Being in the U.S., I am used to seeing high prices for wine in restaurants. At even casual restaurants, you can expect to spend somewhere between $8-20 for a glass of wine. If you want a bottle, you’d be lucky to get one for less than $50. If you got that same bottle at your local wine shop, it would likely be somewhere between $8-20. But that’s the price (markup) you pay for enjoying a bottle while dining out, and you just accept it. Bottles are pricey, so it’s more common here to order wine by the glass, if you choose to have wine at all. You’ll often see a longer list of wines by the glass, and then a smaller selection of wines by the bottle. Or, if you’re at a place that has a sommelier, you may have a completely separate menu for wine that has long lists of wine by the bottle.

So when we first went out in Santiago, I was a bit surprised when I noticed that when we were given wine lists, the prices listed… were for the bottle. You’d have a long list of about 10-20 Chilean wine bottles with extremely reasonable (under $20 USD) prices noted next to them. And then, on the bottom of the list, you’d see one or two “copa” (glass) options and their prices. The prices for the glasses were usually somewhere between $4-7. But when you have bottle options that are between $10-20, it would actually be a better value to just get the full bottle. Even if you aren’t good at math, you can see the bottle price works out better. So just live a little and get the freaking bottle!

Chileans enjoy their wine. They enjoy their company with wine. And so, given that, they will order the bottle and enjoy it. Plus, it’s relatively affordable to do so (I’d assume it’s like this because we’re closer to the source, wine is just part of their culture, and there are likely far fewer middle men involved). And while we’re here, we’ll enjoy more bottles, much to Chris’s excitment. I haven’t been drinking much at all, barely a drink a week, if even that, since I started consciously trying to lose weight back in September of last year (weight I somehow gained after weaning from breastfeeding; the fun never ends in postpartum, does it…?! It made me wonder: when does “postpartum” ever end, if ever..?). So this will be a temporary change for me. So while in South America, I will imbibe and enjoy!