A fair restaurant corkage fee is:
The wine region I most want to visit:
All of them, even the ones I've already been to.
My biggest wine pet peeve:
Corkage fees. If they're not going to sell you the wine they don't need to make money on it. Is taking a cork out of a bottle - or unscrewing a cap even - worth paying money for? Paying money to enjoy a wine you've already bought and payed for sours the experience, and the joke really is on the people that pay it!
The best wines I have ever tasted:
CJ Pask Reserve Merlot 1998
The Terraces, Esk Valley 1998
Loads more, will fill them in soon.
The people with whom I most often enjoy wine:
Patrick & Tammy, Ian & Sonia, Regina, Mathew & Cara
The last wine I had that I absolutely loved:
The Terraces, Esk Valley 1998
What I think of the movie Sideways:
Excellent but a bit harsh on Merlot.
My thoughts on the 100 point rating scale made famous by Robert Parker and emulated by seemingly everyone:
I don't use it, unless you're doing it as a profession I think using it is pretentious and makes you look silly.
My wine travels have taken me to the following wine regions:
Canterbury, Otago, Marlborough, Martinborough, Hawkes Bay, Matakana, Auckland,
Comments
In response to your comment on corkage fees: You say the corkage fee should be free and that paying money to have a bottle opened that you have already paid for sours the experience. Why do you think eating out at a restaurant is so expensive? It is not because the food you are eating is so costly, it is because you are paying for the decor, the platewear, the glasses, the service. etc. So when the waiter takes the cork out of the bottle he is also providing you with clean glasses to drink the wine out of, maybe an ice bucket, washing the glasses when you are finished. Many people also do not tip on wine service after the waiter has polished multiple wine glasses at a moments notice and spent ample time serving the wine. Why don't you start bringing your own food to a restaurant too and see what happens then?
^^I have to agree. It's a courtesy to you that the restaurant even allows you to bring your own wine. When you drink a bottle in a restaurant, you're not just paying for the wine, you're paying for glassware/decanter (clean and polished), the water and soap it took to clean the glass, labor for the dishwasher and waiter (remember that the waiter is losing potential tip in this equation), and most importantly, you're paying rent on the space you occupy while you drink. A restaurant reservation is no different than a hotel reservation: you are renting valuable space and there is a price to be payed for the time that you are there. Most restaurants have very thin margins and they depend on selling both food and alcohol to make ends meet. I managed a restaurant for many years in fine dining, and to me, corkage was discretionary. We charged a $20 corkage fee, but I would routinely waive the fee if the guests purchased a bottle from our list before opening their own, or even if they started with a round of cocktails. For extremely special bottles, I would waive the fee if the guest offered myself or the chef a chance to taste it. The moral of the story is: Don't take a cheap bottle of wine to a restaurant...It will only piss you off that you have to pay twice. Take in a special, mature bottle, pay the fee and enjoy the ambience and service that the restaurant has to offer.