[RWebb]

I'd say $10 corkage is fair if and only if that's 10 total, not 10 on each and every bottle.

Places charge a giant markup on wine - remember, they are buying at wholesale prices. I think many places feel entitled to rip people on the corkage, since they would otherwise rip them on the in house wines.

My friends and I go out drinking -- I mean dining -- nearly every week - often 2x a week. We go where we can avoid the corkage. In exchange we ALWAYS give a good bit of wine to the wait staff. At least a full taste, maybe a full glass. We also leave a BIG tip. If they don't know what it is we explain to them - region; grapes; 1er Cru, Grand Cru, rep. of the maker, notable vineyard, etc.

But if a place persists in charging (OVERcharging) a high corkage, then we are not interested in their pure profit motive. No matter how good the foodis we dump them like a lead balloon. And we let them know why. This+is a real big town or a small city, and word gets around as to which places care about their customers. We're also in the Oregon wine country, so that influences things. We can be up to 12 people so it can be a big hit + or - if the place doesn't care aobut us, then we don't care about them. And vice versa.