“Unwritten rules” ---- a system used by some folks to claim moral superiority over other folks who follow the actual, written, rules.
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An unwritten rule is worth the paper on which it’s written… or something like that
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to the global population this is 100% true.
to the reader of this forum, thus relevant to discussions within the forum, i suspect corkage IS significant, if not nearing majority?
Agreed.
Generally agree but the tipping is getting a bit outrageous as it is.
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Restaurants that allow corkage are good guys and should be encouraged. I would far prefer to pay to bring a bottle of something special rather than have to deal with a list that is almost always overpriced and offers only wines that are way too young. If a restaurant lets me do that I am fine with paying a decent premium. For me, the net is the restaurant should not suffer from BYO.
Pity those people who live in states where BYO is not allowed.
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when you tip does the tip get shared with Somms? I know a lot of somms are paid off of points from wine sales not tips. How does that work?
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Depends on the state and whether the somm is in a management / salary position and therefore likely not part of the tip pool.
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You tip more on the cost of varioius food items, so maybe it’s not such a crazy idea to tip more on higher ticket wine … if a waiter brings a customer $100 steak, he/she/they will get a bigger tip usually than if he/she/they brings a customer a $30 salad. Yet, it’s the same amount of work for the waiter, right?
I hate the idea, ha. Just teasing the logic out of the argument …
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The pricing issue should be self-evident. I’m with your buddy that you breached decorum by bringing a wine on the list and broached the subject of restaurant markups.
Are we being vintage specific? (They have a 2013 dom, but I’m bringing a '08 or an '02)
I’m surprised that this thread has gotten this far without anyone pointing out the major assumption in the article–that you’re going to a BYO place that has a somm.
If you’re going to a place with a somm/wine team and they’re going to handle your wine(s) and provide good glassware, especially for an abnormally low or no fee, good tipping is in order. This is sort of a regular experience in NYC.
The alternate experience, say at a NJ restaurant or a Chinatown BYO where you might even have to BYO glassware and they have a pedestrian beer/wine list or no alcohol, the math can get a little more foggy so I will go with Keith’s formula. 
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Of course the restaurant can set its own rules, and they can choose whether to enforce them or not.
But the “you can’t bring a wine on our list” thing is just one of those ideas that sounds like it makes sense when in reality it just doesn’t.
Hardly any restaurants keep an updated wine list online. So you’re calling ahead and trying to get anyone on the phone (tough thing to do anymore), and asking them to email you the current wine list, something most of them can’t even do.
And then you arrive, and is the server really going to look at your bottles, go back and cross-reference it against their list, make complicated decisions about whether a different vintage, SVD or bottling does or doesn’t count, and come back and tell you one or more bottles are disqualified? And then bring you a list so you can search around for something to order instead, then come back and take your order, then go search for the bottle and bring it out. That doesn’t make any sense for the customer, employee, or restaurant.
I’m guessing restaurants with that policy rarely if ever enforce it, and when they do, it’s against someone who brings in something like Rombauer Chardonnay or Prisoner when they have it on the menu.
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My only question is who is Robb and why should I care what they think?
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I ignore Robb and Eric equally.
I’ve seen a few policies spell this out, such as it’s ok as long as your bottle is 5 years apart. Otherwise, I’d ask.
I haven’t seen that but that’s not to say some restaurants don’t have that policy. That would imply if someone has 2007 Bordeaux (pick you fav chateau) on the list, a customer couldn’t bring 2005 or 2010. They couldn’t possibly be considered same or similar wine.
Luckily, since Covid drove nearly every restaurant I visit to sell off their cellars, there are hardly any bottles more than a few vintages old on lists. So I just bring the (nicely aged) bottle I want to drink and don’t worry at all about whether I’m going to step on their precious list. This is a non-issue.
I always wondered what a somm earns so I did a little sleuthing and found some decent info online (see the link). It appears as if most somms are paid in a manner similar to servers with a base hourly rate + tips. Most jobs on the attached show a base rate of $16 or $10.65. I believe minimum wage is the $16 and $10.65 is after subtracting tip credit, which appears to be a portion of tips earned offset against the base pay rate to meet minimum wage requirements. The restaurant is not allowed to take back a portion of your tips if your earn more than minimum, but they can reduce your base hourly rate if your tips add up enough to get you to the minimum, at least that is my understanding. I assume the tips are pooled and then shared amongst the server, busers, bartenders, somms, etc. Most of these jobs include benefits, health, 401k, paid time off, etc. COQODAQ, which is Simon Kim’s (COTE Korean Steakhouse) new fried chicken place, offers a little more detail regarding compensation. In the job description, it shows tips averaging $1300-$1800/week, but if you scroll down it shows estimated tips as $1800. So lets assume they earn $1800/week plus $10.65/hour with a 40-hour week, that equates to an annual income of around $116k (someone check my math). They also shows an opening for a server and that has estimated tips of $1300/week, which should equate to an annual income of around $90k. I don’t live in the city anymore, but I don’t think these folks have a lot left after covering their expenses. I don’t believe managers or beverage directors are paid via base + tip structure, but rather are paid as salaried employees. So if you really want to tip your somm for a job well done, better off bringing some cold hard cash and slipping it to him/her as you thank them for accommodating you and providing great service.
If I am BYOing, typically what I do is I tip 30% and if we do take up an inordinate amount of the somms time, then I will tip them something additional in cash.
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Agree it makes little sense. The issue of corkage is only an issue in America because restaurant markups on wine are obscene. If wine markups were 150%* instead of 300-400%, people really only would bring special bottles once in a while, and there would be no need to fuss about whether a bottle “technically” qualifies for corkage.
*Keep in mind, this is 150% over RETAIL pricing. The retailer selling it at that pricing is making enough money on it to keep the lights on and pay staff. Depending on states and licensure, sometimes restaurants even pay less than retailers because with an on premise license, distributors will offer [significantly] better pricing to get wines on the by the glass list and get exposure.
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