Love that BYO!

The wife and I went to an Italian Restaurant Saturday with another couple and I figured I'd call ahead and see if they allowed for corkage. They told me no problem $10. a bottle. So I brought along a 1982 Aldo Conterno Barolo Bricco Bussia Vigna Colonnello & a 1982 Produttori de Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano. So much more enjoyable than picking a run of the mill bottle off a wine list! The wines had been perfectly stored. The Barbaresco was stellar! Lovely aged mellow elegant Italian red! The Barolo was a little funky and had a lot of billowy sediment, and while it was not the equal of the Barbaresco it was still very enjoyable. We also picked a white off their wine list, and when the bill came they hadn't even added the corkage! My kind of restaurant! I'll be going back as the food was great too!

The more I think on it, the more it makes sense to pay a cork fee and bring my own wine. After all, when you buy wine in a restaurant you're paying the retail price and a big mark-up. As for the wines in your cellar, you've already paid a price to purchase them, so it makes all the sense in the world to just give the restaurant the cork fee they require. You're still getting a better deal than if you drink their wine, and you get to drink whatever you want. Most wine enthusiasts are to one degree or another awash in wine anyway, why buy more in a restaurant of all places?

As for decanting the wines I will be bringing to restaurants, I found an old Wine Spectator Article while going through some back issues I wanted to throw out and it suggested the perfect technique. The writer stated that he never stands up bottles he intends to drink beforehand. He expressed the opinion that even if you do this well beforehand you are still disturbing sediment that in a long stored bottle has been in the same place for probably years ( as was the case with my bottles ). He claimed that very fine sediment will likely stay in solution and make the wine bitter. His technique is to gently move the bottle to a wine cradle in the same orientation as it was stored and gently decant it. I did this, rinsed the bottles, poured the wine back in, stuck the cork back in, and was off to the restaurant. Worked wonderfully and gave the wines a chance to air as well! Ah, life is great!

Oh absolutely. I love BYO. Do it as often as possible.

What was the restaurant, by the way?

Oh absolutely. I love BYO. Do it as often as possible.

What was the restaurant, by the way?

Matt, The restaurant we went to is Il Bacco in Little Neck Queens. We went on a Saturday evening, they don't take reservations for groups of less than 5 on Saturday, but we only waited about 10 minutes to be seated. A very bustling place, very attractive, we saw some tables with kids too. Very nice menu, interesting specials, everything was very good.

The writer stated that he never stands up bottles he intends to drink beforehand. He expressed the opinion that even if you do this well beforehand you are still disturbing sediment that in a long stored bottle has been in the same place for probably years ( as was the case with my bottles ). He claimed that very fine sediment will likely stay in solution and make the wine bitter. His technique is to gently move the bottle to a wine cradle in the same orientation as it was stored and gently decant it. I did this, rinsed the bottles, poured the wine back in, stuck the cork back in, and was off to the restaurant. Worked wonderfully and gave the wines a chance to air as well!

That is the technique I always use. Don't know if it is better or worse than standing upright, but it needs less planning and always works for me. Your wine cradle has to be very sturdy - I actually use a thick glass bowl - and it helps if you have a foil cutter.

You reminded me that corkage is accepted in most restaurants in CA and how fortunate it is for us who reside here. I've been cellaring and drinking wines from my own cellar for almost 40 years and cannot imagine not having this option. Corkage allows me to drink properly aged wines, without it I couldn't possibly afford the same bottles off of a restaurant wine list. Hey even if they charge 20 or 25 bucks a bottle I,m very happy. I doubt very much if my interest in wine would be as great without corkage.

The writer stated that he never stands up bottles he intends to drink beforehand. He expressed the opinion that even if you do this well beforehand you are still disturbing sediment that in a long stored bottle has been in the same place for probably years ( as was the case with my bottles ). He claimed that very fine sediment will likely stay in solution and make the wine bitter. His technique is to gently move the bottle to a wine cradle in the same orientation as it was stored and gently decant it. I did this, rinsed the bottles, poured the wine back in, stuck the cork back in, and was off to the restaurant. Worked wonderfully and gave the wines a chance to air as well!

That is the technique I always use. Don't know if it is better or worse than standing upright, but it needs less planning and always works for me. Your wine cradle has to be very sturdy - I actually use a thick glass bowl - and it helps if you have a foil cutter.

Yes Steve, I plan to have not only a foil cutter on hand when I perform this procedure but also an ah-so cork remover and a cork extractor in case a cork or part of a cork gets pushed into the bottle. As for the technique, I think it is much preferable to the "stand up" thing. There was virtually no sediment in my 2 decanted bottles, and best of all, as you point out, no planning is necessary! Just decide what wine you want to drink and if it's been at rest a decent amount of time you're in business.

I plan to test out the "fine sediment-bitterness" thing at some point too, standing a bottle of wine up for a day or two and comparing it against the same wine decanted in the "non stand up" fashion to see if I detect a difference. It does seem to make sense that fine sediment would be likely to take a very long time to settle out once disturbed.

I'm certainly a pro-BYO guy. A good corkage policy greatly increases the chance of me going to a restaurant. That said, I'd never make a policy of only doing BYO, as there are places where there I've found great value on the list. Either places like Kittle House with rarities at prices that seem like they could be close to fair retail (with great wine service) or places with superinteresting lists of stuff I'll have never tried (see Alto post). That said, I pretty much never (a) go to a "neighborhood" restaurant and pay $50 for a $18 retail Cal Cab or Chianti or (b) pay $160 for a '86 Meyney.

As to decanting, I've done both (ersatz) cradle and standup. Both have worked fine. As my cellar is in basement, I find it more congenial if I know in advance to stand up bottles upstairs (I use the cradle method if last minute). Fine tannins remaining in sediment causing bitterness? Maybe we should have a tasting where folks volunteer to identify the bitter bottle blind. Frankly, while I generally personally try to be careful and doubledecant before tasting, I've been to lots of tasting where the jostled traveling bottle is uncorked at table and wins WOTN.

You reminded me that corkage is accepted in most restaurants in CA and how fortunate it is for us who reside here. I've been cellaring and drinking wines from my own cellar for almost 40 years and cannot imagine not having this option. Corkage allows me to drink properly aged wines, without it I couldn't possibly afford the same bottles off of a restaurant wine list. Hey even if they charge 20 or 25 bucks a bottle I,m very happy. I doubt very much if my interest in wine would be as great without corkage.

You got me beat there Lou, I've been cellaring for about 25 years. I am very happy paying a $20ish cork fee as well. I was at an Italian restaurant with a renowned Italian wine list a few weeks before I went to Il Bacco. Very comparable wines to the Barolo and Barbaresco (same producers 1985 vintage) that I brought from my cellar were priced at $195. a bottle. That would have added $500 to our bill, no way I can afford that!

Also, the older one gets, the more aged special wines that will likely be in the cellar, and the less time there will be to drink them. That makes corkage a blessing. No sense leaving gems in the cellar to outlive you while you spend a fortune off a restaurant list or drink unimpressive wine