Bring your own wine?
Retail business reporter Amanda Codispoti and I put together a story for today’s newspaper about Virginia’s new wine corkage law, which went into effect today.
According to the new law, diners may now bring their own bottles of wine to restaurants, so long as the restaurant allows it and has an ABC license.
Restaurant owners’ reactions to the new law have been mixed, but wine enthusiasts are all for it. In fact, those I have talked to say they’ll be actively lobbying restaurants to adopt corkage policies and will probably not patronize those that don’t.
To read the full article, click here.
What do you think? Would you ever consider bringing a bottle of wine to a restaurant, and if so, under what circumstances?
Furthermore, what do you think would be a fair corkage fee?
July 1, 2011 - 11:37 AM
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Yes I would and I’d lobby to extend it to all restaurants without ABC licenses as well. I’m tired of the Puritans dictating where I can have wine with a meal. Some restaurants do not carry wines that are to my taste nor do they use appropriate stemware so we even carry our own glasses to drink from. It’s not cost-efficient for the less higher-end establishments to stock more fragile glassware because of the breakage costs associated. Riedel even makes a padded case to transport them. Amazing how much better wine tastes when served properly served.
Corkage fees should be fair and appropriate to compensate for the profit lost and the effort of the staff. Another point: we always base our tip on what a similar bottle would have cost had we ordered it from the restaurant. Don’t stiff the wait staff.
That is a GREAT point about the tip, Harold.
I get the impression that some restaurant owners might worry people are going to bring in really cheap bottles of wine and try to save money. But that’s what the corkage fee is designed to deter, by my way of thinking.
I wonder what happens if someone has a large gathering and brings a few 5-liter cartons, e.g., for a crowd of a few dozen at a pizza parlor. I did not notice anything in the law to preclude such an action. Is the corkage fee “per bottle/carton” or “per liter”?
I never really feel a need to drink more than one glass of wine when dining out. I also never really feel the need to drink very expensive wine. Thus, it is just as easy for me to order iced tea with my pasta or steak.
All that being said, restaurant overcharge hugely for wine & other alcoholic beverages. Because of that, it really doesn’t make sense to drink ‘adult beverages’ while dining.
Along with all the legal ramifications, is it really THAT necessary that one has some alcohol for dinner?
I feel that it is a good idea overall. However you dont want to go in to a restaurant with a bottle of wine that is already being offered by that establishment. I believe that this law was designed to accomodate folks with a polished pallette for particular wines and can really enhance the food that is being served.
I am generally opposed to this, especially the new push to expand it to non-ABC establishments. I also feel that restaurants will charge a hefty corkage fee for the BYOB(ottles) of wine that patrons bring in, to encourage the purchase of their in-house wines. It will probably be sufficient enough to still take in equivalent revenues regardless of where the wine originates.
I have a feeling that this law will backfire and you’ll wind up with people bringing cheap wine so they can get slammed in a night on the town without having to pay out for in-house wine or booze. It may also go smoothly with only a few people bothering. I know I won’t.
Well, it would be stupid for someone to take in a cheap bottle of wine and then end up paying more than the cost of the bottle in corkage fees.
I may be wrong, but I seriously doubt if it would ever be allowed in establishments without an ABC license. Although from what I understand, that is allowed in other states.
When I was cooking at the Valiant Trencherman in Lewisburg, PA during the ’80′s -’90′s, we did not have an ABC license and encouraged people to bring their own wines. We sometimes got calls in advance from patrons asking for pairing suggestions which we were happy to make. We supplied glassware and service and did not charge a corkage fee. During that time I can’t recall a single instance of patrons specifically drinking at dinner to “get slammed”, or ever dealing with a drunk diner, nor any bottles of Thunderbird, Boone’s Farm or Annie Greensprings passing through. People drank wine to enhance their meal and at a price point they could afford. A nice (and unexpected) bonus of the BYOB policy was unopened bottles being sent to the kitchen for the staff to enjoy after hours. I totally understand corkage fees in licensed establishments to discourage BYOB competition, but in unlicensed establishments no charge or a token charge may be preferable and a draw for some customers.
We have a daughter who lives in the Philadelphia area and we always look for BYOBs when visiting there. We usually have at least 6 people and as parents we like to pay for everyone’s dinner. Adding wine to our meals is extremely expensive. So bringing our own enables us to splurge on the entrees. One of the best Italian places we have found there doesn’t even have a corkage fee. But generally it tends to run $5.00 or less, which I think is fair. I hope this catches on here and restaurants don’t try to “gouge” customers. It seems everyone could benefit.