Qualitative and Quantitative Engineering Criteria of Restaurant Wine Lists

Globalisation has increased competition in the wine market. In this context, wine salespeople may find it useful to understand how restaurant owners design their wine lists, as this might give them ideas about which wines would suit their current wine lists. Our research aims at analysing experts' opinions about wine list structure and content as well as restaurant menu engineering criteria. Using both a qualitative and a quantitative analysis, we examine a sample of upscale restaurants. Results shows that the wine list is mainly a very personal instrument as a result of a combination of wine love, innovation and risk, used by the restaurant owner for projecting the restaurant image.