Winery Customer Service -- Gold Standard

From the Maison Ilan thread, Dan Wirsig offered this truism:

Customer service is rule #1 in most all business. See Rhys or Dirty & Rowdy for an example of what the gold standard should be.

When I ran a product based business I was amazed at how many people didn’t share my tastes, have the same view, or care about the same things as I did, yet would still buy things for other reasons. A story only goes so far, and many people don’t care about it.

My thought was “There are tons of examples of really good customer service in the wine business”. It’s more the rule than the exception.

Off the top of my head:
Stefania
Lillian/Antica Terra
Bedrock
Donelan
Tercero
Keating
Loring

So let’s hear yours.

Along with those mentioned by Chris:

Carlisle
Ridge (Mary is world class)
Windy Oaks
MacDonald
Biale
Ian Brand and his various labels
Copain
Scherrer

Jean Edwards
Ceritas
Sojourn

Roy Piper

Brian and Kimberly Loring

Cabot
Siduri
EIEIO

Gramercy Cellars

These are just a few in which I’ve had personal interaction and the service was stellar:

Corison
Mount Eden Vineyards
TOR Kenward

To all the many other wineries where I haven’t had any interaction, your service has been flawless, so just keep on truckin’!

Some I have dealt with.
Jones Family.
Maybach.
Myriad.
Quivet.
Apsara.

I am sure my list of awesome customer service would be 20 long if I put my mind to it.

Sandlands
Rivers Marie

Quivet stands out for me. New list member and love the personal attention they provide in follow through.

Lucia/Pisoni
Liquid Farm
Saxum, Sierra will not give you what you want !!! ( not her fault ) but she always responds quickly and cheerfully

I thought about Liquid Farm also, but they are just so new.

I’m impressed so far, though.

Premier Cru, of course

Very interested in this topic!

To those replying, what is it about the winery that makes it Gold Standard?

Jean Edwards
Merry Edwards (must be a family thing)
Kaella
Coleman Nicole

Kaella Dave, in particular, went above and beyond the call of duty, replacing a bottle and then some when I posted an unscored tasting note to CT indicating a cork flaw in one of his bottles. Mind you, I had not contacted him directly, nor asked for an explanation or refund (stuff like that happens). Nevertheless, he spontaneously sent not one, but two, replacement bottles. Very cool!

Match
Realm
Gargiulo
Bevan

Let me put it this way - I buy a decent amount of wine (200+ btls a year) from all of the usual suspects (Myriad/Quivet/12C/Carter/Patine, Sojourn, Saxum, Eric Kent, Rivers Marie, Rhys, Realm, Williams Selyem, Kosta Browne, among others), and I always get what I would call the “gold standard” in service. If I am in their area, other than Saxum, I am always accommodated with free tastings or tours. I can defer my shipments, and they do it on their own in warm weather. I don’t know of a small producer that would survive if they didn’t provide this level of service.

As a Rhys customer and reading all the allocation threads, it’s incredible to me the amount of specific questions Kevin is asked (I’m guilty of asking specifics at times) and answers with incredible patience in a positive manner. Many of the questions could be construed as snarky, negative etc and their team never loses their cool. I can’t imagine how tiresome it is to be peppered with all those opinions and questions.

Hardy (Dirty & Rowdy) has gone far above the call of duty as well. Their shipping co screwed up once and shipped during a heat wave to my offsite. I was bummed initially and figured I’d take a look at bottles and see their condition when I had time. Before I ever contacted them he reached out and explained the shipping snafu and told me he was going to replace them. I probably wouldn’t have even contacted him for replacements but the fact he was so proactive was really amazing.

Just two examples, also agree with all others listed in this thread.

+1