E6.75 for a glass of wine. Rip off?

I went to one restaurant for lunch earlier this year on St.Stephens Green where the tables were all set with the nice linen tablecloth, good cutlery and two wine glasses on the table. Not feeling like a bottle of wine I ordered a glass. Well what a laugh! From the backroom came this small wine glass, the type we used to get free with a tenners worth of petrol back in the eighties. I was gobsmacked as the generous and sparkling glasses were whipped off the table and replaced with this thing that contained a couple of mouthfulls. Size matters!
 
Purple said:
I'd guess you'd get 6 glasses max from a bottle of Pinot Grigio. Therefore they make €40.50 on the bottle rather than €30. That's an extra €10.50. However the bottle might not be used so you would have to allow for wastage. There is also a labour cost in supplying wine by the glass, extra glasses used etc. So €6.75 per glass, while on the high side, is not a rip off (or an excessively high price).

In my opinion a major cause of what people think of as our “Rip-off” culture is the low prices that people see in Spain and Portugal. I have attached a list of minimum wage rates for some western countries below. The figures given are for gross monthly income, without overtime, for someone on the minimum wage. Therefore the disparity is greater than suggested below since out direct taxes are much lower than most northern European countries. The % of people on the minimum wage is also important (in Spain it’s over 10%) as is the distribution of wealth.
What really matters as a measure of how expensive things are is purchasing power (Big Mac index, Starbucks coffee index etc). If you look at that then Ireland is not that expensive.
Personally I would rather live in a country that tries not to economically disenfranchise it’s poor, even if that means a glass of wine is a bit more expensive than it might be.

International comparison of monthly statutory national minimum wage rates, January 2003 Country

Luxembourg
1,369 260
Netherlands
1,249 237
Belgium
1,163 221
France
1,154 219
UK
1,105 210
Ireland
1,073 204
USA
877 142
Spain
526 100
Portugal
416 79

Source: Eurostat.

If you look at here you will see that we are ranked 8th out of 22 in a European study of real purchasing power. That would lead me to conclude that there is no real "Rip off" (or more correctly, profiteering) culture in Ireland. I agree with ClubMan’s definition of a rip off and think that the phrase is used far too loosely.
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This post will be deleted if not edited immediately! Sorry I asked!!
 
orka said:
But the thread as originally intended hasn't run its course. All the OP wanted was a discussion on whether 6.75 is expensive for a glass of wine (did anyone genuinely think it was about being overcharged compared to a list price?) and instead he had his english usage criticised.
I don't know the hotel or where it is but I wouldn't consider E6.75 madly excessive and have happily paid more in the past. But fair play to the OP for talking with his feet (too slangish?) if he felt it was overpriced for the wine quality and the standard of the hotel.
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Thank you Orka. I was just wondering what people thought.
 
orka said:
But fair play to the OP for talking with his feet (too slangish?) if he felt it was overpriced for the wine quality and the standard of the hotel.
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But he didn't! He didn't forego the purchase of the wine in question and was obviously prepared (whatever about being content) to pay €6.75 for it. Because that's exactly what he did. As far as I can see he did not apprise himself of the price in advance which is not a good idea and is obviously a recipe for (possibly bad) surprise when presented with the bill. Obviously checking price lists in a licensed premises seems like some sort of whacky idea to some people but maybe they just like surprises and/or moaning about being ripped off (sic.) or something. Fair enough he did forego eating a meal in the establishment which is another matter.
 
Is there a standard size or measure of wine glass that is used in the industry? It seems you can order a pint or half pint of beer and a small or large glass of spirit that is regulated but when you order a glass of wine what is the measure that you should expect?
 
According to this link it's 10g or 12.7mL. I don't know how a bar is meant to calculate this as alcohol levels in wine vary quite a bit.
 
ClubMan said:
But he didn't! He didn't forego the purchase of the wine in question and was obviously prepared (whatever about being content) to pay €6.75 for it. Because that's exactly what he did. As far as I can see he did not apprise himself of the price in advance which is not a good idea and is obviously a recipe for (possibly bad) surprise when presented with the bill. Obviously checking price lists in a licensed premises seems like some sort of whacky idea to some people but maybe they just like surprises and/or moaning about being ripped off (sic.) or something. Fair enough he did forego eating a meal in the establishment which is another matter.
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Live and learn Clubman. This was a place that I would visit regularly and always with large groups of people. We all agreed that it would be our last visit. Last year I paid E21.50 for a Bacardi and Coke in the South of France. The place was fabulous. Great views, wonderful service. Basically I paid for the experience. I felt E6.75 for a glass of wine in a very AVERAGE hotel was not worth it. Just my opinion. And for the record, I feel the majority of Irish people would feel the term "rip-off" and "over-priced" have the same meaning. Think Eddie Hobbes and "Rip Off Republic"! It was about how we are being overcharged (ripped-off) for entertainment, wine, amongst others.
 
jake108 said:
Last year I paid E21.50 for a Bacardi and Coke in the South of France.

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And for the record, I feel the majority of Irish people would feel the term "rip-off" and "over-priced" have the same meaning.
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By that reasoning your French round of drinks was a rip-off too so?
 
jake108 said:
This was a place that I would visit regularly and always with large groups of people.
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And you were not au fait with the prices that they charged? Seems odd...
Last year I paid E21.50 for a Bacardi and Coke in the South of France. The place was fabulous. Great views, wonderful service. Basically I paid for the experience.
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Roughly how would you apportion the total price between drinks themselves, service, views, experience/ambiance in each case?
I felt E6.75 for a glass of wine in a very AVERAGE hotel was not worth it. Just my opinion.
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Fair enough - not worth it in your opinion perhaps. But not a rip-off as you originally asked in the thread title. Especially since the prices were presumably clearly on display for you to read before deciding to make a purchase. Not bothering to do so and making a purchase on spec is your own decision and any surprise at the price that arises after the fact cannot be called a rip-off. If you didn't like the prices why didn't you decline when after the drinks were poured by before you paid over the money?
And for the record, I feel the majority of Irish people would feel the term "rip-off" and "over-priced" have the same meaning.
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Your French drink sounds like a rip-off judged by that criterion.
Think Eddie Hobbes and "Rip Off Republic"! It was about how we are being overcharged (ripped-off) for entertainment, wine, amongst others.
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Not everybody buys into EH's world view.
 
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