As wine enthusiasts and gourmands alike know, the right bottle can significantly enhance a dining experience. While many restaurants offer extensive wine lists, sometimes you may wish to bring a particular vintage from your own collection. This is where the concept of Bring Your Own Bottle (BYOB) comes into play.

However, bringing your own bottle to a restaurant isn&#39;t as simple as just walking in with it under your arm. There are certain etiquettes that need to be followed &ndash; after all, you wouldn&rsquo;t walk into an eatery carrying your own chicken! Here&rsquo;s everything you need to know about making the most out of BYOB while respecting both restaurant policies and good manners.

1. Call Ahead or Check Corkage Policies:

Before planning on bringing your own bottle, call ahead or check online if the restaurant allows it at all. Many establishments have their corkage policy listed on their website; also check the CorkRules app as we&rsquo;ve begun collecting that information.

2. Understand What Corkage Entails:

Corkage refers to the fee charged by restaurants when guests bring their own wine bottles instead of purchasing from them directly - essentially charging for opening and serving someone else&#39;s beverage within their establishment.

This cost varies widely depending upon location and type of venue but typically ranges between $10-$75 per bottle.

3. Look at Wine List Beforehand:

One unwritten rule about BYOB is not bringing something already available on the restaurant&#39;s menu &ndash; this can be perceived as disrespectful towards their curated selection.

Therefore always look over an establishment&rsquo;s wine list before deciding what you will carry along. If the wine you are brought is on the list, buy the wine from the restaurant.

4. The Age Factor Matters:

Typically older wines which have been aged appropriately are preferred when opting for BYOB because they might not be readily available in most restaurants due its high storage costs involved in ageing wines properly.

5. Bring a Bottle, Buy a Bottle:

A polite way to approach BYOB is by also purchasing a bottle from the restaurant&#39;s list. This not only supports their business but can lead to an exciting opportunity for pairing different wines with your meal. You could also consider pre/post cocktails as well.

6. Don&rsquo;t Bring Cheap Wine:

While there&rsquo;s no need to break the bank, it&rsquo;s generally considered bad form to bring very cheap wine when opting for BYOB. The idea behind bringing your own bottle is usually about sharing something special that isn&#39;t readily available in most restaurants.

7. Share Your Wine:

If you have brought along an exceptional or unusual vintage, consider offering a taste of it to the sommelier or chef if they are interested. They will appreciate this gesture and may even provide additional insights into its characteristics.

8. Tip Generously:

When calculating gratuity at the end of your meal, be sure to tip as though you had purchased the wine directly from them assuming service was good. After all, staff still took time and effort serving and attending on your brought beverage just like any other drink ordered off their menu.

&nbsp;

BYOB offers patrons an avenue through which they can personalize their dining experience while enjoying some of their favorite vintages in new settings. However remember - with privilege comes responsibility; therefore always ensure that you&#39;re being respectful towards both establishment policies and general etiquette when deciding on bringing along your own bottle! #drinkwhatyoulove

As wine enthusiasts and gourmands alike know, the right bottle can significantly enhance a dining experience. While many restaurants offer extensive wine lists, sometimes you may wish to bring a particular vintage from your own collection. This is where the concept of Bring Your Own Bottle (BYOB) comes into play.

The Art of BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle) to Restaurants: Etiquette, Tips and Guidelines

Wines from grapes grown in higher altitude areas with cooler climate has become quite the trend recently. This specific growing environment gives intense flavor but elegance and freshness to the final wines. To highlight and champion these conditions more and more winemakers are starting to use alto as a marketing and labelling term to show their grapes were grown in high altitude vineyards.

Decoding the wine label: Alto

Brut is a word often seen on labels for different kinds of sparkling wine. As you may have discovered when drinking these wines, it indicates that the wine is dry, meaning there is no perceived sweetness in the wine. But how about Extra Brut or Dry, what do they mean and are they the same as Brut?

Decoding the wine label: Brut

Semi-sweet Riesling, a type of wine falling out of style. It’s a shame, since these wines are perfect to pair with flavorful cuisines like Asian or Mexican, or simply drink as they come under the summer sun. The higher level of sugar left in the wine also means that the alcoholic fermentation was stopped before finishing, providing a wine with lower alcohol level and therefor easier grabbing a second glass of.

Decoding the wine label: Spätlese

Have you ever heard the word Xinomavro? Most have not. It is however a word on many sommeliers’ lips today, as it happens to be considered the grape variety with the highest quality in Greece, and one that is trending at the moment. The fact that Greece have been making wine for a long time comes as no surprise, but they have never exported an amount to make sure wine lovers around the globe tried it. With the growing wine tourism many have discovered these wines and are serving them in wine bars and restaurants in many countries today.

