Tax it, baby

Just a short comment on DI Weekend's review of El Bulli. I'm glad the critic enjoyed his meal, and didn't choke on his wine when it came to pay the bill. However, I feel that it's a hit below the belt to claim that Swedish restaurants charge an overtly large amount of money for their wine menus. By his estimate the wine menu (which, as far as I can understand, consisted of two bottles of wine) was 20% of the bill. Now I don't know if he's at all acquainted with Swedish alcohol laws, but let me tell you, they're not to be underestimated. Sweden has one of the highest taxes on alcohol in the world. In fact, when we as a restaurant sell wine, we're paying tax twice. This is not the case in Spain, especially not on wines that are grown in the country (no import costs). It's a well-known fact that restaurants make a profit not by selling food, but by selling wine and other alcoholic beverages. I understand that with all the hype El Bulli must seem cheap in comparison to Swedish haute cuisine, but they're taking the same percent profit that we are, if not more. And hey - if we could serve 44 courses at around 70 SEK each to a full 50 people every night of the year, well, we could probably pack in selling wine all together. You do the math. So don't slam us for Swedish politicians miserable attitude. We really don't deserve it.