Filling a Gevrey-Chambertin slot on a bistro list
The buyer at a 70-seat bistro has lost her Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru allocation (cost $72, listed at $195, four to six bottles a week). Her guests order duck confit and coq au vin and describe what they like as 'earthy, dry, not fruity, with a bit of grip'. Constraints: bottle cost at or below $60 to hold a 35% cost target at the same price; the wine must be drinkable on delivery; she wants to keep a $195 price point and add a by-the-glass option at $19 for a 5 oz pour. Candidates: (A) Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2021, $46 cost, 14.3% ABV, bright red fruit, firm acid, light tannin. (B) Central Otago Pinot Noir 2020, $54, 14.0%, dark plum, soft acid. (C) Mercurey 1er Cru 2020, $58, 13.2%, red cherry, savoury, moderate tannin. (D) Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2021, $38, 13.5%, earthy, high acid, light body.
1. Rank the four candidates for the bottle slot and justify your choice on structure, food match and the numbers - not on geography.
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C first, D second, A third, B last.
- C (Mercurey, $58): the closest structural analogue to what the slot was doing - savoury rather than fruity, moderate tannin for 'grip', 13.2% so it does not read hot next to duck confit. $58 clears the $60 cap but by $2, which means no room for a price increase or a currency/shipping move; confirm allocation before you commit the slot to a single wine.
- D (Willamette, $38): the best value and the best structural fit for coq au vin - high acid cuts the sauce and the wine stays lean at 13.5%. It is a different, lighter register than the Gevrey, so sell it as its own wine, not as a substitute.
- A (Sonoma Coast, $46): sound, firm acid, but the bright fruit profile is a step away from 'not fruity'. Keep it as the backup if C's allocation fails.
- B (Central Otago, $54): the arithmetic works, the wine does not. Soft acid and dark plum is the opposite of what these guests ask for, and soft acid is the worst thing to put next to a rich, vinegar-driven sauce.
The reasoning to hold onto: 'earthy and grippy' comes from cool sites, whole-cluster or reductive winemaking, and moderate extraction - it is a set of structural cues you can find in several regions, not a postcode.
2. Do the by-the-glass numbers for candidate D at $19. Should you pour it?
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Arithmetic first. 750 ml is 25.4 oz, so a 5 oz pour gives five pours per bottle, and in practice you lose one to spillage and breakage, so budget on about 4.8.
- Cost per pour: $38 / 5 = $7.60; on 4.8 pours, $7.92.
- At $19: 40-42% cost. That is far above a healthy by-the-glass target of 20-25%, which exists because open bottles oxidise and get dumped.
- To hit 30% you would need about $25-26 a glass; to hit 25%, about $31 - and a $31 glass undercuts the $195 bottle you are trying to sell.
Conclusion: do not pour D at $19. Options, in order: (1) pour a cheaper bottling for the by-the-glass - a Bourgogne-level or Willamette entry wine at $20-24 cost gives $4-5 a pour and lands at 22-26% at $19; (2) price D at $24-25 if the list can carry it; (3) run a 3 oz tasting pour instead of 5 oz. The bottle slot and the glass slot do not have to be the same wine - and at these percentages, they should not be.
3. The chef replaces the duck with a tomato-based fish stew for six weeks. Does your recommendation change?
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It narrows the field rather than reversing it.
- Acid is now the priority. Tomato brings its own acidity and a savoury, slightly sweet intensity that makes low-acid, higher-alcohol reds taste flabby and hot. D (Willamette, high acid, 13.5%) becomes the strongest match, and A (Sonoma Coast, firm acid, 14.3%) is workable.
- C (Mercurey) still holds up - moderate tannin and savoury notes sit well with tomato and fish stock - but its cherry fruit will read firmer than the dish wants.
- B (Central Otago) is now clearly the worst option: soft acid plus dark plum against tomato is the one combination that will be actively unpleasant.
Practical: do not reprint the list for six weeks. Train the floor to steer guests ordering the stew toward D or A by the glass - which also solves the by-the-glass cost problem if you have priced the smaller-pour option there.