Decoding the wine label: Xinomavro

Chianti Classico, Valpolicella Classico, Soave Classico… Why do all these Italian wine regions have the Classico addendum and what does it mean? What is the difference for wines labeled as Classico?

Classico is a wine term in Italy seen on a few wine labels and it indicates that the wine’s from the historic center of the region, the heart. Using Chianti and Chianti Classico and their Sangiovese-based red wines as an example, Chianti is a rather large wine district within the Tuscany region. Chianti Classico is located withing Chianti as the central part and the one that originally existed. Back then this smaller region was actually called Chianti, but as the region grew the quality of the wine plummeted and the well-known characteristics of these red wines were watered down. The reputation took a hit and sales diminished. Eventually this led to the creation of Chianti Classico, which would be drawn from the original Chianti borders to recover the typicity of these wines. Today the quality of both Chianti and Chianti Classico have risen a lot due to modern techniques and knowledge about pruning, planting and temperature control in the winery.

Decoding the wine label: Classico

In the rarefied world of fine wine, where bottles can command prices equivalent to luxury cars, authenticity is everything. Laurent Ponsot's gripping memoir "FBI: Fake Bottle Investigation" reads more like a high-stakes thriller than a traditional wine book, chronicling his relentless pursuit of one of the wine world's most infamous counterfeiters, Rudy Kurniawan.

From Burgundy's Vineyards to the FBI's Most Wanted: A Winemaker's Quest for Justice

Chablis – one of the more popular styles of wine today and a region known by many. Most are familiar with the word Chablis and the light, fresh white wine with a touch of minerality it brings. Even though it’s a renowned wine, few knows what it really is.

Decoding the wine label: Chablis

Many grape varieties around the world of wine have names local to the region or country they’re grown in, even though they’re exactly the same. The most famous example would be Syrah in France where the same grape is named Shiraz in Australia. Another variety with two names is Pinot Grigio, or Pinot Gris.

Decoding the wine label: Pinot Grigio

Have you ever seen the term sur lie on a wine label? It’s not a grape and not a wine region, but a winemaking method used to give certain styles of white wine a rounder texture and a more complex flavor profile.

Decoding the wine label: Sur lie

Don Angie

Whitney Grant

Don Angie

RT: Hello and Welcome to CorkRules!

A podcast where, in each episode. we will review a wine list from your favorite restaurants. I&rsquo;m your host Robert Tas along with Whitney Grant, wine educator and certified sommelier.

Hello Whitney, it&rsquo;s great to have you back on with CorkRules.

WG: Hi Robert! Thanks for having me! I&rsquo;m excited to share these wine selections with you and the CorkRules listeners.

RT: Before we jump in, let&rsquo;s talk about CorkRules.

We created CorkRules to demystify wine list&rsquo;s because we know from experience, that sometimes when we get that list handed to us, well&hellip; it can be intimidating, and even a little daunting.

Our aim is to help prepare you to navigate that list, find those hidden gems, or value wines or that special bottle that will take your dining experience over the top.

RT: So, sit back and listen as we review your favorite wine list.

RT: Today we are talking about Don Angie. Don Angie located in the West Village is a Michelin-starred restaurant serving American-inspired Italian classics with Asian elements incorporated into the menu as well.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Whitney I can&rsquo;t wait to hear what do you think of this wine list?

WG: Robert I am super excited to chat with you today about the wines here. Now if you are on foodie Tik Tok like me, you know there are a few items on this menu that have gone viral. I think it might be fun to start off today with some wine pairings for those popular dishes.

RT: Sounds fun! For those that aren&rsquo;t familiar with the Don Angie menu which items do you have pairings for?

WG: There is so much good food here but let&#39;s start with the chrysanthemum salad and stuffed garlic bread. For these starters, I think I nice crisp bottle of Sauvignon blanc would be excellent for the table to enjoy with the starters.

If you&rsquo;d like to enjoy a glass the Silvio Carta Vermentino would be a lovely accompaniment. The Vermentino will be light with well-rounded mineral and floral characteristics with citrus and green fruit flavors with nice acidity to complement the dishes.

For the main dish I would highly recommend the lasagna for two. This deconstructed pinwheel lasagna has been seen on the today show is one of New York&rsquo;s most popular lasagna dishes. For this is would recommend pairing with another Italian classic Chianti Classico made from the Sangiovese grape. The 2019 Monterinaldi Chianti Classico would be a great choice. This wine is a beautiful ruby color, with complex red fruit flavors, full-bodied and really pairs wonderfully with the lasagna.

