Keen to hear folk’s advice for addressing a retailer situation I am in. The two questions at hand are (i) am I possibly at fault on the 1986 described below, and (ii) what would you expect a retailer to do in this situation? I am going down the path of a large purchase with one retailer, and would love a relationship with one.
I interacted with a reputable wine store (that some purchase from on this site). I have exchanged a dozen emails on a personal topic and they helped educate me in advance of a multi-case purchase 5-10 cases of aged Bordeaux. As part of that process, I purchased three bottles, a ~$200 1986 bordeaux, a ~$90 1996 Bordeaux and an unrelated third wine (~$66 half bottle).
I immediately I took the bottles on travel over a flight and opened all 3 at my destination. The $90 1996 was opened at a Michelin and was obviously corked, but I had the restaurant staff confirm. I then purchased a 1996 from the restaurant directly and it was quite a great experience. I also kept the corked wine to compare against, experimented with different decant strategies (in bottle vs. decant vs. glass). Said another way, I tried to educate myself.
I then opened the 1986 Chateau Pape Clemente (https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=15619)
Am curious for other people’s thoughts, because I think the wine was bad, but the retailer does not – and I am not experienced with old Bordeaux. The 1986 was flat. The nose was earthy, but more wet cardboard than forest floor. The wine had a sour finish. The flavor notes themselves were earthy, but again more wet cardboard than forest floor. The cork showed liquid 50% of the way, which I think suggests it was not dry. This was not opened at a Michelin, but the waiter thought it was bad. My wife and I did not consume the wine. The retailer stated that “outside of the sour finish” they cannot be sure the wine is bad and suggested I am just inexperienced.
I informed the retailer I would be moving ahead with a 4.5 case purchase of futures of a ~$50/bottle wine (the contemplated range was $45-60) plus some other purchases that will add up to $4,000-$6,000 in aggregate. The retailer does not know this exact amount yet, but they should have a definite sense it will be over $3,000.
For the bad bottles, the retailer offered to gift a magnum of aged Bordeaux (on their website at $100) with an unspecified discount to be given on my other purchases. The bottle in question has limited/poor reviews on Cellar Tracker (and obviously for $100 on a magnum for an aged Bordeaux that would be consistent with the QPR). Without knowing what the discount is, I suspect it would be $100 discount (to offset the bad bottle) and 50% split-the-difference on the 1986 Clement. It is possible I could be wrong on the discount amount (perhaps it would be $200 in aggregate, or even more).
So my questions are:
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Is it possible I am incorrect on the aged bordeaux? the CT reviews on are consistent with tobacco/barnyard etc. However, the 1996 bottle i purchased from the restaurant was 50x better. A sour wine without aromatics seems like this was simply a bad bottle. But is it possible I was wrong or harmed the bottle in travel?
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Would it be unreasonable to have expected for the retailer to just take off the 2 bottles in questions, with no questions asked, given the larger purchase at hand?
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Given (a) possibly questionable retailer behavior and (b) I enjoy Burgundy more than Bordeaux, and this retailer specializes more in Bordeaux – should I cut bait from here and move on? I am reluctant to do so given the retailer has spent a fair amount of time with me via email, and I do feel it is correct to give them my business (as long as my prior purchases are dealt with reasonably). Further, I can always develop relationships with other retailers for Burgundy, Barolo etc. in the future.