Tired off gettting ripped off by restaurants?

 

"Bringing Your Own Wine" to any restaurant is by far the answer to a greater selection of quality wines, at much better price.

 

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(Here's why... let's use a bottle of 2005 Duckorn Napa Valley Merlot as comparison)

BYOW Price			Restaurant Price
Duckhorn Merlot	$49.00		Duckhorn Merlot	$109.00
Tax (7.75%)	$4.42		Tax (7.75%)	$9.32
Corkage Fee	$10.00		Corkage Fee	$0.00
TIP @15%	8.85		TIP @15%	$16.35
Total	$82.27		Total	$134.67

 

You Just Saved $47.40 by "Bringing Your Own Wine" to dinner!

(Do that 20 times per year when Dining out and you'll save over $948)

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Follow these common sense tips, and you're on your way to enjoying a restaurant's great food paired with your great wine.

First. Call ahead and ask permission. This allows you to identify yourself as a new or loyal patron who is considerate enough to seek approval before you impose your request upon them.

 

Ask about a corkage charge. Remember that you are costing the restaurant a fair profit by bringing your own wine, so a corkage charge in the range of $5-$20, depending upon the restaurant and their wine list. Ask about accepted bottle sizes, a magnum may have a higher corkage fee than a standard 750ml bottle.

 

Be wary of restaurants who charge unreasonably high corkage fees, or who impose a fee based on the expense of the type of wine you bring. Some wine-friendly establishments, however, may waive the corkage fee when another bottle is also purchased off their wine list.

 

Don't duplicate. The most imporant rule when bring your own bottle to any establishment is to bring a wine that is not already on their list. It's just plain tacky to try and save money by bringing something they already sell themselves.

 

Bring something good. The next most important rule is to bring a really good bottle. Appearing cheap and tacky is not a good route to being welcomed with your own bottle into any establishment. Expensive is good. Rare and expensive is even better. Unusual or offbeat works as well.

 

Share the love. If the restaurant manager, owner, or sommelier appears interested, invite them to share a taste. This simple gesture will go a long way to allowing a repeat exerience and, possibly, a reduced corkage fee.

 

Tip well. Not only have you cut into the restaurant's profit margin by bringing your own wine, you have also cut down on your food server's tip. Demonstrate your class by bumping up the tip to an amount on par with what you would have tipped them had you ordered from the restaurant's wine list.