Poll: Tip on a $500 bottle

How much do you tip on this $500 bottle of wine?

There is some diversity of opinion on proper tipping protocol for expensive bottles of wine. I’ve been wondering whether my behavior is typical, and would be interested to know what Berserkers do.

For the purpose of the poll, I would like to propose a specific scenario: You and your significant other are having dinner in a nice restaurant, one you patronize fairly regularly. You see a wine you really want to order on the list for $500. Clearly we all have different financial resources but for the sake of the poll let’s assume you can afford it and are in a mood to splurge, even if you’re not a multi-millionaire so this is not an every day thing for you. You buy the bottle, and thoroughly enjoy it.

The bill arrives. The food was $150. The wine was $500. You normally tip 20-25% on the entire bill when you eat out.

Is this with or without using their helicopter landing pad?

Without the pad. But both of you did use their bathroom.

So the hypothetical purchaser can afford a 500 dollar bottle of wine, yet agonizes over the 20% tip?

I didn’t put anything about agony in there. There’s quite a range of opinions about what is “right” in this scenario. From what I’ve seen in prior threads, most are firm in their convictions, with no agonizing involved. I’m curious to see where the percentages lie.

Ohh here’s another question. What if the restaurant let’s you buy a bottle to take home and charges it on the dinner bill. Do you tip off the total?

Go start your own poll, Charlie!

Actually, I would not tip at all on a bottle to take home. Unless they allowed me use of the helipad.

Just looked at the poll results. You folks are generous.

I couldn’t care less if waitstaff thought I was cheap. If you bought a $50 - $100 bottle, you could pay the tip on that. Anything more is highway robbery.

Since the only way I’m spending $500 on a bottle if wine in a restaurant is if the markup is very reasonable (meaning within $100 of retail at that price), I answered that I would tip normally. I can’t recall ever separating out drinks when calculating a tip, but I almost never pay over $100 for a bottle of wine in a restaurant. In that case, even if the markup is a very aggressive $70 on a $30 retail wine, I’m tipping $14 on the markup, and I don’t lose any sleep over $14. If the wine is priced close to retail, I’m tipping on the value of what is delivered, not on excessive markup, and that doesn’t bother me either. What I won’t do is tip on excessive markup when the dollars at stake are material.

This question has been asked over and over. You tip on the full amount of the bill.

I will say this I never realized until just recently that some somms are not included in the tip pool (because they are considered management) which was surprising because I have tipped way over 20% many times because of outstanding wine and overall service from the somm.

Tip on full amount on the bill.

$50 on the bill, added to dinner gratuity, and $50 in cash to Somm if bottle showed well and service proper.

If you are baller enough to order a $500 bottle, tip on the full amount period. I believe in the old “If you can’t afford to tip you can’t afford to eat out” (replace afford with want to if it makes you feel better)

Glenn, this is a good policy - but remember in most places the Somm gets a cut of the tip from the servers (as do the bartenders, the bussers, etc. It has been a long time but Somm’s used to get 5% of wine sales from the servers)

Restaurants where I drop the most coin on wine here in OR are Anna’s and Sammy’s, both places where “somm” and proprietor are one in the same. I tip 20-25%.

Just leave a bottle of 2012 Bouchard Montrachet as a gift - you’re out, what, $38 bucks? Tops.

Where can I get Screagle for $500?

Tip 15-20% on the wines price as you would have spent at binnys beverage depot, or about $30

You have dinner with your wife. Food is $150, which would normally result in a generous tip of $30. Add a bottle of wine is $500, for a total bill of $650. Am I leaving a $130 tip. Never. Why? Ignoring the fact that the restaurant almost certainly made a generous mark up on the wine, the server did not do 4+ times the work. I would likely add a tip at least as much as corkage would normally be.

That being said, if I am going to drink an expensive bottle at a restaurant, it is almost always something I bring from home. So if I bring a bottle of wine that would normally sell on a restaurant wine list for $500, should I tip based on the value of the wine or does corkage suffice?

I’d go higher but this approach seems imminently reasonable to me.