There's no question that the best way for outlets to drive volume and sell more of the top-end wines is to take the lead.
Sure, your pub might double its wine sales in a year without you doing anything, but it's unlikely - and since there's good money to be had from the grape, a bit of effort on your part can go a long way.
There are five key areas that can make a big difference to improving your wine offering for the consumers:
Information, information, information
Making sure your wine offering is easily visible is an essential. Tent cards might be old-fashioned, but they can be effective if you choose to profile a couple of wines with interesting stories rather than your house red. Blackboards can be powerful too, especially if, instead of simply listing half a dozen wines, you offer extra information such as tasting notes, food-matching suggestions or even information on where various wines are from. You're trying to make the wine come alive for your punters.
Imaginative promotions
With the Government cracking down on binge drinking, the current atmosphere favours promotions that encourage quality rather than quantity of consumption. So three glasses for the price of two might be out of favour, but offering a £15 bottle for £12 can be a good way to encourage trading up. Likewise, offering, say, a Port and cheese package can encourage trial.
Empower your staff
Even a little knowledge among your staff can go a long way -and in fact a staff who know nothing about the list reflects extremely poorly on the outlet. So if you can't give them an hour or two of your time, badger your suppliers to run the occasional afternoon session. It makes a huge difference both to their enthusiasm and the professionalism of your operation.
Prices/margins
There's a tentative move towards cash margins with wine - say, £5 a bottle rather than a 200% mark-up. It's a legitimate way of driving volume, encourages consumers to trawl round the upper reaches of the wine list and wins you a lot of brownie points with customers accustomed to paying through the nose for their wine in a restaurant.
Food and wine evenings
These are a powerful driver of interest if you can handle the effort of organising them. Not only are food and wine nights a proven way of packing out a pub on quiet evenings, they also entice people into trying more esoteric food and wines they might not have considered ordering, with the chance of repeat purchase.
Many merchants are more than happy to help with suggestions and staff when it comes to setting these up, and it's a big advantage to have a "compere" for the evening who has done dozens of them before.
Food and wine evenings (typically three courses and half a dozen wines for £20 to £40 a head) are the most popular, though wine education events can also go down well with the right clientele.