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Swiss man charged $8,000 corkage at Australian restaurant
A Swiss wine buyer visiting Australia was allegedly charged AUS$8,000 (£4,386) in corkage, having brought eight bottles of his own wine to a restaurant in Melbourne.
The man was allegedly charged AUS$8,000 corkage on eight bottles of wine.
As reported by the Daily Mail, each of the eight bottles he brought with him cost just $200, but he was charged a fee of $1,000 (£548) a bottle, costing a total of $8,000.
At AU$1,000 a bottle corkage, it would likely be the priciest corkage charge of any restaurant in the world.
Chef Tom Keller’s restaurants, Napa’s French Laundry and New York’s Per Se, are often touted the world’s most expensive for corkage. But at just US$150 (£114) a bottle, its charges seem reasonable by comparison.
Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas charges $100 a bottle and the Shangri-La hotel at London’s tallest building, the Shard charges pay £50 ($83.95) per 750ml bottle of still wine and £75 ($125.90) for a bottle of Champagne.
The wine buyer said he had attempted to contact the high end restaurant three times to confirm if he could bring his own wine and the relevant charges, but had received no response.
The story was reported by an Australian radio station, after a man believed to be a client of the wine buyer, known only as Scott, got in touch to share the story.
The name of the restaurant, which is reported to be in Melbourne, has not been revealed.
And Kitchen W8, a 1-star Michelin restaurant in Kensington, London, charge absolutely zero on Sundays. I know which restaurant I would choose.
While he should have checked in advance it just highlghts the absurd margins some restaurants make on wine sales.
What a disgrace!
An embarrassment to all Australian restaurants assuming this story is true.
The sommelier or restaurant manager should apologise and publicly recognise the disrepute this has brought to restaurants.
I am an Australian living in Russia and this story has spread internationally. Oops
This must have been a mistake, too easy to add extra zeros on the eftpos machine, its more like it would have been $20 or $200 for two bottles, depending which restaurant it was. This person must contact the Restaurant and obtain a refund, there must have been a mistake, I would like to know the name of the Restaurant because I am sure as a winemaker myself this seems impossible.
He might have been ‘charged’ it, but I don’t believe for a minute that it was paid – there has to be more to this story.
This is what another article stated, “Rather than make a scene, he just paid the money and walked out.” The client who was charged is Swiss. I live in Switzerland. It would be very rare for a Swiss to make a scene, particularly those in the German-speaking areas.
Without confirmation of the validity of the story, I find it unbelievable. The venue needs to be named so they can then explain the circumstances and their actions
Could be true as restuarants in Aus charge cakeage.