| Author | Message | ||
     Rich Citizen Username: Veneto Post Number: 28 Registered: 5-2006 |
Is it entirely unreasonable to ask for a refund on a bottle of wine from the store where it was purchased? A bottle of French 2002 Chateau Cap de Merle was reccomended to me by an employee of a high end wine shop. Upon tasting it, I spat it in the sink. Tasted it again and had the same reflex. I actually don't believe the bottled was skunked, it was just garbage. It wasn't an expensive bottle, but I'm getting a little fed up with these wine store reccomendations that taste like crap. I'm pouring about every fourth bottle down the drain because it's intollerable. | ||
| Master Plvmber Citizen Username: Master_plvmber Post Number: 552 Registered: 3-2003  |
I don't think I've ever once in my life made a second purchase of a bottle recommended by an employee of a wine store. Now I don't let them suggest anything. I simply ask them to describe a wine or compare one to another. No more "I'm having *this*. What goes with *that"? I'd be very surprised if they reimbursed you for your bottle and I'm not sure it would be a reasonable request, although I'd be angry too if I were you. Master Plvmber | ||
| Virtual It Girl Citizen Username: Shh Post Number: 5031 Registered: 5-2001 |
I'm sure not the suggestion you were hoping for, but what about cooking with it? At least you could transform it into something pleasant. | ||
| red Citizen Username: Redy67 Post Number: 7065 Registered: 2-2003  |
Rich, no offense, but I can't imagine a bottle of wine being so bad you have to "spit" it out. I think you are completely over-reacting. Maybe try letting the wine open a little. To say a every fourth wine is so terrible you can't drink it is ridiculous. | ||
| cody Citizen Username: Cody Post Number: 1132 Registered: 5-2001 |
Maybe find a different wine store? Even allowing for differences across vintage years, if you like a particular sort of wine, you should be able to find some consistency. Are you trying wines that you're not familiar with? If so, find a different consultant. If you are familiar with the varieties of wines that you are trying and you know that the vintage years are supposed to be drinkable, I'd question the storage methods of that wine store. I once tried a reliable wine back in my NY days. It was horrid. I wrote to the supplier and it turned out the shipment had been delayed in the MidWest during a heat wave and they'd expected that some of the wine had turned. They very nicely sent me a 6-bottle assortment of their wines! I was very surprised - the most I'd expected was a letter of explanation. Maybe the store or shipper isn't handling the wines properly. | ||
| Just The Aunt Supporter Username: Auntof13 Post Number: 6158 Registered: 1-2004  |
If this is always happening with wine from the same store I wouldn't go back there. I'd also mention it to the manager. If it's different stores; could there be a problem is where you keep it? | ||
| Jersey_Boy Citizen Username: Jersey_boy Post Number: 1839 Registered: 1-2006  |
"Is it entirely unreasonable to ask for a refund on a bottle of wine from the store where it was purchased?" Yes. J.B. | ||
| Veritas Ultimo Citizen Username: Veritas_ultimo Post Number: 61 Registered: 12-2005 |
If it was really so rotten that you can't drink it or, as Virtual It Girl so wisely suggested, use it for cooking / marinade, then bring it back, preferably to the salesperson who recommended it. I have to agree with Red that "every fourth bottle" being so terrible is really outside the odds. If that is the case, listen to Just The Aunt and go to a different wine store. Suggestion: When you go you should bring a list of wines you enjoy. If the staff is competent (and honest) they can tell what style you like and advise accordingly. P.S. If you don't have a clear idea of what you want, stay away from Wine Library. The few times I went there and acted as if I didn't know anything, the staff was really unprofessional. (When I told them that someone told me Jordan Chardonnay was a really good California wine, they went to a computer, punched buttons and announced that there was no such wine! The person suggested a $18.00 bottle of what might be good cooking wine!) Remember, life is too short to drink bad wine! | ||
| Richard Kessler Citizen Username: Richiekess Post Number: 211 Registered: 11-2004 |
Wine that has gone bad, ususally do to a problem with the cork, is certainly something that could be bad enough to spit it out. I would absolutely bring it back, make sure you have the cork and the remainder of the bottle. It is pretty obvious when wine has gone bad in that way and unless it is impossible to tell if there was a cork problem, they should reimburse or give a store credit | ||
| mlj Citizen Username: Mlj Post Number: 431 Registered: 6-2001 |
My understanding is that you should not cook with wine you would not drink. | ||
