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Abstract

We examine the presence and evolution of wines on the menus of New York City’s restaurants over the period 1865-1920. We use data from the New York Public Library for a sample of 850’000 restaurant menu items and 51’000 wines over the sample period. We find that wine was already commonly present on the menus of NYC restaurants in 1865 and its presence increased up until 1914 when it started to significantly drop with the outbreak of WWI. Casual restaurants offered a narrower wine selection. Special menus display a significantly higher probability of containing wine but with a more limited choice indicating that wine was especially appreciated on special occasions.We document that French wines, especially from Bordeaux and Champagne, were the most represented on menus followed by wines form Germany. Wine mostly sold in a price span of between 25 and 40 USD (in 2018 terms).

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