Corkage and its Benefits

I am a firm advocate of the restaurant corkage policy. I'm not ashamed to admit it, even though my personal finances and job security rely on guests purchasing wine from the restaurant. I often take wine with me when I go out to places that I know have mediocre or mundane wine programs. I can't be bothered with unimaginative managers purchasing wine from no one but the big corporations.

However - I do not condone people calling me at 7:30pm on a Friday night from the liquor store to ask me about my corkage policy and ask me incessantly whether I carry wines that they are staring at on the shelf, wondering if they can bring it to Jar. There is an unspoken decorum in the corkage policy that, if you are not aware of, should be made perfectly clear:

Restaurants are not trying to rip you off! There is a lot of cost involved in storing and serving wines. As a sommelier, employed to help direct you to a wine that you will enjoy, I am also considered a part of the restaurant wine markup. I am not ashamed to admit that Jar spends $5000 a year in offsite wine storage to ensure that wines are kept at an appropriate temperature for long-term storage. And this is not just expensive stuff - I bought 27 cases of a wine we will sell for $70.00 a bottle that I want to ensure shows well today and six months from now.

The catalyst of this rant was a guest telephoning the restaurant. I was interrupted selling wine at a table to attend to the call about our corkage policy. I explained the policy: two bottles maximum at $25 per bottle, not available for wines featured on the wine list. The guest responded that they would call me back from the store to see if I had what they wanted to bring. Thankfully, they never called again, but did arrive with two bottles of Franciscan Cabernet. At its most expensive, this particular wine costs $20 at the grocery store. If I carried it, we would likely charge $40-$45 per bottle. So, said guest paid approximately $20 and added $25 corkage to pay about what we would have charged them at the restaurant. But cost themselves a trip to the store.

Similarly, I once had a guest bring a bottle of The Prisoner that they bought for $30 at the store and were livid that they could not open because we carried it. I explained that we were charging the equivalent of the bottle plus corkage: $30 at the store plus $25 corkage was about the same as the $57 we were charging on the list. The guest could not be appeased.

For those of you trying to save money because you heard restaurant are a ripoff on wine, it DOES NOT apply if you're bringing wines $20 and under. AND... a decent restaurant is likely to have more insightful options than the very generic and mass-produced Franciscan Cabernet.

I GET it! You're bringing a 1986 Lafite! Totally fine! We ARE charging you an extravagant price for the additional expertise involved in finding, shipping, opening and serving that particular wine. I understand how a $25 corkage and the price you paid back in 1989 is more appealing if you're trying to shave off a few bucks. That's what corkage is all about. I love you guys! Particularly if you're willing to share an ounce with the sommelier...

Long story short - if you know you're going to a decent restaurant with an employed sommelier, give them a chance to impress you. I can assure you that I will top your best $20 grocery store wine with something at the same price or less (after corkage) than what you paid. Give me a chance. That's what Jar pays me to do and I guarantee you I'm very good at it.