A moving experience: sommeliers and restaurant owners are finding that flights, aggressive promotions and value offerings are driving wine sales.

Jim Alexander, chef and owner of Charlotte, N.C.'s Zebra Restaurant & Wine Bar, puts in bluntly: Selling wine and putting on a good wine event has gotten a lot harder. The American consumer is steadily becoming more educated about wine, and competition from other bars and restaurants is intense. Then there's the struggling economy.

Yet Alexander, whose French restaurant seats 90 and offers roughly 35 wines by the glass priced from $7 to $24, is meeting the challenge by keeping his wine lineup diverse, interesting and priced well. He's also making wine events fun.

One example is Zebra's informal Friday tastings, which bring in between 30 and 50 guests a night and features $10 appetizers and anywhere from four to six 1.5- to 2-ounce tastings. "We've learned that people are more interested in having a good time than they are in being educated," says Alexander.

A good time was proprietor and wine director Pamela S. Busch's idea behind "So You Think You Can Taste?" A college basketball tournament-inspired competition at San Francisco's Cav Wine Bar & Kitchen, the program offers 20 five-ounce wine pours priced from $7 to $24.

The competition began in March and extended into April, with the finals held in May. Each Monday and Tuesday, guests paid $7 to sample a mystery wine and write down their guesses regarding country, region, grape (or grapes) and age of what was just tasted. Each correct answer was worth one point. Naming the correct producer was worth two points. Some wines, deemed more difficult, were worth double credit.

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"It's interactive between us and the guests," say manager and bartender Philip Webb. "They have more fun because they have a little challenge in front of them. It's like a crossword puzzle of wine."

COST AND CREATIVITY

At Zebra, Alexander took a different approach to wine dinners this April when he brought in winemaker Greg La Follette of Sebastopol, Calif.-based Tandem Winery. He offered a six-wine "Tandem Tutored Wine Tasting" guided by La Follette for $20, followed by a three-course dinner with the winemaker for an additional $45.

"We're being a little more creative to react to the market," notes Alexander, referring to the decoupled tasting and dinner.

The economic downturn requires operators to give more thought to promotions and selection, agrees Robert Lemberger, wine buyer at Artichoke Cafe in Albuquerque, New Mexico. "A lot of people are tightening their belts a little bit and wanting something a little more affordable," Lemberger says. Yet, "I run the broad spectrum because there are people that are still willing to pay for quality and high-end wines, so [this is] the main reason for diversity in my wines by the glass."

That diversity is found in Artichoke's 27 by-the-glass six-ounce pours, which range from $6.50 to $12. "Our price point depends on the wine, the rarity of it, and who else is pouring it in town," Lemberger says. "Some of our wines make a little more money for us, but from our profits on low-end wines, we can afford to put out a high-end wine and sell it by the glass."

Artichoke's Happy Hour, which features a selected red and white wine for $5 a glass during weekdays, has proved successful during the downturn. "People are looking for value," says Lemberger, "and we supply a good one with that."

Similarly successful has been Phillips Seafood's "WineDown at Phillips" program, first offered at five of its six East Coast locations in 2007. Every Thursday, the Baltimore-based chain offers wines by the bottle at half price.

Last year, the chain added $10 wine flights to its list of 26 by-the-glass offerings, which range from $5.50 to $16 for six-ounce pours. Phillips initially menued preselected flights, but this February the company expanded the program to allow guests to choose any three wines from the by-the-glass list.

"We feel folks like variety, and why not let them create their own flights," says Jennifer Cooke, Phillips' corporate trainer and beverage director. "We have seen sales dramatically increase by opening this and allowing them to choose a chardonnay, merlot and a riesling together if they wish."

The key to wine profitability is clear, says Cooke. "We need to continue to train, have creative contests, ensure our staff is clear on what is being marketed and sell more."

Castagna Restaurant, a midsize European-influenced restaurant in Portland, Ore., also has found success with its Thursday evening flight program. Launched in March, the program explores wines from small producers in lesser-known regions. Flights are priced at $15 a la carte, and can be accompanied by a four-course meal for an additional $30.

"The reaction has been very positive," says sommelier Jack Hott. "It's allowing people to engage the wine list in a way that's a little more active and exploratory rather than being passive and just picking something off the list."

Typically, Castagna limits its by-the-glass offerings to three reds, three whites and three sparkling wines, priced from $8 to $15. "We really want to pick the wines to match the menu," Hott says, "and since the menu is seasonal and constantly changing, we want the wines to do the same thing."

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Profitability varies on a flight program, he adds, depending on the cost of the dinner, so Castagna balances its profits over the series. Some flights might not net a profit, but Hott is looking at the long term.

"We're bringing people in and showing them wines that they enjoy," he says. "We create that relationship with them so that when they come in on a normal night and want a bottle suggestion, we're able to put something in their hands they might not have asked for or looked for otherwise. So it's really creating that level of trust with the customer."

Creating trust is the key to any wine program, says Alexander. "The perfect by-the-glass sale is when you pay for the bottle with the first glass," he notes. "But you can't do that on most of them. We try to keep everything tempered. We don't want to get greedy."

Johnny D. Boggs is a Santa Fe, N.M.-based freelance writer and novelist.