Strange Wine Pricing

[Meat Puppet]

Does anyone know why Amtrak sells 187ML of wine for $5.25 and 375ML of wine for $13.00?

This is out of the norm as most wines & liquors are less expensive when bought in larger amounts.

A full bottle of wine typically contains 750ML. So if you wanted to buy the equivalant of a full bottle of wine for dinner on Amtrak, You actually save $5 by having them bring it in 4 containers instead of 2.

 

[warbonnet]

Yes, it's way overpriced.......supply and demand....just like on an airplane at 40,000 feet. If the train you are on offers wine tasting, it's your opportunity to pick up a full bottle at a reasonable price for dinner. The dining car crew will be happy to keep it for you until you show up in the diner at dinnertime. Be sure you tip accordingly.

Wb

 

[AlanB]

The 187ML bottle is handed to you by the LSA in the cafe car and it's up to you to unscrew the top and pour it into a plastic glass.

The half bottle is served to you by a "waiter" at your table, uncorked by the waiter, and poured into a real wine glass(normally). They also tend to be better wines than those served in the cafe car.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

The 187ML bottle is handed to you by the LSA in the cafe car and it's up to you to unscrew the top and pour it into a plastic glass.
The half bottle is served to you by a "waiter" at your table, uncorked by the waiter, and poured into a real wine glass(normally). They also tend to be better wines than those served in the cafe car.

so your paying for the labor.

 

[guest tippler]

Maybe Meat Puppet can add a wine press to the cooking apparatus he plans for his roomette!

 

[Guest]

They also tend to be better wines than those served in the cafe car.

IMHO, that's it. Its pretty normal for the price of wine to vary, by vineyard and year (ie, it is quality not quantity that sets the price).

 

[caravanman]

On my recent trip on Indian trains, there was no alcohol available at all, but in the "posher" hotels there, the waiters had obviously either seen movies or been trained to show the lable on the BEER bottle to the customer, as if it was a fancy wine. We also noticed spirits on sale, the name: Bon King.

Chin, Chin..

Ed

 

[D T Nelson]

Does anyone know why Amtrak sells 187ML of wine for $5.25 and 375ML of wine for $13.00?This is out of the norm as most wines & liquors are less expensive when bought in larger amounts.

A full bottle of wine typically contains 750ML. So if you wanted to buy the equivalant of a full bottle of wine for dinner on Amtrak, You actually save $5 by having them bring it in 4 containers instead of 2.

I have always considered a full bottle to contain five glasses, not four, and a half-bottle two-and-a-half glasses. But I'm no oenophile, so I could be all wrong about that. Anyway, at dinner on the first day of my most recent trip on the Empire Builder, one of my table-mates and I decided to go halfsies on a half-bottle, thinking we would get a little more that way, and the attendant up-sold us, thus: "For only two dollars more, I can sell you a full bottle." We went for that.

I wonder why they don't put the full bottle on the menu. Maybe because people would see the favorable pricing, and order it, cutting into the profits? Or maybe because people would order it and then feel obligated to drink it all, (a) lingering over a dinner table that needs to be turned, and (b) getting more tipsy than they had planned. (I know I experienced (b) after splitting that bottle, on top of the EB's start-of-trip champagne.)

 

[sweet tea]

...or © because what's on board only bears a passing resemblance to what's on the menu. That was the case on my recent CL trip, where the menu listed both glasses ($5) and half-bottles ($13). I tried to order a glass (as my wife didn't want the same kind and I didn't want to get schnockered), but actually only had half-bottles.

(Nor did they have all of the lunch options listed on the menu, come lunch time the next day.)

 

[GAT]

...or © because what's on board only bears a passing resemblance to what's on the menu. That was the case on my recent CL trip, where the menu listed both glasses ($5) and half-bottles ($13). I tried to order a glass (as my wife didn't want the same kind and I didn't want to get schnockered), but actually only had half-bottles.
(Nor did they have all of the lunch options listed on the menu, come lunch time the next day.)

Are you allowed to take an unfinished bottle back to your sleeping accomodation? Or back to your coach seat, for that matter?

 

[wayman]

Are you allowed to take an unfinished bottle back to your sleeping accomodation? Or back to your coach seat, for that matter?

Yes to both; I do it all the time.

 

[AlanB]

Are you allowed to take an unfinished bottle back to your sleeping accomodation? Or back to your coach seat, for that matter?

Yes to both; I do it all the time.

Agreed.

 

[AlanB]

I wonder why they don't put the full bottle on the menu. Maybe because people would see the favorable pricing, and order it, cutting into the profits? Or maybe because people would order it and then feel obligated to drink it all, (a) lingering over a dinner table that needs to be turned, and (b) getting more tipsy than they had planned. (I know I experienced (b) after splitting that bottle, on top of the EB's start-of-trip champagne.)

The Empire Builder is one of two trains that have wine tastings, the other being the Coast Starlight. Amtrak stocks those trains with extra bottles of wine for sale, this way if someone likes one of the wines that they've tasted, they can buy a bottle either to consume on the train or to bring home.

This is why the SA was able to sell you a 750ML bottle of wine. It's not on the menu because it's not typically sold as part of the meal, but as part of the wine tasting.

 

[DaveKCMO]

rule #1 for long amtrak rides: BYOB (except in the dining car)

 

[AlanB]

rule #1 for long amtrak rides: BYOB (except in the dining car)

But only if you have a sleeper, as you cannot consume private stock in coach.