Is legislation required

Bear with me. For the umpteenth time, somebody comes into the store asking us to ship the wine they purchased at the local wineries. They haul in boxes and bags full of wine. I pull out the first bottle and the cork is pushed out half way and the bottle is leaking. The bottle feels hot to the touch indicating its over 100 degrees. Most of the remaining bottles are the same. I ask if they’ve had the bottles in the car all day while visiting wineries and the answer is yes. No matter how I explain it to them, they feel it’s the wineries fault for not telling them the wine will cook in the car. Todays group took their wine to return it to the 3 wineries for replacements. Cigarettes require warning labels for the obvious. Do we need to mandate labels on wine and signs in tasting rooms that leaving wine in cars is as deadly as leaving pets and children in cars?

Do you think the wineries will really replace the bottles? If so, and if enough people returned their cooked wine, then maybe the wineries would post signs in their tasting rooms and/or instruct their personnel to warn customers about the danger. But I doubt that will ever happen since tasting rooms are in the business of selling wine and giving potential customers a reason to not buy anything wouldn’t exactly be good for business.

Last time I tasted at Heitz, the gentleman behind the bar did in fact warn me not to leave the wine in the car very long (it was a warm day).

Randy, I am with you 100%. Even somewhat sophisticated wine buyers fall short on this aspect of the wine subject. It drives me crazy - absolutely crazy.

I tell everyone to imagine the wine is a quart of milk or a live puppy and act accordingly…

Similar to my warning, though I use gallon of milk, dog, or child.

two questions i ask every guest as i ring up a transaction:

  1. “Where else are you going to taste today?”

  2. (if the answer to #1 is nearby) “Would you like me to hang on to the wine here in the tasting room? You can pick it up when you’re done tasting at the next place.”

no reason for winery staff to not give their customer a head’s up.

Just curious… do most Napa wineries have options readily available for customers to keep wine cool in a car while they are driving around all day?

Maybe literature (etc.) promoting wine tourism should stress being prepared to keep wine cool when touring wineries all day.

I always bring a cooler visiting wineries If there is a chance of warm weather. Note that this is visits to wineries that I drive to and realize that this isn’t practicle for people coming to the wine country via air.

Sure it is. Buy a couple of cheap styrofoam coolers at the grocery store, along with some ice and plastic bags. Total investment about $15-$20.

I’ve had most wineries deliver to the hotel without issue. Some charge, some not, but it is better than cooking it.

Randy, I’m sure like most retailers you get a fair amount of returns because someone’s crappy corkscrew broke a cork and now they think something is wrong with the wine for no logical reason, or they just didn’t like the wine and think they should get their money back. This isn’t much different. Yes, it’s stupid, but not much different.