It’s nice to see that Wine Spectator has focused its attention on corkage laws and points out the situation in Maryland and Virginia.

Why shouldn’t a restaurant allow people to bring in a bottle of wine to have with their meal? Overall the authors, Ben O’Donnell and Robert Taylor, in “Is It Time to Open Up Corkage Laws?” emphasize the disparity in the corkage laws throughout the country. “Like most practices created in the aftermath of Prohibition, corkage laws are a jigsaw puzzle of arcane, contradictory and confusing rules that vary from state to state and even from town to town. But whether they call it “corkage,” “BYOB” or “brown-bagging,” most wine drinkers want the freedom to bring a bottle of wine from their personal collection into a restaurant.” The authors note that the state laws and rules vary. In some states corkage is allowed only in restaurants that are licensed, in other states unlicensed restaurants may allow corkage. Fifteen states do not allow corkage. Some states allow restaurants to charge a corkage fee and other do not. Some laws limit the amount of the fee. In three states the laws/rules regarding corkage are done at the local level. The laws become even more detailed, making it difficult for a transient population to know what they are encountering when they travel or move.

In trying to look at from the restaurants point of view, restaurants would probably prefer that patrons purchase the wine the restaurant has on hand. However what if the restaurant does not have the wine preferred by the patron? They may lose out on the seating someone in their restaurant and who may not come back.

Some restaurants charge a corkage fee. One of the last restaurants we went to we were guests and our host brought his own bottle of wine and paid a corkage fee of $15 to have the waiter open it. It seems everyone was happy. We had the wine we wanted and the restaurant had some extra money for opening the bottle.

The corkage law in Maryland came into the headlines recently when Robert Parker went to a restaurant and took his own wines. After the press reported the visit and mentioned the wines, someone checked to see if the wines Parker used were available at the restaurant. When they were not, the county indicated that the restaurant would be fined. Eventually the fine was not issued but only after it received much attention.

If you are in an area that allows corkage, you may want to read another article in Wine Spectator, Corkage Etiquette in Restaurants by Margaret Raber.

Cheers! Kathy