There’s an interesting phenomenon that occurs at elite restaurants: the wine list is replaced by a wine tome. Depending on the location of the restaurant and its global popularity, the tome will have offerings ranging from somewhat humble to ostentatious. The book requires a wine director, a sommelier of advanced knowledge, and a large team to manage it. There’s nothing wrong with the tome per se, but I have two primary objections. The first is the time value of money makes the inventory expensive. This adds to overall costs, contributing to the need for a 4x markup on wholesale prices. The second is it becomes a subsidy: the highest-margin bottles are the cheapest ones, while the trophy bottles carry lower percentage markups but tie up the most capital. It’s true, the $15,000 bottle adds more to the restaurant’s bottom line, but it also adds the most to inventory costs. A $12,000 bottle at wholesale might cost $15,000 in a restaurant, with a gross profit of $3,000 and a 25% markup. The $80 bottle at the restaurant probably costs around $20 and is a 400% markup over wholesale. The problem is the wealthiest clientele demand access to the trophy bottles. Wine magazines offer awards for extensive collections, and to some extent, the grandiose nature of the lists requires people to have entire careers dedicated to them. It’s a bit of the absurd nature of fine dining. The bigger issue is this phenomenon has crept into upscale, but relatively everyday places as well. High-end bistros now have leather-bound wine lists. Most of the servers can’t answer questions about 98% of the wine, and it’s daunting for even a person with great wine knowledge to navigate. The cynic in me believes this is a tactic to force conversation with a sommelier, who can drive you toward spending more than you otherwise would like. The less cynical part of me thinks it’s a fun challenge for the F&B team to put together a comprehensive wine list and they do so in hope of bringing more joy to their guests. I just wonder if at some point the costs of running and maintaining such a program undermine the joy it’s meant to bring. Chefs contribute to wine list inflation as well. They come up with new offerings that require highly-skilled cooks, a broad range of rare, difficult-to-source ingredients, and labor-intensive components. They can’t quite charge a profitable amount for the dishes, so they turn to the beverage program to make up the difference. Cocktails can only cost so much, so the final burden rests on the wine list. Wine is associated with enjoying our food more, enhancing flavors and aromas, having fun with friends and loved ones. I have to wonder, however, who are these lists really for? I understand the need for such labors of love at restaurants that fetch over $1,000 per person just for the food, but outside the most rarefied dining establishments, I wonder if everyone wouldn’t have a better time out if there was a simple, easily navigable, and well-curated wine list instead.