Demystifying Wine Markup

Last week I got a chance to hear a number of chefs speak at an event to promote the newly launched American Express San Francisco Dish site. In a panel discussion local chefs participating in the site including Traci Des Jardins, Laurent Manrique, Elizabeth Falkner and Daniel Patterson spoke on a variety of issues. My burning question was about what those chefs/restauranteurs consider to be a reasonable wine markup and why. I am trying to familiarize myself with wine prices and better understand markup and often find it baffling. Less expensive wines are sometimes marked up quite a bit, expensive wines less so. Sometimes the markup is 2 times retail other times 3 times, 4 times or more.