The winemaker replaced the bottle.
Buuuuuuuut, he also confirmed that the company policy is to not replace a bottle that was not purchased directly from the winery. He said that since I bought it from his personal cellar that it was not backed by the winery but by him. I find that extremely odd.
Case closed.
No case not closed for the rest of us. I, for one, would never buy a bottle of wine from a winery that won’t stand behind it because I bought it at retail and not from them directly. Doesn’t matter who I bought it from, a corked bottle is the fault of the cork and the winery and they should replace it.
Absolutely. It’s a dopey policy. Case is closed for Brian because he received some deserved satisfaction, which he expected, but why would a winery have a policy like that? As a few dozen people have pointed out, TCA isn’t something that happens post-winery. It’s the one thing that they can be certain is their fault.
Only thing I can think of is that maybe they’re concerned that people will bring back bottles for all kinds of reasons that would not be the fault of the winery - like leaving the wine on top of the fridge for a year or in the trunk of the car for a few months or just not liking the wine. But they should replace corked wine.
I was getting ready to call “7 on your side” – I am guessing that local Bay Area reference will likely not resonate with many ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
Slight thread drift question. This is real situation for me. I buy very highly allocated wines (e.g. Roumier, Rousseau, Mugnier, Dujac, Raveneau) from retailers who only receive miniscual quantities each year. A very small number of long term buyers get an allocation of just a few bottles each.
What do you think should the retailer do, when I come back with a badly corked bottle? Mostly I am keeping these wines for extended periods without openeing them so it is often 10+ years since sale before I open them.
The retailers cannot replace the bottle. They struggle each year to maintain their allocations in face of burgeoning global demand so they tread carefully with the domaines and importers.
For those ITB, what would you do in this situation?
So far I have not returned any bottles as I have mostly regarded it as just one of those things in collecting wine and have accepted the loss.
Brodie
Is it fair to disclose the winery now? Since it’s not bashing and the specific issue is resolved. If it’s a winery policy and they stand behind it, then it’s really not negative either? More for academic discussion?
At this point I don’t think the winery would have anything to hide or be ashamed of?
Typical D.C., 5 people appointed to do the job of one. 
If you REALLY want to know the winery, I’m pretty sure it’s come up in another thread with an unrelated discussion.
Brian, since it was the winemaker’s stash did it happen to be a first off/last off bottle?
Now this was a fascinating thread.
I admire Brian’s not wanting to out the winery.
At the same time I understand the groups angst about the winery not doing the right thing.
I have had Numerous bottles that needed to be returned and All of them were taken back including some recent pinot on last bottle.
They refunded the entire lot.
Good for them!
Kudos
Total Wine
Costco
Local wine shops.
But…
At the same time…when you have relationships with people in the business and are as close to the wineries as he is and a lot of you are.
I can understand his not wanting to out them.
In the end…they did the right thing and that’s cool.
Wine dinner tomorrow night.
Bordeaux is what I plan on bringing and of the 3 of a certain St Emiion wine the one I opened 4 or 5 months ago was corked.
Costco took it back no questions asked.
But if this 2nd bottle is tainted…well…Hrrrrrmmmmmpppphhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I guess I will have to trade that one in as well.
Sometimes it’s easy to get a little too worked up about things that, in the Grand Scheme of things, is really Not that big of a deal.
Personally, I like that Brian had the better interests of not throwing someone under the bus then trying to work it out.
Good on you.
Doing the Right thing is Always the Right thing to do!
I agree. It’s really not “outing” anyone to mention that this winery has this policy and they stand behind it. It seems completely bizarre to me to want to want to somehow “protect” these people when a lot of us would simply like to know who has such a policy. Since they think their policy is reasonable, you’d really only be sharing that information.
No he had a couple cases.
There were multiple posts where people said something to the affect of: “Out them, I don’t want to do business with a winery like this.”
Short of backsourcing older bottles I would bet that almost all of people who buy these wines do so off the winery mailing list. So they have nothing to worry about. In the event it is retail many have stated that retailers replace their corked wines. The category this falls into is buying from somewhere like WineBid or another wine geek/winemaker for a discount. If your backsourcing backfills wines you have previously purchased form them but drank you are still covered.
Moral of the story for me: Buying at discount comes with unforseen/hidden costs (unknown provenance, hidden taint et al) or should I say buying at retail comes with advantages over buying on the secondary market. If I had purchased this bottle at full retail when it was released I would never have started this thread. I already accept when buying on the secondary market that that older bottle of wine may not have been stored properly. If it’s spoiled it’s spoiled. My loss. Now I’ll have to think that is possible with corked bottles as well. I’ll simply have to weigh my secondary purchases with this is in mind. Lesson learned. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
.
The winery did not make it right, but the private seller (aka winemaker) did make it right.
I can understand Brian’s reluctance to out the winery, it’s his choice.
It’s just wine. =)
Neither should it matter if they bought the company recently. They bought the goodwill and that cuts both ways.
I have trouble viewing your purchase as truly secondary market. All’s well that ends well I suppose but your lesson learned from this situation seems to put a undue amount of responsibility on you instead of the winery.
FWIW the winemaker considered it a secondary market purchase as well.
Seriously I am lowering my expectations moving forward regardless of the winery.
Since nobody answered Bodie’s post I will.
Producers of highly allocated wine for which you pay a premium should make your purchase good. Contact the winery and let them know and if you need to, send them a picture of the cork or if they ask, send them the cork. Some of them are very concerned and want to know this type of stuff.
If it’s a $20 bottle and it’s bad, sometimes it’s not worth the time you’ll spend complaining. But if it’s a pricey bottle and it’s bad, they need to know.
Unfortunately, if their wine is in such demand, they may not be all that interested and may just decide it’s preferable to lose you as a customer than to go through the effort of getting a good bottle to you through dealers, etc., on a different continent.
