Corkage according to the value of your bottle

[John_Davis]

Since corkage is illegal in Indiana I like to see other’s views on corkage. I travel enough to take advantage of restaurants that do allow corkage and I love the concept. I am fine with a place that doesn’t allow corkage. All things being equal though, I’ll go to a restaurant that offers corkage than one that does not. But the restaurant in question corkage fee is just stupid.

JD

[Tom_Moore]

@Benjamin Goldberg

Sounds like an opportunity for a “Reverse Rudy”. Pour your 1990 DRC La Tache into a 2012 Kendall Jackson Pinot bottle.

Ben

[Mark_Y]

@Benjamin Goldberg

Sounds like an opportunity for a “Reverse Rudy”. Pour your 1990 DRC La Tache into a 2012 Kendall Jackson Pinot bottle.

Ben

People now have extensive collections of yellowtail and KJ bottles, and labels.

[Brian_Tuite]

@Tom Moore

@Benjamin Goldberg

Sounds like an opportunity for a “Reverse Rudy”. Pour your 1990 DRC La Tache into a 2012 Kendall Jackson Pinot bottle.

Ben

But You’re still paying $75 minimum per the OP. Even on YT and TBC. That in itself is excessive.

[Mark_Golodetz]

What is the correct glassware for 2 Buck Chuck?

[NED_VALOIS]

Business opportunity; Selling Franzia empties !!

[Mark_C]

@Mark Golodetz

What is the correct glassware for 2 Buck Chuck?

[resizeableimage=256,256]http://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/download/file.php?id=18600[/resizeableimage]

[Chris_Seiber]

@Mark Golodetz

What is the correct glassware for 2 Buck Chuck?

[Bruce_Leiser_owitz]

I think any restaurant proposing to charge you $500 for “corkage” is telling you in a not-so-subtle way that you really shouldn’t bring wine into their restaurant…

Obviously, varying the corkage charge based on the value of the bottle is a non-starter…

Bruce

[David_Bu3ker]

Response to restaurant (other than not going there): Ok, I’ll pay for the food based on how much the ingredients cost.

[M.Kaplan]

@Eric LeVine

@Russell Faulkner

I certainly think it silly and I doubt I’d dine there. But I see little need for outrage.

Corkage is a privilege, and NY has it better than most.

I understand, and I agree that corkage is a privilege. So they should charge a flat fee. That could be $50 or $150. However, opening the door into a creepy, subjective discussion about how much my wine is worth will NOT enhance the dining experience.

Like I said. Pick. Have corkage. Or don’t. But this new idea to surcharge based on the worth of the bottle is stupid and rude.

This^.

Aestus, recently opened in Santa Monica, has an interesting corkage policy: $10/bottle for wine 10 years old or older, $25/bottle for a wine less than 10 years old. Corkage waived per bottle for each bottle or glass purchased from their list. Great policy. Very good seasonal/market cooking. Owner Kevin O’Connor is an owner of LIOCO wines and former wine director at Spago and has come up with a unique and workable approach.

[Jay_Miller]

@Tom Moore

@Benjamin Goldberg

Sounds like an opportunity for a “Reverse Rudy”. Pour your 1990 DRC La Tache into a 2012 Kendall Jackson Pinot bottle.

Ben

Yes,

[rfelthoven]

Ok – I’ll bite. Not defending this practice at all, just describing what is likely their (silly and shortsighted) thought process.

Some restaurants see corkage not as a way to cover the cost of the service, glasses, etc. but as a way to recoup some of the foregone profit they would have earned had you purchased a bottle off their list. Thus, if you bring in an expensive bottle of wine you are more likely to be wealthy and in absence of bringing your own, may have been more likely to purchase an expensive bottle of wine. It seems like they are trying to extract your willingness/ability to pay. I know you can come up with a ton of counter-examples for when this logic would break down. Tasteless for sure, but that seems to be the logic to me.

[Arv_R]

Yes I agree with the above. I don’t think these business practices work anyways. They’re counterproductive and annoy customers. So now Le Cirque isn’t going to get any business from people here, who’ve heard of the policy, and if anything will probably cheerfully badmouth the place.

They would have better off just saying ‘sorry no corkage allowed, we’ve put a lot time/effort/resources into our wine list, paired for our food, and want to support that’

[Mark_Golodetz]

A close friend wrote this…

“To the poor service, shitty food, and insufferable arrogance already on my list of reasons not to go to Le Cirque, I will add this, just in the unlikely event any of the other reasons falls off the list.”

[Dan.Gord0n]

@M.Kaplan

Aestus, recently opened in Santa Monica, has an interesting corkage policy: $10/bottle for wine 10 years old or older, $25/bottle for a wine less than 10 years old. Corkage waived per bottle for each bottle or glass purchased from their list. Great policy. Very good seasonal/market cooking. Owner Kevin O’Connor is an owner of LIOCO wines and former wine director at Spago and has come up with a unique and workable approach.

I’ve always thought this was a unique way to try to address the “just grab something cheap on the way to the restaurant” issue that many restaurants perceive. Makes sense in some ways to try to provide the right incentives for people to bring “cellared” wines which will typically reflect both a wine and person that they might prefer to have in their restaurant. Of course, it is a shotgun approach to achieve that because it doesn’t take into account fine whites and high end reds, each of which may be perfectly appropriate - but it presents an easily explained and implemented policy notwithstanding the oversights of it.

Of course, they can then vary it accordingly for the right younger wines. There was a place in Chicago that we went to a while back where corkage was only permitted if the wine was over 10yrs old - I wanted to drink a white - brought both an older one and the one that I actually wanted to open that night which was younger - asked the sommelier about the younger one (which was an Aubert Chard) and he quickly said no problem, admitting that it was merely a proxy for “quality” wine and not one picked up at the convenience store on the way to the restaurant…

[Dan.Gord0n]

Funny thing about the OP - if I were setting the corkage policy, I might even think about it the opposite way - the more expensive bottle brought in, the lower than corkage policy, with any bottle over say $100 or $150 getting a waiver of the corkage policy.

[Chris_D1]

I think they should just be straightforward - “we don’t have a corkage policy, we prefer you to buy your wine off of our list”. That’s what their current policy says to me, although in a much more irritating manner.

[Eric_LeVine]

@Brian Tuite

But You’re still paying $75 minimum per the OP. Even on YT and TBC. That in itself is excessive.

I don’t have an issue with $75 corkage. It sends a clear message. It is way better than this value surcharge bullshit.

[Sarah_Kirschbaum]

@Mark Golodetz

A close friend wrote this…

“To the poor service, shitty food, and insufferable arrogance already on my list of reasons not to go to Le Cirque, I will add this, just in the unlikely event any of the other reasons falls off the list.”

That sounds like a close friend I might possibly know.