The aim of this study is to better understand restaurant owners’ strategies when selecting wines to be offered on a wine list. The study is based on a survey with 68 restaurant owners in France, using the Best‐Worst approach. Results show that restaurateurs have in mind a set of strategies underlying wine list design, including: ‘Preference for local wine product’, ‘Tastes good’, ‘Matching wine with food menu’, and ‘Competitive price fit for the price range of food’. More market‐driven strategies such as choosing ‘Popular wines’ or ‘Highly reputed brand’ are not considered to be as important. Further investigations reveal minor differences in the wine menu strategies for different types of restaurant.