A Change of Pace

I’m going to take next week off, but I wanted to just bring up a musing I’ve had on my mind for the last 20 years. Why aren’t there any wine pubs?

When I started the Palisade Brewery in 2003, I was surrounded by wineries. We were a packaging brewery, not a brewpub, which has been my experience since I started my first brewpub in 1993. Anyway, I got to know a lot of winery owners and they all complained about their margins. Selling wine by the bottle has huge packaging costs, and if you go through a distributer, you make even less. For example, if a bottle sells for $20, the winery has to sell the bottle to a wine shop for $15. But if the winery goes through a distributer, they sell the same bottle to a retailer for $10. A chunk is taken out every step of the way.

Even back then I was suggesting to winery owners that they market their wine like beer and put it in cans. This was 2003 mind you, and universally I was told that is a crazy idea. My thought was a bottle costs about .80 to $1 in bottle, cork, label, and foil. Where as the same amount of wine in two 12 oz cans would cost about .25. Anyway that idea was shot down.

The other idea, and the one I bring up here is why not a wine pub? I think there may be a few around, but I haven’t seen one yet. If I was to open a winery I would do a nice wood oven pizza joint, or Italian pasta place and all the wine would be served by the glass through wine taps at the bar. You would still be able to see the tanks, and you could also still sell wine to-go, basically with a flip-top wine bottle filled at the tap.

Just look at the numbers. Instead of $10 to $20 (at best) for a bottle, four glass of wine would bring in $32 (4 glasses @$8). Plus zero packaging cost, no delivery vehicle needed, and you get paid right away instead of waiting 45 days to get paid by the wholesaler.

Am I crazy or am I missing something here? Sure, some states have laws I suppose that prohibit this, but generally speaking, I think this is a great winery model.

This is why I’m such an advocate for the brew pub instead of a packaging brewery. People want to eat when they drink. If you have a simple tasting room brewery, sure folks will grab a beer, but they won’t stay long. They’d get snockered. They want to enjoy a meal with their beer, or wine, or whiskey.

The food doesn’t have to be complicated either. It could be burgers and salads, or street tacos, Mexican food is also a simple great food cost idea. You see where I’m getting with this?

Let me know what wine pubs you have found. I’d like to look them up and visit. I will be off next week and hope everyone has a great holiday. 2025. Wow, I will try to be optimistic about the future. I’m sure the billionaires have our best interest at heart.