&nbsp;For wines by the glass with this dish, I would recommend Timbre &#39;Opening Act Pinot Noir from Monterey, California. The red fruit flavors and acidity complements the lasagna nicely.

RT: Now I&rsquo;m hungry, those dishes and pairings sound good. Taking another look at the by-the-glass list, is there anything you would recommend trying?

WG: I would suggest giving one of the Lambrusco a try. Lambrusco today is not the same overly sweet cheap wines that gained a poor reputation decades ago. Producers in Italy are now producing quality wines that are dry or semi-dry and would definitely recommend giving it a try. It is served chilled, fruity, bubbly and refreshing, perfect for a hot summer night. At Don Angie I would recommend the Montanari, &#39;Opera&#39; Lambrusco di Modena Secco. Expect juicy red fruit flavors of cherry and raspberry, nice acidity, and light tannin.

RT: Lambrusco today is certainly not what it was in the 1970s and 80s. What about a bottle of wine to impress my guests?

WG: On the &ldquo;Don&rsquo;s Secret Stash&rdquo; list there are some incredible limited quantity selections. If it&rsquo;s available and it&rsquo;s in your budget you&rsquo;ve got to go with the 2017 Harlan Estate from Oakville, California. These wines are super rare and popular with both critics and wine collections. This wine is a blend but promdomientanlty Cabernet Sauvignon, you can expect rich blackberry and current flavors, mineral characteristics of graphite and crushed stoned. This wine is full-bodied with integrated tannins.

RT: Harland Estate is a cult favorite, they produce great wines. So Whitney, I see there have a few natural wines specified on the menu, is there anything you&rsquo;d recommend?

WG: Yes for those that are not familiar with natural wines, basically what that means is these wines are produced with minimal intervention. Typically you&rsquo;ll see wild or natural yeast fermentations, meaning no commercial yeast inoculations are used, often the grapes are farmed organically or biodynamically, there are minimal or sometimes no sulfites added, and no artificial flavoring or coloring is used.

If you are looking to explore on of Don Angie&rsquo;s natural wines I would recommend the Vinous Obscura Fiano Blend from my hometown of Willamette Valley, OR. 40% Fiano, 40% Semillon, and 20% Muscat. Now, this is an orange wine where these traditionally white wine grapes are fermented on the skin for 21 days giving it a beautiful orange color. With this wine, you can expect honey, chamomile and beeswax flavors.

RT: Whitney Thank you so much for all your great suggestions and helping us navigate Don Angie&#39;s Wine List. I can&rsquo;t wait to go try them myself.

WG: Thanks for having me Robert, this was an exciting list to review and I hope the listeners get the chance to enjoy some of these wines!

RT:To our audience, thank you all for joining us here on CorkRules.

If you would like us to review one of your favorite restaurants, please send us email to: Info@CorkRules.Com or visit our web website where we have a request form available and we will do our best to get it in the queue as quickly as possible.

We are looking forward to being with you on another CorkRules episode soon. In the meantime, please check out our website for other episodes of your favorite restaurant wine lists.

And finally, drink what you love and please make sure you drink responsibly.

Thank you.

End

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CorkRules application allows you to discover wines at your favorite restaurants, learn with friends and be confident with price transparency. Order wine with confidence at restaurants and retailers. Get personalized recommendations. #DrinkWhatYouLove

Emilio's Ballato

Château Grand Portail

La Croix Blanche Bordeaux 2019

Merlot

Bordeaux, France

Lucien Muzard & Fils

Meursault 'Les Meix Chavaux' NV

Chardonnay

Burgundy, France

Domaine de

Marquiliani Rose de Pauline NV

Corse, France

Domaine Hors Champ

Une Vie la Nuit 1953

Shiraz/Syrah

Vin de France, France

Valery Renaudat

Les Lignis Reuilly Rouge NV

Pinot Noir

France

Valery Renaudat

Les Lignis Reuilly Blanc NV

Sauvignon Blanc

France

Domaine Vacheron

Sancerre Blanc 2020

Sauvignon Blanc

Loire, France

Chauvet Frères

Morgon Cote du Py NV

Gamay

Morgon, France

Coeur Esterelle Cotes de Provence Rose 2021

France

Rebmann

Cremant d'Alsace NV

Assemblage

France

Domaine du Colombier

Petit Chablis 2020

Chardonnay

Chablis, Burgundy, France

Saint-Emilion 2018

Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux, France

Maurice Lapalus & Fils

Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2021

Pinot Noir

Bourgogne, France

Louis de Grenelle

Saumur Brut Rose NV

Blend

Saumur, France

Domaine Famille Paquet

Bourgogne Chardonnay 2020

Chardonnay

Bourgogne, France