| Cougar86 Citizen Username: Cougar86 Post Number: 54 Registered: 3-2006 |
Gary's in Madison has a very good staff, they also run a lot of in store wine tastings so you can actually taste what your buying. | ||
| xavier67 Citizen Username: Xavier67 Post Number: 686 Registered: 6-2002 |
I've had Chateau Cap de Merlef in another vintage other than 2002 (which, by the way, is an underrated year in Bordeaux and very reasonably priced, too) and it's a pretty decent wine for its price range, so I suspect if your bottle was bad enough for you to spit out, then it must have been badly corked (remember that a wine can be "corked" in varying degree, from barely perceptible to completely undrinkable). As someone else pointed out, unless you want your dish to taste like crap, I'd never cook with corked wine, especially if the dish relies on the flavor of the wine for its backbone (like coq au vin). | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 9463 Registered: 5-2001  |
Mlj - TS has the opposite theory. She won't cook with a wine that she wouldn't drink. Or, it could just be a convenient excuse to open a bottle & have a glass while cooking. The Julia Child method....  TS and several of our friends are major oenophiles. They have wine stores (TS's is Wine Library) where they have a relationship with someone there who knows their tastes and makes lots of recommendations. We buy a lot of wine from Wine Library and work with one of the managers there. She goes in and talks wine with him for 20 minutes. He makes great recommendations and only once did she not like something that he recommended. He knows her tastes so well that she sends me to get wine and I just tell him what she wants it for (special gift, particular dinner, wine to take for casual dinner at someone else's house). I go in and ask him for special bottles for her b-day once in awhile. This relationship took years to develop. So, on the one or two occassions when a wine has not lived up to expectations, she's told him (more to let him know thoughts rather than to complain) and he's replaced it with something else. So, my long answer to the short question is: it depends on where you go and how much you buy. A good wine store with a loyal customer will take things back. It costs them little of nothing and the good will and loyalty are paid for 1000 times over. | ||
| Hank Zona Supporter Username: Hankzona Post Number: 6229 Registered: 3-2002  |
I agree with the above who said dont cook with a wine you wouldnt drink. That said, I wouldnt liberally splash a first growth Bordeaux in my sauce, preferring to splash it in my mouth instead. Also, consider that some wines that may be perfectly fine for drinking depending on your taste, may not be good cooking wines, such as a heavily oaked wine. As for the being so bad you have to spit it out, sounds corked to me, or turned bad somehow which again is most likely cork or heat related. Depends on how much I spent on the wine. 25% of all wines are not bad, although estimates run as high as 10% of wines being corked (the argument for cellulose/plastic corks or screwtops). I cant say 1 in 10 are bad, but you do get the occasional stink bomb of a wine. Just because you may not like a wine though is no reason to return it to a store or in a restaurant...it really should be because the wine has actually gone bad. I agree as well with others...often times, recommendations may not work for you because of personal taste. Sometimes they dont work because sales staff is told or incented to push certain stock...they arent always independent arbiters. Greenetree is right...an established relationship goes a long way. | ||
| eliz Supporter Username: Eliz Post Number: 1746 Registered: 5-2001 |
I'm also a v.good customer at Wine Library but do a lot of research myself - not much a fan or their "specials" - crap they buy in bulk and pawn off with their own ratings. I do take back any wine that is corked but it is usually only a couple bottles a year. There is never a question and they just switch it out. At 1 in 4 bottles going down the drain I'm thinking maybe you don't like wine that much.... it would have to be pretty bad to go down my drain  | ||
| Rich Citizen Username: Veneto Post Number: 32 Registered: 5-2006 |
Okay, so what is the "toss to drink" ratio that seems reasonable??? I can honestly say that for every new (first time tasting for me) bottle of wine I buy, I toss every fourth or fifth one. It's not that I have money to burn, but I'm not going to drink a wine I find unpleasant just because I spent $20 on it. | ||
| Rich Citizen Username: Veneto Post Number: 33 Registered: 5-2006 |
Okay, so what is the "toss to drink" ratio that seems reasonable??? I can honestly say that for every new (first time tasting for me) bottle of wine I buy, I toss every fourth or fifth one. It's not that I have money to burn, but I'm not going to drink a wine I find unpleasant just because I spent $20 on it. |
