Wow. The OP asked for opinions - not to be degraded.
His ‘crime’ was using the term ‘mistreated’ - I don’t think he was. As someone else said, the winery probably should have used different verbiage with you rather than saying they had zero stock. They should have said we only have a limited library and do not normally sell it off.
But I’m not so sure what is so bad about ‘individualized customer service’? Many on this board applaud wineries for going ‘out of their way’ to make you feel special - what happens when the opposite is true?
And as a wine club member, I there should be some ‘expectations’ that they will treat you ‘differently’ or ‘better’ than those coming off the street. In this case, my guess is that those wines could have been purchased by anyone who visited the winery and was willing to pay the $$$.
This was a special occasion - and they could have acknowledged that in some way. Yep, they may have a lot of customers, but there’s nothing wrong with treating each as individuals . . .
I only maintain a small library of my early releases, but I’m more than happy to selectively part with them for cases like this.
I guess at the end of the day, your best way of handling this is to either not purchase from them again as Thomas said, and let them know why if you feel like it.
This seems a little unfair. They probably have a very limited number of these wines. They are offering them to people who make the effort to visit. Is that so wrong?
Of course anyone can decide to buy or not buy, but I don’t think there is any great injustice here.
I agree with Dan. They’re not mistreating you in any way. You wanted more out of the relationship, and they just want to be friends. I would keep that in mind going forward.
I think the only offense here is fibbing about having such wines, as it seems that they did.
The best response might have been that they only hold back enough wines to have at special winery only events, and if you’d like to try such wines we suggest you attend an event; here is the schedule.
Yes. In your words, I do think you are just bitching.
As somebody who doesn’t live within driving distance of the wineries I like; I do feel like I miss out on a lot of the extras that locals get. But I get to live in a place with cheap housing, low cost of living, minimal traffic, great public schools, low crime, world class healthcare.
In all seriousness, it’s up the winery to decide just like it’s up to you to decide to purchase. The freedom works both ways. The winery doesn’t call you up and say “hey, you bought a case for the last 6 years. We were expecting you to buy that case this year so we made more. You can’t say ‘no’.”
And you don’t know what happened behind the scenes. Maybe they fibbed, maybe the guy talking to you didn’t have the correct info, maybe the circumstances changed and wine previously sold or allocated ended up back in their control. I’d tend to cut them slack if you like the wine. Your perceived slight isn’t worth losing sleep over.
I am sorry you are getting raked over the coals for an honest question.
There are a number of reasons why a winery might hold back from sale some number of cases, including the possible need to replace wines if they’re corked or otherwise damaged. Or the desire to hold some % back for the owners/winemaker, and/or the desire to set a few cases aside for special tastings down the road. The person who responded to the initial inquiry may have been told that nothing was available for sale, because in fact the winery wasn’t offering to sell to the general public “library” wines.
From my perspective, if I’m on a mailing list, I assume I’ll be able to order current release wines that are offered to others on the list (depending on allocations, etc.). I have no assumptions that I’ll be able to buy “library” wines not generally offered to others on the list, so I personally would have no expectations in that regard.
So its is very clear from the responses that yet again my expectations of customer service in life should not be applied to the wine industry. To sum up
1 - I should be grateful that im allowed to buy anything at all
2 - They can tell me whatever suits them, i am just a JACKASS customer
3- As i live in Chicago and not Paso Robles, I am a second class customer who gets whatever is laying around after the LOCALS have cherry picked the best stuff
I know my line of thinking makes 50% of the people here and 100% on WS come to the conclusion im a self centered bastard but i work hard for my money and i think the least one should expect is equal treatment based on buying history, not geographical location. I apologize to the good folk on this forum yet again for being an asshole, the WS members can kiss my asshole
I wasn’t necessarily implying that Denner was being unreasonable although I can see why it seemed like I was. But Alan seems to feel that he was mistreated and I’m not going to tell him to not feel that (especially in light of his last post). So my recommendation is that if he feels mistreated, then there are other businesses that would gladly take his money and probably treat him the way he wants to be treated.
no one from WS even made a disparaging post towards you, and you devolve into your “victim” mentality again. have you asked if any locals in the area could go on your behalf to “cherry pick”? you really are a piece of work. btw, HDH in YOUR town has some 2003 denner for $45 and there is 04 ditch digger for $70 at K&L that i would have been happy to pick up and send to you, but i guess you prefer that this wine spectator can kiss your asshole. you really need to check yourself.
I think it’s fair that you felt “underappreciated.”
As for the story you received, those wines may have been legitimately taken out of circulation as part of planning for future events and the person chatting with you on the phone (or corresponding with you) may have been of the honest opinion that those wines were not available - and may not have even known that some back stock was hidden somewhere for a future tasting event. I can easily see an owner socking back several cases in an unvisited area of the winery with something in mind for the future, and he or she simply tells the staff, “The 2005-2008 are all gone now,” and that’s how the sales staff proceeds.
I think there are many scenarios where I can envision your winery contact was telling you the truth as he or she knew it at the time, so that would temper my unhappiness.
The fact that they are for sale now only if you go to a special event is a drag, I agree. It would be a considerate move to let you in on a bottle of each for ongoing good will. On that news, you are faced with a decision to either stay on the list and possibly fume over time, or move on to another list.
Agree with many comments here . . . I don’t perceive them as mis-treating their good customers just making some business decisions that reflect their needs at a particular point in time.
I have asked other wineries about back vintage wines and have been told they do not have them or are not selling them, only to get a “special library release” at some point in which they offer those exact same wines. I don’t begrudge them that.
There’s certainly part of me that would like to assume I am a good enough customer somewhere that the winery will pull some special strings for me. When that happens, I’m appreciative. When it doesn’t, I assume it’s business as usual
I think you need to take a step back and take a deep breath and relax for a few minutes. You asked for something that was no longer generally available by the winery at the time you asked. You asked and they politely said they weren’t going to sell you a bottle at that time. That is their right as there are many many reasons why they may have said no at that time. Some of those reasons have been listed already.
At some point those bottles may already have been allocated for such activity in the future, to be sold at that activity. Many types of companies and products do this besides the wine industry. If you want the special item you need to be there in person.
A phrase I am using more and more recently as the Entitlement Mentality grows…Welcome to the real world, life isn’t fair so deal with it.
If any one here worked for Denner, I’m sure you would get a better answer, the issue here is that you are only going to get private opinion, that’s all.
My best guess here is that the winery probably did hold back stocks with the intent on “rewarding customers” for making the journey out to Paso b/c 1) it’s not that easy to get to, and 2) there ain’t much there! By being able to offer a unique experience, they can hopefully capture what tourism market there is (which has to be a fraction of say Napa or Sonoma). I’m sure if they sent out an e-blast to their customer base, they would sell out in no time, but by catering to people who do visit and giving them a unique experience, it’s important to cover that base as well.
Fair to say that “All museum stock is now allocated” or perhaps safer: “There is no museum stock available for purchase at this point in time”, or “we aren’t selling museum stock remotely”. Saying there was zero stock was a lie. Reading about it then being sold off the back of the tasting, would suggest, to me at least, that they do not value your custom. I don’t mind being turned away, but by god be honest about it.
Contact them if you think Arv may be right about the wines coming from another source, but personally I’d move on and give other wineries my money.
