Top ten restaurant wine list mistakes?

Indeed, I can't think of anyplace that has 23 btg offerings that doesn't bill itself as a winebar. Maybe they meant 2.3?

My daughter is in on-premise wine sales in Charleston, SC for one of the larger distributers there

Whom is she with? I may have met her on occasion.

I have a confession, only tangental to this thread, which is that . . . . I . . . . I . . . . I actually like Santa Margherita But, I never buy it, because it is $5 - 10 overpriced (retail), and I can get much more interesting wine for that. Interestingly enough though, for all that it is supposedly the number one requested wine on restaurant lists, I think I've only ever seen it on a list once.

More a point, I agree with one of the points, which is that it really, really bothers me when popular brands with a strong retail presence are marked up by factors of 3. I almost find it insulting - the restaurants know damn well that we know how much those wines cost at retail - to me it is basically a red banner saying "We're going to gouge you, and there's nothing you can do about it."

[Jenise]

...the average by-the-glass is 23.

What planet are they on? Only fancy restos have 23 wines by the glass. I count myself lucky if there's more than 4 of each color!

Ditto. And if at least a few of the wines have some more obscure, geeky-attraction rather than all the by-the-glass offerings being Kendall Jackson chardonnay and it's ilk.

The dollar sign doesn't bother me, not so much as the size of the number following.

In fact, given a straight choice between 30.00, $30.00 and £30.00, I would opt for the dollar sign

Unfortunately the difference between € and £ is now not very much

I too encounter the "no vintage" listings.
One midscale local restaurant has changed ownership and it may have a more varied wine list now but it used to have 6 or more Chardonnays by the glass, only one Riesling which was completely unknown to me, a Pinot Gris and a Pinot Grigio, but the only Sauvignon Blanc by the glass was a California one that was so heavily oaked that I couldn't drink it. The server never took notice or commented that the wine went untouched. (They had Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc by the bottle but didn't offer it by the glass.)
I would like to see more varieties of white wine offered by the glass--several Rieslings, Albarino, Verdicchio, Gruner Veltliner, a wine from Saumur, Vouvray, Arneis, Pinot Blanc, etc. It would take a little education of the servers (or have a couple trained servers that can be consulted when the customer is considering ordering a wine and is unsure) so that they in turn could make recommendations to the diners or answer their questions, but I think it would boost wine sales.
I'm all in favor of the restaurants offering flights of wine, or small tasting (2-3 oz. pours) and will try several different wines when that is offered (such as a flight of three Pinot Noirs at Bayfront Bistro in Fort Myers earlier this month.)

I would like to see more varieties of white wine offered by the glass--several Rieslings, Albarino, Verdicchio, Gruner Veltliner, a wine from Saumur, Vouvray, Arneis, Pinot Blanc, etc. It would take a little education of the servers (or have a couple trained servers that can be consulted when the customer is considering ordering a wine and is unsure) so that they in turn could make recommendations to the diners or answer their questions, but I think it would boost wine sales.

I heartily agree that I would like to see more (and better) white wine offerings in restaurants by the glass. That is particularly since I often find restaurant food to be too heavy and portions too large for an evening meal, especially in the warmer months of the year, and prefer to order the lighter vegetarian, dairy and fish dishes. Of course, aside from the fact that honestly I have not tried all of those varietals, I am skeptical that having them would increase wine sales at the vast majority of decent restaurants. For instance, I'm not even sure most casual wine drinkers know offhand the difference between Alsatian and Mosul area Rieslings (much less the intricate differences within those regions) and the different food combinations there.

As for better trained servers, which I do see as the possible solution to this problem of lack of knowledge--that should be in and of itself a study. If someone has the 10 things a sommelier should never do, one of them is certainly going to be, 'give customers a detailed lecture on the intricacies of white wine varietals.'

Best,

Joel