We’re being ripped off! SA restaurant-goers paying 400% more for wine
CONSUMERS are paying roughly four times the value of a bottle of wine when they order in a South African restaurant. So comments wine e-tailer Ryan Sowray of SaleWine, who has noticed a remarkable growth in people ordering wines to take to restaurants and says this is happening not only in South Africa, but globally.
“Instead of going to a restaurant and ordering a mediocre bottle of wine for, on average, four times the retail price, they’re opting for bringing their own… It’s natural to want the best quality for an acceptable price but, while there are (some) restaurants that offer this, the vast majority will sell you a mediocre bottle of R50 wine for over R200,” according to Sowray.”
‘Corkage’ is the price a restaurant will charge you to bring your own wine, and in South Africa it can range anywhere between R50 and R100 a bottle. “Why would you pay R200 for a very average bottle of wine when you can buy a 5 Star wine elsewhere for R150 and pay a R50 corkage fee for taking it to your favourite restaurant? The same 5 Star wine is likely to cost in the region of R650 at a restaurant. It’s a no-brainer!”
“The Bring Your Own Wine (BYOW) movement is not only alive and well, but growing,” says Sowray. “Even Michelin-starred restaurants are following the trend. In the UK, restaurants like Kitchen W8, Chez Bruce, The Ledbury and Tom Aitkens have introduced the BYO movement. These restaurants understand that foodies, while happy to pay for the price of a gastronomic feast, are resentful of not being able to compliment the food with quality wines, because they are simply unaffordable,” says Sowray. In South Africa, while there are currently very few top restaurants that allow you to bring your own, it is also a growing trend.
An example of what SaleWine’s customers bought to take to restaurants in February: Thelema Cabernet was purchased for R235 a bottle, a wine that Sowray says was seen on some restaurant winelists at R600 a bottle! (Cellar-door price at time of writing: R275 for the 2016 vintage)
That said, Sowray includes the following among his tips regarding BYO etiquette: “Don’t take a bottle of wine that is already on their winelist. It’s rude!”
Corkage fees also cover the high cost of the restaurants’ expensive liquor licence. If everyone is bringing his own wine without paying corkage, why go through all the headache and expenses to obtain and renew the liquor licence each year. I have a guest farm, and if my guests all bring their own spirits and wines and I do not cover corkage, I will not be able to pay for the liquor licence. I also provide fire-wood, ice, etc.
Also on BYO etiquette: don’t take a cheap bottle of plonk to a restaurant (it’s tacky!), and never, ever take a half-full bottle of wine (sies!)