Comments on: Bad news trumps good

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Having A Wine Map Is Not Just A Luxury — 20 Places to… Shopping — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:54:38 +0000

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By: John Glas

John Glas — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:04:51 +0000

Bill,

Thanks for the heads up on Corner Table. I have to try it sooner than later.

By: Bill Ward

Bill Ward — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:34:06 +0000

I hear ya, John. These restaurants, even the high-end ones, need to wake up on this topic, bith the prices and the fees.
A couple that have done so in Minneapolis: Corner Table has a $1/bottle corkage fee on Thursdays, and FireLake has waived corkage on Sundays.

By: John Glas

John Glas — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:43:04 +0000

I am not surprised that Morton’s was the first to go down in the Twin Cities. While I liked their food their wine list was outrageously overpriced and low end selections were poor. My favorite overprice wine was the 2001 Insignia for $325 (prior to tax/tip). I brought in the same bottle and paid the $25 corkage and walked out under $120 with a bonus tip to the server.

They also were the hardest to work with in town when it came to bringing in wine for corporate events. Having to call Corporate to get the ok and then coming back with a $25 corkage and no discount on food for a volume event does not cut it in this market.

While I enjoyed dining there I will have no problem finding less expensive dining options at a fraction of the price such as Broder’s Pasta Bar and Heidi’s.

By: WineGuyMN

WineGuyMN — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:14:27 +0000

The problem with these alliances between retailers and restaurants is that many of us don’t like drinking “young” red wines. We prefer our red and some of our whites wines with some age. For example, right now we are drinking some of our preferred Bordeaux, Burgundies and California reds from the middle 90’s rather than the last released vintage.