A phrase that has become as much a part of a pub-goers' bar-call repertoire as a "pint of lager" and a "packet of pork scratchings", is "a glass of house red". It's a term commonly used by customers and barstaff alike. So why is it when I got my team of drinks medics together to ask a selection of drinks buyers and wine experts their opinions on house wine quality in pubs they got this response?
"The concept of house wines is something that we've discussed quite a bit internally. We're trying to move away from it."Pierpaolo Petrassi, senior wine buyer, Waverley TBS
"To be honest, I think that having a house wine is really old hat these days. We don't have house wines in any of our operations. For some customers the concept of a house wine is security, but these days the majority will probably regard house wine as a bit cheap and nasty. House wines are often bought in en masse because they're inexpensive."Tim Bird, operations director, EP
"The term is perhaps a little archaic and we tend not to recommend its use. Instead we recommend customers advertise the name of the wine or wines when there is a small selection."Simon Haywood, wine category manager, Matthew Clark
Traditional problems
The trouble is house wine stands for everything that has been bad about wine in this country. Ten years ago it was cheap, cheerful and pretty grim stuff to drink, as Jonathan Pedley master of wine confirms. "There is no doubt the phrase house wine has been synonymous with some pretty awful plonk over the years," he says.
The main reason for this, he says, was that licensees used to rely on good old-fashioned French vins de tables to tempt customers away from their pints of mild. Quite literally translated as table wine, most vins de tables are red and very much from the bottom end of the market. The labels show no region of origin or detail on grape variety.
But is house wine really that bad? While the term "house wine" does have negative connotations, there is no doubt that many consumers will use the term when in a pub.
People do find wine lists and being directly asked to choose a wine intimidating. "House wine" is an easy and comforting thing to be able to fall back on.
So are we being unbearable snobs for suggesting the end of the concept of house wine?NO - it is not good enough
As Jason Danciger, sales and marketing director at Laurel Pub Company, sees it, your house wines are your pub's ground troops. They are the first place most consumers will go to when they order wine. So, if it is not up to the mark then why on earth would they want to trade up to the more premium wines on your list?
"I think generally a lot of pubs are not putting their best foot forward. As a rule of thumb you can be pretty disappointed with the quality of house wines in pubs," he argues.
Part of the problem is retailers can use house wine as an excuse to buy something cheap and put big mark-ups on it. Some do it to push customers to trade up to a more expensive wine - something Jason sees as foolish:
"If you sell really poor, cheap wine that tastes like vinegar as a house wine in an effort to force people to trade up, it really won't work. And undoubtedly I know people do this."
Meanwhile, others put big mark-ups on to make big profits - something that is seen as incredibly counterproductive by Pierpaolo Petrassi of Waverley TBS.
"Another thing we're doing is to work on the whole cash margin scenario," he says. "We want to convince sellers to take a different approach. Rather than thinking they should make the cheapest wine a house wine because they can buy it in cheaply, we want them to flag up the mid-range and sell it as better value.
That way customers will go away thinking 'that was a fantastic wine and a great experience'."
YES - the quality of entry-level wine has improved immeasurably
The consensus of several wine experts in the trade is that the quality of house or entry-level wines have dramatically improved. "Much improvement has been made at the inexpensive end of the market," says Jonathan Pedley.
"In France better technology has led to increased competence in wine making - which was needed for it to compete with the New World. The buyers are much more focused on getting quality, the consumer is more knowledgeable and discerning, and the care of wine is much better than it was."
Another big reason is the replacement of French vins de tables by the more premium vins de pays, which come from specific places and are made according to quite strict rules. Their emergence has been enormously beneficial to quality, according to Jonathan. "The French vins de pays we now have available totally eclipse the vins de tables and they only cost 10p to 50p more," he says. "Paying the premium doesn't just buy you a better wine but also gives you a grape varietal and a wine from a specific place. Basically it feels more like a real wine."
Simon Haywood, wine category manager at Matthew Clark, agrees that things have improved but suggests more can be done. "We believe that the standard of entry-level wines has increased dramatically over the past two or three years, although there is room for improvement.
"Interestingly, we have also seen the growth of branded wines out performing other wines. This perhaps indicates the security these wines provide to consumers who are not aware of other wines on the list."
So what should you do?
The fact is there is no correct answer to this conundrum. To simply dismiss house wines is to dismiss half your drinking audience who still uses the term.
The only sure answer is to try and ensure your barstaff are equipped with the knowledge to improve customers' basic understanding of wine, as Jason explains. "We could all get fabulously pretentious and say we don't have house wine but the fact is consumers will still come in and ask for it," he says. "If a customer asks for house and the bartender leaps on that and says 'we have got this fabulous, plummy merlot that you could try', then I think you will have cracked it."
Pierpaolo says Waverley has been working hard to try and increase the offer of entry-level wines in pubs.
"We're putting a lot of time and effort into evolving decent wine lists," he says.
"We run an incentive scheme for the sales guys and have regional contests. We're also trying to steer away from just describing something as a house wine and are attempting to get people to look into the different wines available by using funkier descriptions on the wine lists - ones that are a bit more off-the-wall without being patronising or over-technical."
Case Study 1 - EP"Wine still needs to move on," says Tim Bird, operations director at EP. "We have a wine of the month, which is sold at a set price, which changes every month. We're taking a bottle for people to try and selling it for less. It's essentially educating people at a cheaper price.
"The wines of the month have been selling like hot cakes. Some customers have latched on to a new favourite wine and continue to buy it after the month is up. Others continue to try and experiment among the different wines of the month.
"We're also ensuring that we offer a good and balanced range of wines on our lists. Our Nostalgic Inns pubs, for example, may have up to 12 red and 12 white wines on the list."
Case Study 2 - Laurel Pub Company"You need to look at the commercial equations with wine," says Laurel's Jason Danciger. "The point is finding value for money with a pleasant-tasting drink.
"With French wines it's about working out the logistics. We go directly to the grower and cut out the middle man which saves us roughly 10p per bottle.
This means we can spend 2p to 3p more per bottle on be