Not all restaurants allow you to bring in your wine and those that do are charging high corkage fees to discourage you.

In San Francisco, you will pay $100 at Danko’s. Other restaurants may be charging less, but not much less.

According to a report I recently read, the average is $50. In my hometown of Naples, Florida, I have noticed a dramatic increase. One restaurant charged $54 and most other restaurants are in the $40 range.

Alcohol delivers the most profit for restaurateurs. Some of them have dreadful wine lists, so I’m incentivized to bring my own. My justification is that I’d rather spend $40 for a great wine from my cellar than $65 for plonk from a restaurant’s crappy cellar.