About spoilage

So, just a few questions about spoiled wine.

Over the course of my life I’ve ordered a fair number of bottles of wine in restaurants. Thinking back, there have been a very small percentage of those that were obviously spoiled to where I’ve asked for another bottle. There have been other times where I’ve detected that something seemed off so I’ve asked the sommelier or the manager to taste it with me. Sometimes they’ve agreed with me and other times they haven’t. In the latter case, I’ve always defaulted to accepting their opinion. I am not comfortable with conflict so unless I get agreement I acquiesce. YMMV.

For wines that I’ve consumed on my own outside of restaurants, if it seems off I typically will just grab another bottle because, “Life’s too short…”. As I think about it though, it seems to me that there probably should be a greater percentage of spoiled wine from the restaurants than from my own cellar because most restaurants likely can’t logistically match my storage environment. I know from experience though that I’ve dumped far more wine that I’ve planned to consume on my own than I have returned bottles in a restaurant.

My questions:

• What percentage of wine purchased in restaurants would you all consider on average to be spoiled? How often should we be returning wines?

• Do you return wines that just seem off but that are not obviously spoiled?

• Would you ever return a wine that is not spoiled but is in a dumb phase? I did this once in a restaurant in Avignon but only after I had the owner taste it and he agreed that it wasn’t what I thought I was purchasing.

I’m hoping to get a behavior check here as to whether or not I should be more aggressive or just stay the course to that to which I’ve always defaulted.

I am not comfortable with conflict so unless I get agreement I acquiesce.

. . .

I’m hoping to get a behavior check here as to whether or not I should be more aggressive or just stay the course

What was that line . . . ?
- YouTube paid for something. If it’s off, send it back. Screw agreement - half the time they have no idea. If they do, they can explain exactly what the problem is.

Long ago when I knew even less than I do now, I took a bottle of wine back. The guy looked at it, picked up a filthy glass, poured some of the wine into it, tasted it, and told me that it was just way too young and might benefit from some air. He described the wine same as I did, but he knew that it was going to resolve in time and it would be fine. He decided to drink it with his sandwich and told me to pick another bottle. Other times I’ve explained to them what the problem was. But you don’t need to drink bad wine.