Have you ever walked into a restaurant and choked on the dollar signs on the wine list? Seems a lot of people have, according to a Cornell University wine research study.

The study, sponsored by Southern Wine & Spirits of America, found that the following four wine-list tactics were involved in higher wine sales:-

1. Including the wine list on the food menu.
2. Listing prices without a dollar sign.
3. Listing wines from certain wineries known for their quality.
4. Including “reserve” wines or another special section.

A fifth tactic, however, was connected with lower sales, namely, using wine style as an organizational category on the list (e.g., sweet, bold, dry).

Cornell’s Michael Lynn, who analyzed the survey results, says that “We tested thirty different attributes of the wine lists in the 270 restaurants, but we found only four that correlated with higher sales across all restaurants and two others that were effective only in casual-dining restaurants.”

You can download the full report here - Wine List Characteristics Associated with Greater Wine Sales, by Sybil S. Yang and Michael Lynn Ph.D.

Photo by fw190a8 via flickr (creative commons).

Posted on July 25th, 2009 by PLing
Filed under: Restaurants