For some reason in NJ, the state is very tight with liquor licenses and thus many new restaurants don't have liquor licenses----it's rather annoying actually. Do they charge a corking fee if they are not able to serve alcohol? Anyone know?

Every restaurant I have been to without a liquor license has never charged a corkage fee. However, there are some quaint regions of the country with "dry" towns (I'm thinking of Martha's Vineyard, for example) where some of the restaurants seem to have marked up the dinner prices because people are bringing their own booze.

You drink two bottles apiece? Yikes!

The absolute minimum you should tip, unless the service was unacceptible in which case you would tip nothing and have a conversation with management instead, is 15% of the food cost.

I think it's ridiculous to tip more than $20/person for dinner no matter what you eat or drink.

In that situation I would leave 20% of the food bill.

QL

I wish more restaurants would encourage customers to bring their own wines. I am a huge supporter of modest corkage fees -- it shouldn't ever be more than $15, in my opinion. After all, they don't have to do anything with your wine except open it. In general, wine lists are so preposterously overpriced and filled with poor selection, I look at them only for amusement. And, for the most part, I don't find wines on them that I want to drink because all their selections are far too young. (Try finding a 1997 Napa Cabernet on wine lists anymore! It's all 2000 and 2001!) I always call and ask about corkage fees before bringing a bottle along. If it's too much, I do without. But if it's reasonable, I bring a bottle and enjoy. It's good form to offer some to the sommelier, I think, but don't feel compelled to tip extra because it's a bottle of wine I paid for and assumed the cost of cellaring, and I prefer not to let waiters pour.

I know I must come off sounding like the restaurant wine Nazi, but that's just how it is for me. Most of the time, I avoid drinking when I eat out because it's just not affordable. A lot of restaurants, though, are beginning to recognize that having reasonable corkage is a good thing. I've found an increasing trend of places in Houston offering low corkage -- $7 or so. It's become a really nice thing in Napa Valley, too, where a lot of places charge $10 or $15. The higher up the scale you go, of course, $25 becomes the standard. Or, if you're at the French Laundry, it's $50 (!!!).

So it sounds like you are finding restaurants which are accepting that their customer base is bringing their own wine. Alcohol is a great revenue generator for restaurants so I can understand why corkage fees are high. The profit margin is quite wide.

In regards to corkage, I find that $5-10 is totally reasonable, $15 is OK, $20 is getting a bit steep, and anything above $25 is bordering on extortion, save being in some of the finest restaurants.

I bring my own wine because I know it's ready to drink, it's what I like, and I know how it has been cellared. I can open and decant a bottle at home for several hours, return to the bottle, re-cork, and bring to dinner. This way, it's had plenty of air-time, and is immediately ready to drink.

I always offer a taste to the waiter and/or som. I often buy a bottle off of their list, generally a white or dessert. These motions usually get corkage waived. I also tip very well when service is great - the waived corkage charge often goes to the waitstaff.

I realize that the restaurant is doing me a favor by allowing me to bring in my own wine, and I respect this. I am also doing a favor to them by offering them my custom. It's a two way streeet. I always check the list to make sure that I'm not bringing a bottle in that they have on their list.

Corkage Fees...
 

Unfortunately, in most cases restaurants want to charge a high corkage fee in order to force you to purchase wine off their list....

Examples.....

Dining Room at R-C SF....$25, where I brought a Cos 70 and a Montrose 70, and I thought $50 was reasonable....

Last week at Pacific's Edge at the Park Hyatt Carmel, they charged me $35 per bottle!! I had '82, '83, '85, '86 Ducru Beaucaillou, and I thought the $35/bottle was a bit high.....just for comparison, they listed the '95 Ducru for $450 on their list, and the '97 for $250..... :eek:

So yes, if there are more wine friendly fine dining restaurants, I'd DEFINITELY patronize them more often!

I remember once I was in a good restaurant (name escaped me) in Vancouver, and they have a policy of charging corkage for wines that are less than 15 years old....(e.g. in 2003 they charge a corkage of $20 for every bottle of wine younger than 1988)....I thought that was quite an excellent policy....to waive the corkage or charge less for older bottles..... ^

It's very expensive to maintain a quality wine cellar. Restaurants simply need to make a profit on that investment. My husband just making some reservations at French Laundry ... corkage there is $50 a bottle yet they have bottles on their wine list starting at around $25.

That's a nice little twist I'd never heard about before. Of course, at the pace wines seem to get drunk up these days, it almost seems like a miracle to find much of anything more than five years old on a wine list.

I'm definitely someone who throws his patronage at restaurants that encourage wine with meals -- that is, they make it affordable, either through reasonable list pricing (still hard to find!) or being happy to let you bring your own bottle of wine.

That's reasonable. Depends on what you are bringing in. If a place does charge high corkage fees, I make sure my wines that evening make up for it ;)

For short getaways to the U.S. we often bring a few bottles of excellent Blanc de Blancs Champagne (not a famous name, but a small producer who in our humble opinion offers superior quality at a better price). At $20/bottle, even a corkage fee of the same amount makes for a better dining experience than ordering a French Champagne off the wine list for >$100.

We've now learned that bringing a spare bottle to dinner to share with the wine steward and other tables often results in the corkage fee being waved (and creates an atmosphere of mirth).

If it's much more than a reasonable charge for use of their glassware, etc., then I think it's a rip-off. Kind of like the fees that airlines add to tickets, i.e. designed to boost profits without being obvious up-front.

I've heard all the arguments about "that's where we make our profit". My responses are:

• I go to restaurants primarily for the food. Are you telling me I'm not welcome?
• It's your responsibility to have a wine list that makes me want to buy from it. Trying to force me to buy from it via exorbitant fees is not going to make me want to come.

Frankly, if I wanted to go to a restaurant for the food and they had high corkage, I'd probably go and order tap water.

Since most NYC restaurants don't allow you to bring your own wine (Danny Meyer's and the Red Cat/Harrison/Pace group are notable exceptions), I'm delighted to be able to BRING a bottle, and only flinch at an excessive corkage fee like French Laundry's or Bastide's!

Good points, Napa. I think it's also disingenuous of restaurants to put forward the notion that -- if alcohol is where they make "all their money" -- they're only making a profit on customers who would drink wine. They should reexamine how they're doing business then.