Posted: Thursday, 22 September 2011 11:09

Blog: Poor Value Pour by the Glass at Oberoi

The de facto size of a glass in India has shifted to 150 mL from 125 mL as was the practice several years ago when most restaurants used to charge for 150 mL and pour only 125 mL because of lack of transparency on the Wine Lists and lack of storage equipment like Enometic machine, resulting in some wastage. Almost every restaurant now mentions the quantity poured per glass at the bottom of the list which is quite fair to the customer and the host of the evening.

Not at OberoiD-or LeelaG 

But at Hotel Oberoi, they give you 150 ml (5 glasses to a bottle) but make you pay 25% more- for187 mL, at 4 glasses to a bottle. The reason given to me at the Oberoi Delhi was that every time a customer asked for a glass of wine, they served him 30 mL free to try out and see if the wine was ok. 30 mL?! Please!! I have never been offered wine to taste whenever I ordered by the glass anywhere unless I asked for a taste if the bottle was already open. Most people are too intimidated to even dream of asking for a taste. 30 mL! That is equivalent to a small glass (peg) of liquor- which the restaurant claims to give free to every customer at the table. (Imagine two people ordering a glass each of the same wine and being offered a tasting portion of 30 mL).

Some restaurants do give a slight benefit for ordering a bottle. Says Arindam Chakraborty, F & B Director at the Claridges says, ‘We work backwards from the price by the glass. If our costing allows us to charge Rs.500 a glass of 150 mL, we would price the bottle at around 15% discount’ Thus, the bottle may be priced at around Rs.2150-2200.’

Make 125 mL a standard pour

Personally, I am a staunch supporter of 125 mL pour in India and charging at a sixth of the bottle price. With wines being so expensive, the lower price might motivate a customer to try a  glass. A wine connoisseur would also have an opportunity to taste 2-3 different wines if he so chooses. I do not buy the argument advanced sometimes that the novices feel cheated looking at ‘such a small portion’ in a big stemware. A good sommelier should always explain politely-if needed check out the measure (petrol pumps are obliged to do it and the petrol is so much cheaper than wine!). This is part of wine education, I believe. When I suspect the discrepancy, I tell them to bring the wine in a small glass and get me a bigger glass separately to pour the wine for drinking. There is no shame in doing so-unfortunately, there are restaurants where the bartender or sommelier may try to cheat a little- it happens in other countries as well.

A Few Comparisons

Here are a few of the prices in various restaurants/hotels picked up at random during my visit to them. The only criterion was that if I saw the list, I have published here, even though Leela Gurgaon was an unexpected shock.