Good Wine List Curation and List Performance Are Not the Same Thing.
Café Zaffri has a wine director with a genuine point of view, honest prices, and a list full of serious producers. Brad Nugent and Patrick Wert walk through it and land on a verdict the industry rarely says out loud: a well-curated list is not the same thing as a list that makes money. The gaps are specific, the fixes are clear, and the lesson applies to every restaurant carrying wines that require a story before they sell.
Wine List Value Hunting | Commander’s Palace New Orleans
Patrick Wert of Innovative Beverage Strategies went value hunting through the Commander's Palace wine list ahead of a group lunch in New Orleans. Six people, $500, four bottles, and a masterclass in how a century-old wine program is quietly built to sell.
Wine List Critique: Uchi Austin
Uchi Austin has the buying relationships, the producer credibility, and the room to run a serious wine program. What’s missing is the middle. Brad Nugent and Patrick Wert walk through the list and show exactly where the structure breaks down, and what a bell curve pricing approach to wine list design would unlock.
Wine List Critique: Callie, San Diego
This week's wine list critique features Callie in San Diego, a Michelin-recognized restaurant with careful menu engineering and a few costly gaps. A real wine list analysis asks hard questions: is this list designed to sell, and is it doing its job for guests and staff every night?
Why Pricing Dom Pérignon for $375 Does More Than $600 for Restaurants
Most restaurants price Dom Pérignon at three times cost and never think about it again. That's not a pricing strategy. That's a calculator.