corkage

Etymology

A sommelier pouring wine at the Hostellerie du Château des Fines Roches in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, France. Corkage is a fee charged by a restaurant to serve a bottle of wine that a diner has provided.

cork +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔːkɪdʒ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔɹkɪdʒ/
• Hyphenation: cork‧age

Noun

corkage (countable and uncountable, plural corkages)

1. A fee charged by a restaurant to serve wine that a diner has provided.

   Synonyms: corking fee, opening fee

   • 1827, Christian Isobel Johnstone, Elizabeth de Bruce, volume 1, page 224:

     While the Black-nebs wanted only the tea and sugar cheap, and a drap brandy at a reasonable rate, I was hand in glove wi' them; and ga'e them ben the house to meet in, free o' a charge—save the natural corkage.

   • 1873, Tinsley's Magazine, volume 12, page 359:

     'Corkage' is the peculiar vail of the superior of the establishment. You must, if you are the stranger within his gates, imbibe his very bad 18s. sherry at a charge of 36s., or his fifth-rate bottled beer, or pay the 'corkage' fee of 1s. 6d. per dozen on everything of your own ordering from which a cork has to be extracted, and probably also forfeit the bottles, charged, in the case of beer, at 2s. per dozen.

Further reading

• BYOB on Wikipedia.Wikipedia