Wine, Corkage, WHY?!!
 

I enjoyed a fabulous dinner at a nearby restaurant with a few friends last night, and was reminded of a topic that I wanted to bring up here on Fodors.

I am a wine enthusiast, and when ordering wine at nice restaurants the inflated prices and/or high corkage charges always leave me feeling angry, as if restaurants discriminate against wine drinkers. A decent bottle of wine often will be priced as high as $60 or $70, which leaves the person in the party acting as the sommlier for the evening (me) either asking the fellow diners to cough up the big bucks to order a decent bottle, or be put in the unenviable position of having to order a crappy wine so as not to be obliging others of the high cost.... or we end up just having to order beer.

Why is only wine marked up so high? As, say, a $50 bottle of wine (which could be found in a store for $15, mind you) will provide drink for three diners, it implies that each of the three diners will spend $17 for their share of it. The entrees themselves are priced at $17! It just doesn't make sense to me that the two glasses of wine you have with the entree should be priced the same as the entree itself?

I have an answer for you.
Why is the profit margin higher on a Mercedes than a Kia?
Why is the profit margin on a per room basis higher at a Four Seasons vs a Hampton Inn?

Because proprietors know that certain people will pay whatever it costs to indulge certain passions/tastes. And if the product is a luxury item, they know that the customers are more likely to spend a little (or a lot) extra in order to get what they want in many cases.

Virtually all items are priced at a point the market will bear. If restaurant wine prices tripled over night, diners would revolt and prices would drop. Obviously people are currently willing to pay the (somewhat exorbitant) prices which are being charged.

Now if you get wine at Olive Garden you won't have to bear such a large burden and line the corporation's profits so generously. But you won't satisfy your (educated) taste for wine or enhance your dining experience.

Also, some restaurants really make their money on the wine. They'll offer higher quality food ingredients at a reasonable price, and make it up with the win.

I have found most corkage fees to be quite reasonable (~$15) and there are some restaurants out tehre with reasonable pricing on a wide variety of wines by the glass. I'd much rather have that because if a table orders different entrees, it can be a compromise for some to have to drink the same type of wine.

"Why is only wine marked up so high?"

It isn't. ALL the booze gets a mark-up like that, the spendier the place, it seems like the higher the mark-up.

I hear your pain, but think about it: Booze is the only guaranteed money maker that restaurants have. If you bring your own quality wine, then the restaurant loses out on a money-making sale. Thus corkage as a) a way to discourage you to bring it and b) to make sure that they get some money for the lost sale.

Pure capitalism baby, that's what the US is all about.

Because they can.

There was an interesting article a few months ago in Time Out New York about markups on wine. They chose about 5 or 6 restaurants and showed the different prices they charge for the same bottle of wine. In some cases, the difference in prices between the restaurants was in the hundreds of dollars.

Restaurants are businesses, the raison d'etre of a business is to ultimately make money. They aren't charities designed to improve the greater good. They are businesses designed to maximize profit, within a level, as pointed out by travelis, that the market will bear.

One of my parents neighbors is the sommelier at a very well known NYC restaurant that is known for its wine list. (He's also written a very extensive wine guide.) He's told me several times that when dining at a restaurant known for its wine, if so inclined, you can get great bottles on the lower end of their price scale as the quality of the overall wine selection is important to them at all price levels. When dining at restaurants that don't have very deep or quality wine lists, ask to try a taste of the wines offered by the glass before ordering a bottle, unless you already know the quality of a particular offering they have.

That's a good tip, Ryan.

When you think about it...If you buy a 6 pack of beer for say..$5, that makes each bottle $.85 Here in Austin, a single beer at a bar or restaurant costs $3.50. That's about 4X the price.

I think most restaurants mark up wine the same - it's usually about 3 or 4X.

I'm guessing its the same for hard liquor. I'm just too tired to figure it out.

It also depends on how educated your sommelier is. If we bring in a really nice bottle and he is able to recognize it for what it is - we have often had the corkage fee waived. Out of appreciation, he is usually given a small amuont to try, which he usually has to take into the back. It is really quite variable.

There's nothing like a good restaurant in the great State of New Jersey that doesn't have a liquor license -- you can BYOB and not have to pay the expensive restaurant prices for alcohol. ((b))

Hey Budman, you realize that this practice of limiting liquor licenses in NJ was in many ways designed to facilitate political graft. Back in the day, those with liquor licenses didn't just get them for free. In certain places, this definately still goes on.

Ryan, good notes on the overall wine lists of nice restaurants. Also, there was an interesting article in Food & Wine recently about how nice places usually pick excellent wines for the next-to-least-expensive wine slots. Presumably, many diners want wine but are unwilling to buy the cheapest bottle.

Blenroth, keep in mind the restaurant also has to inventory the cost of the wine.

Unfortunately liquor isn't the only thing that restaurants, especially those in nice hotels have a high mark-up on. Trying buying a simple soft drink. That's about $3.00. Some places even have the audacity to charge for refills.

Hold on to your corks, fellow Fodorites, "corkage" will be a thing of the past. Why? The screwcap era has arrived! To summarize from a recent article in the Press Democrat,the wine industry knows (well at least here in Sonoma County) that 5% (or roughly 1 in 20 bottles) are tainted by a smelly
(like moldy) chemical because of the
bark of the cork tree. This chemical "infects" the bark of the tree and thus the cork and thus the wine.
Anyone ever held on to a bottle for 15 or 20 years (or even 2 days!) uncorked it, taken a sniff, and ...down the drain it goes. Before you think I am joking, consider, as the article goes on
"if milk, soda, or even bottled water had such a high percentage of bad bottles,(they'd) never permit it."
It seems that Plump Jack Winery (Napa
Valley) bottled it's '97 Reserve Cabernet @$135 bottle with a screwcap.
I do not know how this will affect mark-ups, but it will be interesting to see how "The Ritual of the Cork" is handled by a sommelier. Will they call it
"Screwage"? Comments anyone?
R5

I've heard the same thing. A friend of mine in the wine industry tells me that despite the tacky stigma rubber corks are more effective in preserving the wine and more sanitary.

I've never understood this fascination people have with stuffing old bits of tree bark into the tops of wine bottles. Can't see how that's "romantic." I've poured so many bottles of very expensive corked wine down the drain that I can't wait until the plastic faux corks and/or screwcaps take over the industry, which they will.

I think Blenroth's point is that it is already "screwage".
Just need for the technology to catch up with the name.

I agree with the screwtops -- cork trees are running low anyhoo.

I had a really great talk with a the restaurant manager at my fav place, and he commented the following:

"A restaurant is never going to put a bad wine on the list -- the cheapest wine is for the people that are okay with ordering the cheapest wine on the menu (aka, myself). The others are usually marked up for people who want to impress dates, in-laws, etc. with the $$$ they have. You can get a bad wine at $9 or $200 -- don't EVER be ashamed at ordering a low priced wine.""

You are only taking advantage of the restaurants lower profit margin. That's the Philly story.

P.S. -- Philly area has tons of BYOB too -- most awesome thing!