Wine has been steadily catching up to beer as the beverage of choice in North America for years. And many predict beer will be passed by wine in the very near future as the drink of choice.

Is your golf course ready for the revolution?

Chances are you could be selling a lot more wine if you stocked an attractive list that appeals to the greatest number of people. No one is saying that a cold beer will suddenly be supplanted by a well-chilled Chardonnay but chances are you can attract more golfers and keep them in your lounge longer with a decent wine list.

The problem with most golf courses is in the choice of wines. Keeping a couple of cheap red and white wines behind your bar only minimizes the kind of profits that are out there.

Golfers by nature have a little more cash to part with than your average beer-and-hotdog sports fan. And with more and more women teeing it up, a selection of wines is a must.

So where to start?

1) Evaluate your wine list. If you don’t have the knowledge or you are not a wine drinker yourself, seek help from your members or regular golfers and ask them what they like to drink after a hard day on the links, or later relaxing with a good meal in the dining room. If you need further help there are several ways to go about it.

• Contact your liquor board (for most provinces in Canada, a governing liquor board such as the LCBO has consultants on hand to help you come up with a list that is practical for you).

• Get help from a wine agency (there’s a pretty good list of Ontario wine agents here: www.gremolata.com/wineagents.htm Keep in mind that you want an agent that is big enough to provide the diversity you want on your list. Also, keep in mind that the agency you choose will obviously only recommend wines in its portfolio, which is fine if it has a large portfolio, but not good if it’s small. You can check out the wines each agency has in its portfolio by checking the individual websites.

• Get help from an independent consultant. You can ask a wine expert’s opinion of what should be on your wine list and he or she will tell you how to go about ordering the wines. The wine expert can assist with all aspects of your wine program from choosing the wines, to making tasting notes on the wines, to hints on storing the wines, and even helping staff serve the wines. A good place to start looking for a consultant is at the Wine Writers’ Circle of Canada (www.winewriterscircle.ca) which is a professional association of Canadian beverage alcohol writers armed with enough wine knowledge to help you build a good wine program. Prices for these consultants will vary depending on what you need.

2) Know your limitations. That involves knowing your clients and what they want. The goal is to have an alternative to rum and coke, Caesars and draught beer, but not replacing them completely. A good wine list can ramp up profits if it’s an attractive lineup of wines. But a good list doesn’t necessarily mean a big list. Golf courses just don’t have the space to store wines that, for the most part, have a shelf life and need to be consumed before they turn to vinegar, or you close for the season. Consider these basic realities.

• You need to be able to keep track of the wines you have (along with help from your agent) and monitor what sells and what doesn’t. Most golf course managers have enough to deal with without having so large a wine list that they can lose track of what’s selling and what’s not. Keep it simple with a few wines, both red and white, that are interesting enough to help increase sales.

• Keeping it simple. My own head golf professional at the Rideauview Golf and Country in Manotick, Ont., Paul Sherratt, likes to tell me how much he loves the wonderful Montrachets from France. Let’s see, a quick check at www.lcbo.com shows a Louis Latour Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2002 on sale for the bargain basement price of $296.50. That’s per bottle! Even Sherratt isn’t suggesting selling the world’s best Chardonnay at Rideauview. But there is a decent, affordable one for sale there. And all sorts of other popular grape varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Pinot Noir for the reds and Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling for the whites.

• Price. You need to find a really good “house wine” that appeals to the most people for the least amount of money. Find a brand that has both a popular red and white. After that, stock wines at different price points up to a threshold you think your golfers can handle. In other words, a well-used public course in the middle of cottage country is not likely to sell many $50 bottles of wine. Adjust accordingly.

3) And finally, have fun with your wines. It’s made for the pure enjoyment of consumers looking to relax and unwind. It’s not rocket science. Stock some funky brands such as Fat Bastard, Goats Do Roam and other quirky names from reputable brands that will grab the attention of consumers. And make sure to have some Greg Norman, Mike Weir, Wayne Gretzky and Dan Aykroyd wines on hand. They’ll sell like hot cakes!

Questions? I’d be happy to help. Contact me at:

rickwine@hotmail.com

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