Bay Area Restaurants Sell Off Rare Wines To Stay Afloat: Report

LOS GATOS, CA — Restaurants across the country are looking for new streams of revenue now that customers are forbidden to dine-in thanks to the coronavirus outbreak. While take-out and pick-up meals may work for mid-scale eateries, part of the value of a high-end restaurant is the ambiance, which can't be packaged on the go.

That's why some upscale restaurants in the Bay Area have begun selling off some of their rarest wines, according to a new report from the San Francisco Chronicle. The report says Manresa restaurant in Los Gatos has sold over $50,000 in collectible wines since their doors closed, and many others have sold tens of thousands of dollars worth in wine as well. The Heirloom Cafe has even set up a wine club that costs $5,000 to $10,000 just to join, but promises rare wines for years to come.

$10,000 sounds like a lot of money to a layman, but to collectors these are low-ball prices, wines priced to-sell so that the restaurants can quickly gather the money they need to stay out of the red. In the report, the Chronicle speaks to several restaurateurs struggling to balance the price of wine sales with their actual value, and the fear of selling off their cellars,which are often seen as an important investment only to be tapped out in an emergency.

Restaurants have also found differing ways to cope like Lazy Bear, which has turned itself into "general store-style commisary" selling sandwiches and cookies, and the Heirloom has started a more modestly-priced online wine tasting conference hosted over Zoom, where customers buy wine bottles in advance and taste them online together.

Read the full report from the San Fransisco Chronicle here.