The corkage guide · 4 minute read
A better bottle. A better evening.
Corkage is not just a way around a wine list. It is a reason to finally open the bottle you have been saving.
There is a bottle in the cupboard with no date attached to it. Too good for a Tuesday, apparently. Waiting for an occasion that never quite arrives. A restaurant that welcomes corkage gives it somewhere to go.
Corkage is the fee a restaurant charges when you bring your own wine. It pays for part of the experience around the bottle: glassware, opening, service and the table at which you drink it. It is not a universal entitlement, and a restaurant with a good wine list has perfectly sound reasons for setting conditions.
Start with the table, not the saving
Choose somewhere you actually want to eat. Then work out whether your bottle suits the food and whether the fee makes sense. Bringing an inexpensive everyday wine to a restaurant with a substantial corkage charge rarely improves the evening. Bringing a mature bottle you have looked after for years is a different proposition.
You need not be a collector. Perhaps it is a wine from a holiday, a gift, or a bottle a local merchant suggested for dinner. The point is to drink something you are looking forward to, with food that gives it a fair chance.
Ask one useful question
When booking, give the restaurant the wine’s name, vintage and bottle size, and say how many bottles you plan to bring. Ask for the total corkage charge, including any service charge. A magnum is not necessarily charged as two standard bottles, and sparkling wine may have a separate rate.
“We would like to bring one 750ml bottle for two of us. Is that possible for this booking, and what would the total corkage charge be?”
Leave room for the wine list
There is no need to turn dinner into a choice between your wine and theirs. You might order a glass of sparkling wine to start, share your bottle with the main course and finish with a glass of something sweet. If the restaurant requires a purchase from its list, agree that in advance too.
Our directory links to published policies and distinguishes ordinary dining from private events or membership offers. It is a starting point, not a substitute for asking. Once the arrangement is clear, stop doing the maths and enjoy dinner.