Six weeks after inaugurating an iPad wine list, one top Atlanta restaurant is reporting an uptick in sales and interest with patrons ordering more — and often more expensive — wines.
Bones offers a 1,350 label wine list, loaded with descriptions and ratings, including those from wine writer Robert M. Parker Jr. The owners say wine purchases shot up overnight — about 11 percent higher per diner in the first two weeks compared with the previous three weeks, with no obvious alternative explanation. The New York Times reports that other restaurateurs who are experimenting with iPad wine lists, from Sydney to London to Central Park South, report similar results.
“I felt like they had given me the answer sheet to the test,” said Bradley D. Kendall, a Bone’s regular who recently used the iPad to select a 2005 Corté Riva cabernet franc for $102, about 25 percent beyond his usual range.