Bringing Your Own Wine--And Paying for It

Wine lovers hate restaurants that have only young wine, especially young red wine.

Wine lovers love restaurants that stock older wines. The problem is the exorbitant prices charged for these older wines, especially when such wines are occasionally held under poor storage conditions.

The alternative is to bring your own. And we’re not talking about a $3.99 jug of wine. Some of my greatest meals were those at which the host brought along classic wines of grand vintages and served them at a marvelous restaurant.

Some people who have wonderful wine cellars habitually bring their own wines. For others, it can also be the solution to a badly designed or overpriced wine list. Or even, in some cases, the nonexistent wine list. Some restaurants discourage diners from bringing their own wines--L’Orangerie and La Serre don’t permit it at all. Yet even those who don’t mind the practice say that customers rarely bring their own wine, even when a low corkage fee is charged.

Corkage is the fee you pay the restaurant to serve the wine you bring in. That fee ranges widely, depending on the restaurant. Some restaurants charge nothing (they are rare); most charge $5. I consider $10 to be a fairly high corkage fee, though I once heard of a San Francisco restaurant that charged $25 a bottle.

Still, $10 is reasonable corkage if the restaurant has impeccable service, crystal glassware and handles everything relating to your wine with class. On the other hand, a $5 corkage can be a rip-off when the glassware is a water glass, where the waiter destroys the cork and it falls into the bottle, and where the rest of the service is equally abysmal.

One of the more reasonable corkage policies in Southern California is at the Chronicle in Pasadena. Wine buyer Steve Roskam said the longtime policy of the restaurant still stands: “Nine times out of 10, there is no corkage, but I prefer that diners call me or my staff in advance and arrange it.” Like most restaurants, the Chronicle frowns on people who bring in wines that are on the wine list.

Silas St. John in San Diego has another very reasonable policy (especially when you consider that the restaurant uses cut crystal stemware). Dr. Ron Ridgway, the owner, says corkage is $5 for a first bottle, $10 for a second, and $15 for every bottle thereafter, “but we waive the corkage charge for every bottle you buy off our list.”

At La Frite (in Sherman Oaks and Woodland Hills), corkage is an extremely reasonable $3 a bottle. At La Pasteria, it’s $8.50. At Trattoria Angeli, it’s $10. Corkage at Michael’s is $10 per bottle; Spago is $14 and St. Estephe is $15.

There are no set rules governing bringing your own wine into a restaurant, but here are a few guidelines I follow:

If at all possible, call the restaurant in advance and find out what the corkage policy is. If the restaurant permits you to bring wine in, ask what the charge is. Ask for the name of the person you are speaking to. (I was once told $5 and the bill later that evening showed $10.)

It is not necessary to bring in an older wine but, as a courtesy to the restaurant, do not bring in a wine already on the list.

Always leave a tip commensurate with the service; use the average cost of the bottle you brought in as a guide to how much to leave.

It is not commonplace, but if I know that the stemware is poor, I will sometimes bring my own glassware along. The restaurant may think this a bit odd, but the kitchen won’t have to wash up.

When possible, and especially with older wines that need to stand upright for some time before serving, bring the wines a day early and ask the wine steward to place them in a cool, protected location.

Buy a bottle off the list for each one you bring in, or at least order a glass of the house wine.

As a courtesy, especially with older bottles of rare wine, offer the sommelier or owner a glass. Roskam said he often waives any corkage charges for that privilege.