Wine Tip of the Week - When You BYOB...Share!

In past tips, I have encouraged you to take your own wine to restaurants that allow it.  When you  bring in a wine the restaurant will charge a "corkage fee" to open and serve your wine, which can range from $5 to $50.  When you compare to the 100 - 300% markups you can pay for wine, corkage can be a bargain.
<+>

If you do bring a wine, find a good opportunity to offer sommelier or server a taste - it is a nice courtesy to extend for being allowed to BYOB.  Plus, sometimes the corkage fee will be left off your bill for extending that courtesy.  Depending on the restaurant, Sommelier, and/or server, you may still get charged corkage - so don't automatically expect the fee to be removed, but if the fee does get removed, please remember you server at tip time!