Corkage Etiquette for Older Bottles?

Hi folks, I’m only a few years into wine and looking for a tip. I have an ‘89 Pichon Lalande I’ve been saving for my 30th birthday and want to bring it out to a restaurant. My first thought was to give it a double decant in the afternoon and let it sit on the counter for at least a few hours before bringing it out. Do restaurants have a general policy on bringing in recorked bottles? Not sure how the original cork is going to hold up either so I might have to toss in a replacement, not that it matters. Cheers

I’ve never had a problem doing what you propose. I’ve heard of a few stray times someone got grief for it, but I wouldn’t worry, especially if you’re going somewhere with decent waitstaff and management.

Can’t hurt to call ahead and ask

Also fwiw I had this 2+ years ago and it didn’t need much more than an hour or so for the fruit to really get going

There certainly are places which disallow this and there are also areas where driving with an open container is illegal. I’ll assume the latter doesn’t apply to you, but I’d recommend calling the establishment and confirming that you may bring in an already opened bottle.

And enjoy!

For the first time in my wine-drinking life, I was challenged for bringing in an open bottle a few weeks ago. Once I explained why it was opened they were completely cool. I think you’ll be fine.

If you need to open the second bottle, be prepared to pay a second corkage fee, even if the first wine is flawed. Corkage is a privilege not a right.

i would do this ah so style and recork fully in and make the recorking a dont ask dont tell. if the cork is level no one will say a word to you. same would apply if you have to use a substitute cork.

I’ve never been able to reinsert a cork fully. How do people do this?

I double decant and bring wines all the time. But I’ve also run into problems once or twice. Pushing the cork all the way back in is a good suggestion (rubber mallet works if you can’t do it with just your hands). Alternatively, is the restaurant close enough you could drop it off in the afternoon or day before, and ask them to decant for you?

I typically drop the wine(s) off a few days in advance and give the sommelier my request as to when I want him to open it/decant it.

Another idea that hasn’t yet been mentioned yet is to drop the bottle off hours or days ahead of time and ask for it to be decanted a few hours early.

As mentioned some jurisdictions prohibit corkage of an open bottle, but as long as you’re going somewhere with decent wine service you should be fine either way.

I’m with all the folks who suggest dropping it off…if it needs a decant. But I’ve had this wine twice in the last year, and it has been excellent as a pop n pour. You probably already know that 30 year old Bordeaux has some bottle variation, so your bottle might still need one, but my experience suggestions you could risk bringing it with or asking them to decant an hour before. Enjoy your evening and I hope the wine is excellent!

Just push it in. If you keep some past corks lying around, better chance with one of those after they’ve dried out than the one you just pulled.

But how much sediment was there?

no problem in MN. Call ahead to make sure. Many strange laws out there. I had a first at a event where only the servers could pour the wine and I could not. Each restaurant has different policies I am sure.

I did this two weeks ago for my 30th. Recorked with a vacu plastic wine saver. Waiter had no issues.

Extremely sage words that many forget about or never think of. So, I made sure to quote it

If you do open and let air out, keep it at Cellar temperature!

Right. I cringed when I read that you planned to keep it on the counter for a few hours. Keep it cool.

I’ve never been charged corkage for a flawed bottle.

This doesn’t make sense. The cork’s diameter is at its smallest right after it is pulled out from the bottle, after which it starts to expand. It is also more elastic while it retains some humidity - a dried-out cork is much harder and it’ll be a tough job trying to insert an expanded, dried-out cork inside the lip of the bottle without any tools.

If I need to put a cork back into the bottle, I try to do it as quickly as possible after extracting the cork.