Did you know... Wine Markup

If you have ever compared the price of a wine from your local wine store to your favorite restaurant, it seems absurd. But thanks to the complexity of our wine distribution system in the US, its even more complicated than that. If it costs a wine maker $10 to make a bottle of wine, they may markup the bottle $12 to sell to a selling agent. A selling agent may manage the marketing and re-selling to distributors, charging $15 for the same bottle of wine. The distributor will manage the sale of the wine to retail stores and restaurants, charging $20. A retailer may mark that bottle up to $25 for sale to customers. A restaurant relies on that bottle of wine for a much greater percentage of their profits, and may mark up the bottle as much as 400% when selling by the glass.