You are welcome to bring a bottle of your own. Here is how to make sure it reaches the table in the condition you have been picturing.
People are shy about asking, so here it is plainly. You are welcome to bring a bottle of your own. We charge corkage, the figure is printed with the carte des vins, and nobody on the floor will think less of you for it. Quite the opposite.
Tell us when you book
A bottle with age on it wants time standing upright before anybody goes near the cork. If you say what you are bringing when you reserve, and roughly how old it is, it can stand through the afternoon, come to the right temperature, and be opened at a sensible hour rather than in a hurry while your first course goes cold.
What we will do with it
- Stand it up early, because anything with years on it has thrown sediment.
- Decant, or not. Some bottles want an hour of air. Some are on the way down and want pouring straight. We will say which we think it is, and then do what you ask.
- Find the right glass. A Burgundy in a Bordeaux glass is not a tragedy, but it is not the bottle you cellared either.
- Keep the levels even around the table, which is most of the job.
If you would rather not carry anything, there is a list of our own, arranged by region rather than by grape, and somebody on the floor who would like nothing better than to walk you through it.
A wine kept for the occasion and never opened is an expensive shelf. Bring it.
Written at L'Étoile, the historic Snouder's Building, Oyster Bay.
