Corkage @ Restaurants policy

[Mark Priestley]

Dining at a London restaurant in a couple of weeks time and asked what their corkage policy was.

Was sent the following response earlier today:

It is possible to bring a bottle of wine with you, the corkage starts at £35 for a regular bottle of wine or £50 for a sparkling wine, however, can go higher depending on the wine, vintage, and the procedures we have to follow whilst serving the wine.

If you have any bottle that you wish to bring with you, please don’t hesitate to send me the name and vintage and I will pass it to our sommelier team so we can have that checked for you.

I've not come across this before. In my experience of doing corkage at restaurants it's always been a flat rate (some variation on sparkling vs still wines) and that's the end of it. Is this standard practice at some establishments?

 

[Jasper Morris]

Vineyard at Stockcross alert

 

[Richard Ward]

Presumably you could pre-decant your DRC or Petrus into a washed out Blossom Hill bottle, in order to only be charged the "starting" fee???

I've seen this in a couple of other places too. Pisses me off on point of principle.

 

[Mark Priestley]

Presumably you could pre-decant your DRC or Petrus into a washed out Blossom Hill bottle, in order to only be charged the "starting" fee???

I've seen this in a couple of other places too. Pisses me off on point of principle.

Pre-decant a fine suggestion Richard.

 

[Alex Jagger]

Vineyard at Stockcross alert

Mornington Crescent.

 

[Mark Priestley]

Joking aside though can such a policy be challenged?

 

[Richard Ward]

I don't really see how - at the end of the day, they are free to charge what they wish, so long as they are transparent about it. Regardless of how unfair it may seem.

 

[David Mansfield]

The George at Stamford tried to move the goalposts on me. I gave them both barrels.
I’ll stay there again , but never dine with them.

 

[David Mansfield]

Dining at a London restaurant in a couple of weeks time and asked what their corkage policy was.

Was sent the following response earlier today:

It is possible to bring a bottle of wine with you, the corkage starts at £35 for a regular bottle of wine or £50 for a sparkling wine, however, can go higher depending on the wine, vintage, and the procedures we have to follow whilst serving the wine.

If you have any bottle that you wish to bring with you, please don’t hesitate to send me the name and vintage and I will pass it to our sommelier team so we can have that checked for you.

I've not come across this before. In my experience of doing corkage at restaurants it's always been a flat rate (some variation on sparkling vs still wines) and that's the end of it. Is this standard practice at some establishments?

just name the restaurant Mark without fear. As customers they can set rules prices and policies, and we choose to patronise or not. Open honesty. nothing for either party to be worried.

 

[Chris Hambleton]

Double decanting is your friend mark.

Dear restaurant, all you’ll need to do is pour the wine…

 

[David Mansfield]

Double decanting is your friend mark.

Dear restaurant, all you’ll need to do is pour the wine…

And the privilege of being the first person to take a bottle of Blossom Hills in their honour. Equally of you want to borrow my Empty Petrus 89 and see want they want to charge…….

 

[Steve Slatcher]

Dear restaurant, it's a 2002 Chateau Talbot

 

[Thom Blach]

I don't really see how - at the end of the day, they are free to charge what they wish, so long as they are transparent about it. Regardless of how unfair it may seem.

I don't think it's unfair, just a bit of a nuisance. I would only nowadays bring wine to wine events, though, I enjoy trying something different when going to restaurants.

 

[Dan Vyvyan]

To be honest I’m even more put off by “the procedures we have to follow” - just trying to have some wine with my dinner, not observe a bomb disposal or have a difficult meeting with HR

 

[Graeme Harvie]

I don't think it's unfair, just a bit of a nuisance. I would only nowadays bring wine to wine events, though, I enjoy trying something different when going to restaurants.

Yes going to a restaurant is often a wine event... It is not usually mutually exclusive.

 

[Chris Hambleton]

I’d be interested in their response if you did say Petrus 89 Mark.

It’s a restaurant’s prerogative to allow corkage or not, but I think a pragmatic and reasonable approach should be employed. A Petrus 2015 takes no more preparation than a cantemerle so why should there be a higher corkage charge?

My own personal red line is not taking a wine that’s already on their list - I think that is discourteous. However taking As Sortes when Louro is on the list should be fine.

 

[Mark Roper]

Koffman's at the Berkeley used to be variable at the end depending on what you brought.

 

[Russell Faulkner]

Nobelhart in Berlin have a variable rate for corkage, the better the wine the lower the charge.

 

[George Marshall]

I think there is recognisably a big difference in effort between a screw cap direct pour and an old crumbly cork and tons of sediment and decanting and better glasses etc. Whether you choose to charge for the difference in effort is surely up to the restaurant? Also, you might not want a less experienced person opening a very valuable bottle. So it could be very easily a variable price. If is variable based on how much you can chisel off someone bringing a valuable bottle is less defensible.

 

[Thom Blach]

If is variable based on how much you can chisel off someone bringing a valuable bottle is less defensible.

It's possibly not ridiculous that a restaurant might consider its lost margin. On the other hand a simple policy seems preferable.

 

[Leon Marks]

There was a place in San Francisco that only charged corkage on bottles younger than something like 10 or 15 years old. I thought this was a nice system - although I like Nobelhart’s more.

I’d honestly take that as a sign to go somewhere else. We fetishists are spoiled in London these days, and we should reward the places that treat us properly, imnvho.

 

[Tom Cannavan]

I wonder if it would simply be down to them having to decant? So if their sommelier thinks it would need decanting they stick a bit on top? Sounds a bit odd, but as others have said, being allowed BYO is a privilege, so you just have to decide whether you are happy or not to go by their rules.

 

[Phil David]

As Leon says, go somewhere else - or don't BYO. The pomposity and indication that corkage is offered under sufferance tell you that.

 

[Chris Hambleton]

Nobelhart in Berlin have a variable rate for corkage, the better the wine the lower the charge.

That’s brilliant. Cue a search on how much a ticket to Berlin costs…

 

[Tom Cannavan]

The pomposity and indication that corkage is offered under sufferance

Gosh Phil: I don't take that from the message they sent Mark at all. I thought it was pretty reasonable, given it's obviously somewhere posh (with "a sommelier team"), most of which wouldn't normally entertain corkage.