By Rick Riozza
Certainly, this was the scene somewhere at some time: You’ve got a great bottle of wine—even quite valuable—that’s been waiting to be enjoyed. And one of your favorite dinners is being advertised, prepared and served over at a new restaurant in town. You bring in your wine, it’s properly uncorked and served with the utmost pomp and circumstance; everyone is enjoying the food & wine. Then you receive the check and find that you have been charged a “corkage fee” of $25. Dinner is dampened.
These days, pretty much every wine enthusiast who brings in their own bottle of wine knows of the awaiting “corkage fee policy” and will have to pay the fee or have it waived for some reason or another.
It’s almost a weird thing going on when the wine-loving customer meets up with the restaurateur and this issue comes between them. Some of the “arguments” are fueled by these considerations:
Patrons hate to have to pay that “mark-up” fee—sometimes as much as three times the cost of the wine; in other words, a $25 dollar bottle of wine is listed as $65 on the wine list. Ouch! Now really, most wine lovers know what the wine costs at the stores and an outrageous mark-up tends to be a topic of tension.
Restaurant owners often times hire sommeliers and have spent considerable time and money putting together an interesting and eclectic collection of wines to meet the wine demands of a variety of customers. Owners often have special wine ware that is especially polished and handled, have ice-buckets shined and ready to chill, have decanters ready to fill and will go out of their way to have someone personally available to discuss the various wines offered, suggest wine pairings to the chef’s preparations, and to pour and be attentive to the customer’s needs as to the wine.
So many factors, of course, play out here. A very fancy high-end restaurant is surely going to assess some fee for their very professional wine skill to handle your valued wine. At that level—you will receive top-flight and expert wine service. And you have no problem paying the fee as they open your 25 year old Lafite Rothschild at your table in front of the world.
On the other side of things, is it a bit rude to bring in a cheap bottle of wine, even when paying a nominal corkage fee? Can one really expect the sommelier to pretend to be interested when pouring Two-buck Chuck?
Personally—I applaud those eateries that consider the circumstances of the visiting bottle of wine. For instance, a corkage of $25 is reduced to$10 when bringing in a wine whose vintage is 10 years or so older. This shows an appreciation by both the restaurant and patron.
And how about when the restaurant waives the corkage fee for your bottle when you go on to their wine list and order a bottle of theirs. This policy definitely works and brings back the customer. If you’re bringing in a magnum of wine (that holds twice the amount of a standard bottle), charging twice the corkage fee can be a bit problematic—it’s not the best idea for a returning customer.
Most avid wine lovers these days will go on line to check out the prospective wine list and determine the better deal consideration for the night. Most will never object to a $15 corkage fee when bringing in a hundred dollar bottle of wine. Here you save as does the restaurant since they never had to buy nor store the wine.
It’s been my experience—especially when bringing in a magnum or a very nice bottle, to offer a small glass or a nice taste to both the sommelier and chef. This often gets the corkage waived. Even if you’ve only brought in a regular size bottle, offer them a taste, it’s a classy gesture and they’re not going to drink that much—they’re working.
Around our desert valley—especially during this tourist season, so many restaurants offer great wine deals during the week. Whether it’s “50% off bottle price night” or “Corkage fee waived night”, check the local ads or call your favorite eatery, and I’ll bet they’ve got something going on to get you in their doors.
And do we not have a plethora of great restaurants here that showcase the talents of so many wonderful and inventive chefs! So how about a deal where you can enjoy the thrill of corkage fee waiver in over 55 of the top restaurants around town!
Well—one of the best deals for wine enthusiasts who maintain either a small or large collection of wine is to become members of The Wine Vault of the Desert, where one of the many benefits include free corkage at these 55+ restaurants .
The Wine Vault of the Desert is a state-of-the-art 10,000 sq. foot wine storage facility located in Palm Desert and has been in business since 2009. You can store as few as two cases or as many as several hundred cases. And during the desert’s summer months—i.e., May to October! there is no better place to house your vino collection and treasures than at the The Wine Vault, 77556 El Duna Court, Suite B Palm Desert, CA 92211 Phone (760) 345-3000.
The place provides the unique services of complete data based and bar coded inventory system, acceptance of your wine shipments—no more waiting for deliveries, and of course the corkage waiver program. And if you’re signing up for the first time, mention this article to owners Jack and Ralph and get an additional 2 months free storage time.
Cheers! Rick is your somm-about-town entertaining & conducting at wine events & tastings. winespectrum@aol.com
