tipping on wine

not to beat a dead horse, but bruni had an interesting column on this: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/ ... g-on-wine/

I agree with the overall summary in that article. I'm a newly ex-restaurant worker and I therefore usually tip 20% or higher, including wine service. In the rare occasion where I buy an expensive bottle off the restuarant's list (that would be over $100 in my case) then I would tip maybe 15% on the wine but will increase that amount to 20% if the waiter and/or sommelier provides excellent wine service. That would be proper presentation, pouring, refilling and, if need be, decanting. For the extra attention (mainly keeping our glasses filled) I would give extra.

The problem is, most of my experiences with restaurant wine service involve me refilling our own glasses at some point. Hey, it happens.

As for selling expensive bottles, when I waited tables at the Capital Grille here in Chicago I sold many, many bottles in the $200-600 range, and usually got between 15-20% tip on the whole check. But I do agree with the Bruni article's source who said that if the waiter received a 10-15% tip on the whole bill if it was over 60% wine, I would be fine with that as well.

I hope that helps.

i've heard another school of thought where they take the wine off of the bill then tip a fixed amount for that (or a lower amount, say 10%), then the regular tip on the food portion.

there's actually been a whole thread somewhere here about this...

there are many etiquette web sites and books out there that back this up as acceptable, then others disagreeing...

Well here I am.....the anti-tipper. When I spent significant time overseas in the military the rule of thumb was do not tip much at all. That shows you are American. As we are the only ones in the world dumb enough to tip 20 percent. OK. Now that I have made some people mad let me stir the pot a bit more. If you order wine at a restaurant that costs $400 a bottle you can bet you can get that same bottle at a store for $100. The markup is huge on wine in a restaurant. If my total bill is $1000 and 60 percent comes from wine and 40 percent from food, the most the wait staff is getting from me is $100. Unless it is the most flawless service ever. Even if it is 20 percent wine 80 percent food They will get $100.
Why? Because why should a guy who carries a plate of food to me and take my order get more? He probably is doing 5 other tables as well. I just don't see how it is justified to make that much for carrying a plate of food. Can someone justify this for me?
On lesser bills of a normal night out where I spend 60 on my meal, I may go up to 20 percent but the service better be good.

Yours truly....the anti-tipper

Without getting too far into this- remember that in a lot of other countries, especially in europe, a server gets a wage from the restaurant, not just tips.