San Francisco’s proximity to wine country makes it more likely that the wine lists you’re handed include local, delicious wines. And you might expect that those bottles are less expensive than you’d find elsewhere in the country, since it’s just a little truck ride for the crates over the Golden Gate Bridge.
However, a recent study by kitchen supplier Magnet shows that San Franciscans actually pay a lot more for a bottle of wine than other U.S. cities—in fact, we’re tied with Oakland, also a quick drive away from Napa and Sonoma, as the third most expensive city for doing so.
The most expensive city for a bottle of wine is New York, where the price averages $20, according to the data from Numbeo. Why is that? The study says, “The city has high excise taxes for wine (30 percent per gallon) as well as additional tax on sales of wine with over 24 percent alcohol by volume, meaning prices are higher than in other cities.”
The second highest is, oddly, Columbus, Ohio, where the average bottle sets you back $18. Why so expensive? According to The Columbus Dispatch, alcohol prices are “set by suppliers, who build in a 30 percent state markup, per Ohio law.” Yikes!
And then we get to San Francisco and Oakland, where the average bottle goes for $17.75. California has high taxes for alcohol, especially wine, the report says. The excise tax is 20 cents per gallon for wine, and the sales tax is 7.25 percent.
Arizona, too, apparently must have some hefty excise taxes, since three of its cities are in the top 10.
It’s interesting to know that the least expensive bottles worldwide are found in Cordoba, Spain, where you can pay the equivalent of $3.55 for a wonderful Andalusian bottle, tied with Rome, where the same price gets you something from the sun-touched Italian hillsides. And that’s why we travel, people!
Here are the 10 most expensive U.S. cities for a bottle of wine:
1. New York
2. Columbus
3. San Francisco and Oakland
4. Philadelphia
5. Washington, D.C.
6. Denver
7. Tucson
8. Phoenix
9. Mesa, AZ
10. Miami