wine policy became one of its strongest selling points.

Ferrandi has said that bottles sold at La Coldana or at Vi:te, its enoteca with kitchen, carry a 40% markup over cellar cost plus a fixed 12-euro charge per bottle, regardless of price range. In practical terms, that means expensive wines become much more attractive than they would be under a traditional restaurant formula. A bottle of Krug that might cost 350 euros to 450 euros elsewhere sells for 240 euros there. At those levels, customers are more likely to choose higher-end labels because they feel they are getting value rather than being overcharged.

That matters because perception shapes demand. When diners believe wine prices are fair, they order more often and with less hesitation. When they feel they are being treated like an easy source of profit, they pull back. The difference affects not only revenue but also loyalty. A guest who feels respected is more likely to return and more likely to buy another bottle next time.

The broader numbers help explain why this debate matters now. Data presented by Fipe at Vinitaly put annual wine consumption in restaurants at about 12 billion euros, with wine accounting for more than 21% of the average bill. In many venues, that share rises above 30%. Even so, both spending and volume have been falling, especially in restaurants and trattorias where wine once played a central role in the meal.

The problem is not simply that people are drinking less. It is also that many restaurants have made wine feel expensive before it even reaches the table. In that environment, some operators argue that adding value works better than multiplying cost. A lower markup may reduce profit on each bottle, but it can increase total sales and improve customer satisfaction enough to make up for it.

That logic also helps explain why some restaurants are moving away from rigid fine-dining formulas. Wine lists built around personality rather than prestige can create a clearer identity for the room and attract guests who want discovery instead of formality. Small producers benefit too, because their wines get placed in front of drinkers who might never encounter them in a conventional setting.

There is still resistance in Italy, especially around pricing and taxation. Restaurants continue to carry the burden of an old reputation tied to tax evasion even though that image no longer reflects most businesses in the sector. The Agenzia delle Entrate still uses algorithms that estimate minimum turnover by looking at wine purchases, menu percentages and markup patterns. Many operators see that system as outdated and argue that it should be revised.

What is changing now is not just how wine is priced but how it is understood inside the restaurant itself. In the most advanced models, wine is no longer subordinate to cuisine. It helps define the place, shape demand and bring customers back. For restaurants willing to rethink their approach, that can mean stronger sales and a more loyal clientele at a time when both matter more than ever.