Corkage has received a lot of emails lately from brides and grooms on the topic of corkage charges in hotels and venues. Here’s an example:


“…..I was astounded to discover the venue I booked is looking to charge me a €15 corkage fee per bottle! They are already getting room hire, bedroom hire for guests, the catering, plus all the alcohol which they’ll be selling in the evening! I believe that such a corkage charge is obscene …”


Hear, hear. But, unfortunately the topic of corkage is not as simple as that. After much consultation with restaurateurs, industry figures and hotels, this is the situation as I see it corkage, when honorably implemented, is a fair thing.
The common complaint runs something like this: “It’s outrageous! I can buy this bottle of Santa Rita 120 Sauvignon Blanc for €10.49 in Tesco , yet such and such venue are looking to charged €30! It’s outrageous!” (See blog on avoiding serving branded wines!)


In defense of the (good!) hotels and venues of the world, let me hit you with a bit of a reality check. Running a hotel is not a benevolent pastime. Venues have to buy, store, sell and serve wine. “So do retailers!” you say. Yes, but retailers, particularly the Tesco’s of this world and mega-wine chains, have an enormous buying power. Tesco can buy the wine at a rate much lower than a hotel. Similarly, Tesco only has to shelve it and put it in a bag. A hotel or venue has to refrigerate it (well, at least half the time), serve it by the glass (more wastage here), pull the cork and pour it via a team of staff.



The trick particularly at the moment in the ‘current economic climate’ (is anyone else getting really sick of that phrase?) is to haggle and haggle and then haggle some more. Corkage charges like property prices and bank shares are plummeting at the moment. A venue is not going to risk loosing your booking over the corkage fee so there has never been a better time to provide your own wine and wow your guests with a great wine selection……..

The general rule of thumb here is to avoid serving branded wines at your wedding, unless of course you are serving Chateau Petrus, Latour, Margaux (i.e. top class really expensive stuff!)


Brand Definition


“Word(s) that identify not only a product but also its manufacturer or producer, such as Apple, Coca Cola, IBM, Mercedes, Shell, Sony, Toyota.”


Why, you may ask?


Well the answer is simple; in general you do not want your guests knowing exactly how much you have spent on the wine that you are serving. Furthermore big brand wines are really not going to surprise anyone or add to the occasion in any particular way. It is a much better idea to introduce your guests to something new or different (it may even spark a wine debate at the table).
Most hotels and restaurants have wines that you cannot find on easily on supermarket shelves on their list for the same reason. They do not want you getting annoyed at paying €30 for the Louis Latour Macon Lugny that you can buy in your local Spar for €11. Most major wine companies will have specific ‘On Trade’ brands exclusively for restaurants and Hotels so that they can avoid their blushes and hide their margin nice and discretely.
The Irish wine consumer is getting more and more savvy some or lots of your guests will easily recognize many of the following brands and have a fair idea of what they cost;


Australia – Jacobs Creek, Hardy’s, Wolf Balss, Lindemans, Rosemont, McGuigan’s. Brown Brothers


Chile – Santa Rita, Errazuriz, Carmen, Concha Y Toro, Montes, Undurraga


Spain – Torres, Faustino, Chivite, Frexinet, El Coto


France – Louis Latour, Guigal, Louis Jadot, Mouton Cadet, Michel Lynch, La Piat D’Or (obviously!)


Italy – Masi, Antinori,


New Zealand – Oyster Bay, Montana


USA – Gallo, Blossom Hill, Sutter Home
This list is by no means exhaustive (Just the ones I can name off the top of my head). Some of the above make fantastic wines but the point is that your guests can get most of them any day of the week, why not give them something different on your wedding day ?