Bring Your Own Bottle

Since working in the wine industry, there are so many times I've stared at a wine list and gasped, "How much?!" Knowing the prices of wine really brings home the huge mark up in restaurants. Any restaurant that's chosen its list carefully and makes its prices reasonable stands out, but it does take a lot of work to be able to do that.

Complaining about the price of wine in a restaurant misses the point, though - it's not the price you should be objecting to, but the lack of imagination in putting the wine list together. Wine in a restaurant is, regardless of quality, expensive for a reason: as a customer, you are being treated to a range of services that you would not get at home - sourcing the wine, storing (and chilling) the wine, creating a wine list that matches the menu, advice on which wine to match with which food, friendly service, and ambience. When a restaurant gets all (or any) of these things right, the price of the wine is justifiable, especially as it's wine, not food, that they're making a profit on. However, too many restaurants fall short of these services.

This makes the appeal of restaurants that offer a Bring Your Own Bottle corkage service enticing. I've been meaning to explore this avenue for a long time, and finally got around to it last weekend. Unsurprisingly, most restaurants that offer this service in Manchester are, as far as I know, Asian.

the restaurant

Arian, Chorlton
Opposite Chorlton Bus Station, all the diners in this Persian restaurant had brought their own bottle(s). This made for a nice atmosphere, taking away the stuffy formality and fear factor of ordering a bottle of wine in a restaurant. The service was prompt and friendly and the food excellent. Corkage was supposed to be £6.50, or so we thought as we weren't actually charged it. 

it was the end of the week and focusing properly wasn't easy

the food

The menu was, more or less, lamb or chicken, with vegetarian alternatives. I chose a lamb stew with fried aubergines and split peas and @bleuettextiles chose a chicken stew with a cranberry-based sauce. The meat in both dishes was deliciously tender, falling away slowly and succulently, with subtle spice sauces.

the drink

@bleuettextiles brought a Georgian wine, which I'd bought her for Christmas (from Carringtons, Didsbury). Georgia is the historic home of wine (though neighbouring Armenia disputes that claim). A lot of red wines from Georgia are, traditionally, sweet, but this was dry, with high tannins and oaky black fruits. It took a little time to open up but by the time our meals came, its expressive flavours went perfectly with my lamb dish, the dry tannins mixing with the rich sauce, but less so with the less full-flavoured chicken dish.

there are lots of other little stick figures around the label

Being able to bring your own bottle has so many advantages, putting you in control of one of the least uncontrollable aspects of dining out. The challenge is finding a restaurant whose food is both good and suitable enough to match your favourite wines, though it's also a great option if you just want to save money on drinking a bottle of wine at a restaurant and aren't too bothered about matching food and wine.

(@bleuettextiles continued the experiment the following evening at Nectar, a Lebanese restaurant in Chorlton, bringing a New Zealand Pinot Noir from Spirited, which she said had the acidity to match the tomato red sauce and the fruity body to go with the dish's lamb and veg. Corkage was £2 and they also have their own list if you don't want to bring your own bottle.)