Corkage Fee: What It Costs and How to BYOB Politely

A corkage fee is the charge a restaurant adds for opening and serving a bottle of wine you bring yourself. In the US it usually runs from about $10 at a casual spot to $50 or more at an upscale one, according to recent reporting, and a handful of top restaurants charge well over $100. Whether you can bring wine at all depends on the restaurant and on state and local law, so the first rule is always to ask. Here is what corkage pays for, what publications report it costs, and how to bring a bottle without annoying anyone.

What a corkage fee pays for

When you bring your own bottle, the restaurant still does the work: a server or sommelier (the restaurant’s wine professional, see our guide to what a sommelier does) opens it, provides glasses, chills or decants it and pours it through the meal. What the restaurant loses is the profit it would have made selling you a bottle from its list.

The Takeout’s July 2025 explainer, which interviewed restaurant owner Maricel Gentile, lists these reasons: the fee offsets lost wine-list revenue, covers glassware and staff time, and discourages guests from bringing cheap bottles to places that invest in their own wine pairings. Upscale restaurants charge more, the article says, because they pay for sommeliers, cellars and better glassware. In our view, that is a fair way to think about it: you are paying for service, not for permission.

How much corkage costs

There is no standard fee, and no official survey of US corkage prices that we could find. Here is what named publications have reported, with dates:

Source and date	What it reported
The Takeout, July 2025	About $10 to $20 at casual restaurants; about $25 to $50 at upscale ones
Wine Enthusiast, May 2022	Examples from restaurants it interviewed: $18 at Magnolia’s Mill in Virginia; $35 at Hawksmoor in New York, cut to $10 on Monday evenings
Wine Spectator, January 2015	$15 to $25 described as typical at restaurants licensed to sell alcohol; some set fees high enough to discourage BYOB
VinePair, August 2014	Many restaurants about $20 to $40 a bottle; $150 at The French Laundry and Per Se

Two patterns stand out. Fees rise with the formality of the restaurant, and many places run BYOB nights with the fee waived or reduced. Wine Enthusiast’s 2022 article mentions a Sunday-night no-corkage policy at The Leopard at des Artistes in New York, alongside the Hawksmoor Monday deal. The Takeout adds that managers may waive the fee for special occasions or large orders, if you ask politely when booking.

Fees are almost always charged per bottle, so two bottles cost twice as much. Prices and policies change, so treat any figure here as a rough guide and check the restaurant’s website or call.

Tip: Our rule of thumb: if the corkage fee plus what you paid for the bottle comes close to the price of a good wine on the list, order from the list instead. Corkage makes the most sense for a bottle you can’t buy there.

Is BYOB legal where you live?

It depends, and the rules vary a lot. Corkage and BYOB are governed by state alcohol law, and Wine Spectator notes that counties or cities can be stricter than the state. The Takeout’s 2025 article likewise says some states, cities and jurisdictions prohibit bringing your own alcohol to a restaurant. Even where it is legal, a restaurant is never obliged to allow it.

We are not going to list rules state by state, because they change and many depend on the type of license a restaurant holds. Before you bring a bottle, check your state’s alcohol control agency or ask the restaurant. A restaurant that allows BYOB will know the local rules.

Taking an unfinished bottle home

Many states have what people call a “wine doggy bag” or “cork and carry” rule, which lets you take home a bottle you didn’t finish. Two examples, from the official state statute pages:

• New York. Section 81 of the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Law lets a restaurant licensed to sell wine allow a patron to take away one partly finished bottle, provided the patron bought a full-course meal and drank part of the bottle with it. The restaurant must securely reseal the bottle in a tamper-evident bag and give the patron a dated receipt.
• Florida. Section 564.09 of the Florida Statutes lets a licensed restaurant allow a patron who bought a meal and drank part of a bottle with it to take one unsealed bottle away. The restaurant must reseal it in a tamper-evident bag or container with a dated receipt for the wine and meal attached, and in a car the bottle must go in a locked glove compartment, a locked trunk, or behind the last upright seat in a vehicle without a trunk.

Neither law says whether it covers a bottle you brought yourself, so don’t assume it does. Ask the restaurant to recork it, and keep it sealed and out of reach in the car. For how long a resealed bottle stays good, see our guide to how long wine lasts after opening.

Corkage etiquette

The advice from restaurant professionals is remarkably consistent across publications.

1. Call ahead. Wine Spectator says to call first to confirm the policy, because allowing BYOB is the restaurant’s choice. Wine Enthusiast quotes former New York chef Galen Zamarra on telling the restaurant you are bringing wine and asking about its policy in advance. VinePair and The Takeout give the same advice.

2. Don’t bring a wine that’s on the list. Wine Spectator calls this out directly, and Matthew Perkins of Magnolia’s Mill told Wine Enthusiast that most restaurants won’t allow it. Check the online wine list before you go.

3. Bring something worth the fee. VinePair suggested not treating corkage as a way to save money and bringing a bottle that cost at least $25 (in 2014). Perkins said guests should bring their own wine for special occasions or bottles with personal meaning. In our view, an older bottle from your own cellar, or something the restaurant can’t offer, is the best use of corkage.

4. Arrive prepared. Lauren Hoey of Hawksmoor told Wine Enthusiast to bring wines at or near serving temperature, to say in which order you want several bottles opened (or leave it to the sommelier), and to carry a backup bottle in case one turns out to be corked. VinePair suggests a proper carrier rather than a paper bag; our guide to the best wine bags covers insulated totes and bottle carriers.

5. Offer a taste. VinePair recommends offering a taste to your server or the sommelier, especially for a special bottle. It is a courtesy, not a requirement.

6. Consider ordering from the list too. Not every publication insists on it, but buying a bottle or a few glasses from the restaurant softens the lost sale. Some restaurants waive corkage when you do; ask when you book.

7. Tip on the service. VinePair suggested tipping at least 20%. In Wine Enthusiast, Rick Camac of the Institute of Culinary Education said to tip at minimum on the corkage fee, but more reasonably on what the wine would cost at the restaurant, since the staff does the same job. Zamarra added that old wines needing decanting deserve a bigger tip. An older Wine Spectator column quoted Master Sommelier Larry Stone: tip as you would want to be tipped if you had done the service yourself.

A quick BYOB checklist

Before you go	At the table
Confirm the restaurant allows BYOB and ask the fee	Hand the bottle to your server and let staff open it
Check the wine isn’t on their list	Offer a taste to the server or sommelier
Bring the wine at or near serving temperature	Consider ordering something from the list as well
Pack a backup bottle and a padded carrier	Tip on the service, not just the food

Our take: corkage is a small courtesy fee for a big favor. Used for a special bottle, at a restaurant that welcomes it, it is one of the nicest ways to drink a wine you have been saving. If you are choosing a bottle to bring, our best wine under $20 list has research-based picks that are worth the fee.