BUSTING THE BYO TABOO

       Sommeliers don't like dinners to bring their own wine. Why would they when restaurants may charge more than three times as much as they pay for a bottle?
       "the guy who recently bought my 82 Petrus at 3,000 pound ([Bt165,500] did really well because it cost me 2,700 pound to replace," says David Moore, owner of the two-Michelin-star Pied a Terre, in London's Fitzrovia district. "The higher up the wine list you go, the better value you get."
       The worst value will be under 30 pound a bottle, Moore says. "For a 5 bottle pound, you're probably going to pay over 15 pound when we add [tax] in.
       Some London restaurants charge as much as 50 pound a bottle for corkage and still say they don't like bring-your-own.
       "As a rule of thumb, wine, water and soft-drink sales are about one-third of revenue, so it's an incredibly important part of the busines," says Des Gunewardena, chairman and chief executive of D&D London, the owners of Coq d'Argent and Plateau.
       Over at Arbutus, Will Smith, who co-owns the Soho eatery and its Mayfair sister, Wild Honey, says he charges 20 pound.
       "It's rare - not once a month between the two restaurants - and I'd prefer not to do it," he says. "But I'm delighted people are dining with us and it's about good will and being hospitable. They will usually have something else from us anyway, so there's always a sale in there somewhere."
       Hugues Lepin, head sommelier at Bleeding Heart, says he usually charges between 5 pound and 10 pound, depending on the situation, and might not always make a regular customer pay.
       "We normally try to avoid corkage because it's always a pain," Lepin says. "It's frustrating for us to take care of customers who don't spend any money with us. But we'll always find a way of coming to an arrangement."
       I called London's leading restaurants anonymously to ask what they charge. There was confusion at some venues and Pied a Terre was unaware of the current Vines Offer, whereby you don't pay corkage if you ask for the offer when booking.
       There was uncertainty about the charge at some eateries, with whispering at the other end, or my call being transferred to someone else, or a promise to call back. gunewardena says his company doesn't have a policy.
       The message seems to be, if you want to take wine into a restaurant, call and discuss it first with the sommelier.

       "We normally try to avoid corkage ... It's frustrating for us to take care of customers who don't spend any money with us. But we'll always find a way of coming to an arrangement."