Finding problems with bottles shipped direct to offsite storage?

[tcavallo]

I often have wine shipped direct from retailers to my offsite. I moved recently and set up a sizeable passive cellar, so I picked up a bunch of wine from storage to move there. All of the wine was in perfect condition EXCEPT for 3 out of 4 bottles of '12 PYCM Chassagne Montrachet Acegnieres had cracked wax and signs of seepage. The other 9 bottles in that shipped case seem to be fine.

I contacted the retailer, and they claim there is nothing they can do this far out (they were shipped almost a year ago). Has anyone else ever had this issue? What options are there? Am I supposed to go out to my storage unit to look at every bottle I have shipped there? Or is this just an assumed risk of shipping to storage?

[SeanHarding]

I haven’t had this problem yet, but yes, I do go to my storage facility and look at every bottle I get.

[Gary_York]

Stop purchasing from them and name the retailer.

[CFu]

The retailer is in a tough position. You tell them there’s an issue with the shipment but it’s been over a year out of their hands. I think you gotta be partially responsible by checking your wine that’s received in a timely fashion

[Jay_Miller]

@c fu

The retailer is in a tough position. You tell them there’s an issue with the shipment but it’s been over a year out of their hands. I think you gotta be partially responsible by checking your wine that’s received in a timely fashion

I’m afraid I have to agree with this. Not denying it sucks, but yes you need to check the wines in a timely fashion if you want to have recourse.

[tcavallo]

Yeah makes sense, wasn’t trying to put it on the retailer. Just seems odd that it was all the same bottles from the same shipment. I guess since storage would open and catalog the cases as they came in I was only thinking “wines arrived ok!” But I will have to figure something else out moving forward, since it is no longer close enough for me to visit with any regularity.

[lleichtman]

It is an assumed risk of shipping directly to storage. If these had come to your home and the damage had been there, you could have responded immediately. At a year later you’re SOL.

[Er_z_L]

My rule is that I (or warehouse manager, if I cannot come in reasonable time) take a look at each bottle coming in. Still there might be some misses, but it helps alot. Second rule is that we always put aside boxes that arrived either (a) without an earlier notification (aka unplanned route, unplanned arrival), or (b) arrive on extreme weather days. Those we mark and inspect separately.

[Al_Osterheld]

Isn’t PYCM known for overfilling bottles, at least with some bottlings?

-Al

[Victor_Hong]

@c fu

The retailer is in a tough position. You tell them there’s an issue with the shipment but it’s been over a year out of their hands. I think you gotta be partially responsible by checking your wine that’s received in a timely fashion

Agreed. A retailer recently sent me several bottles of Forman, which began to leak in my apartment storage. Apparently,
the bottles had been Coravin’d. Two months had passed, between delivery and discovery. The retailer arranged a return
and full refund.

[Larry_Link]

Along a similar vein, I just opened a box that I had received 9 months ago, and found a mistake in the shipment. I had purchased 6 bottles of 2012 Cathiard Vosne and instead received 3 Vosne and 3 Chambolle Clos de L’orme. Pricing seems about the same, but I don’t like the substitution without my consent. Too much time has elapsed for me to complain, it’s on me for not opening the shipment within 30 days of arrival.

[Victor_Hong]

@Larry Link

Along a similar vein, I just opened a box that I had received 9 months ago, and found a mistake in the shipment. I had purchased 6 bottles of 2012 Cathiard Vosne and instead received 3 Vosne and 3 Chambolle Clos de L’orme. Pricing seems about the same, but I don’t like the substitution without my consent. Too much time has elapsed for me to complain, it’s on me for not opening the shipment within 30 days of arrival.

You should still have notified the retailer of your displeasure, even if returning nothing.

[John_Morris]

@Victor Hong

A retailer recently sent me several bottles of Forman, which began to leak in my apartment storage. Apparently, the bottles had been Coravin’d. Two months had passed, between delivery and discovery. The retailer arranged a return and full refund.

WTF? What was the fill like?

[Victor_Hong]

@John Morris

@Victor Hong

A retailer recently sent me several bottles of Forman, which began to leak in my apartment storage. Apparently, the bottles had been Coravin’d. Two months had passed, between delivery and discovery. The retailer arranged a return and full refund.

WTF? What was the fill like?

Mid-neck…going to base neck.

[John_Morris]

So someone took a sip, I guess.

[larry_schaffer]

@John Morris

@Victor Hong

A retailer recently sent me several bottles of Forman, which began to leak in my apartment storage. Apparently, the bottles had been Coravin’d. Two months had passed, between delivery and discovery. The retailer arranged a return and full refund.

WTF? What was the fill like?

I’ve experienced this with a bottle or two on WineBid, but they claim that was not the case.

It’s interesting that these were leaking - isn’t that one of the things Coravins are supposed to ‘prevent’ by having such a small hole in the cork? If not, isn’t that process just oxidizing the wine left in bottle, regardless of whether argon or nitrogen is put in?

Cheers.

[larry_schaffer]

@c fu

The retailer is in a tough position. You tell them there’s an issue with the shipment but it’s been over a year out of their hands. I think you gotta be partially responsible by checking your wine that’s received in a timely fashion

I agree wholeheartedly. I know that if I shipped a customer faulty wines, I would like to know immediately and not a year after the fact.

That said, I probably still would have stood behind the products shipped - but hey, that’s just the Berserker Business Way, right?!?!

Cheers!

[John_Morris]

@larry schaffer

It’s interesting that these were leaking - isn’t that one of the things Coravins are supposed to ‘prevent’ by having such a small hole in the cork? If not, isn’t that process just oxidizing the wine left in bottle, regardless of whether argon or nitrogen is put in?

A lot of people who’ve used the Coravin report that the wines do degrade over several weeks, according to this thread.

[Ryan_Allen]

@Al Osterheld

Isn’t PYCM known for overfilling bottles, at least with some bottlings?

-Al

I have opened a couple of PYCM bottles with capsules in similar condition to the OP and the bottles were sound, for whatever that is worth.

[Al_Osterheld]

Yes, I wouldn’t worry about seepage in overfilled bottles (and my impression is that PYCM is sometimes guilty of overfilling). These don’t look like they seeped very much, so should be easy to tell by looking at the size of the air bubble.

-Al