Do you ever tell a friend the wine he proudly poured had died?

Went to small dinner party last night with 2 other couples socially distant. Host pulled a 2001 Pio Cesare Barolo that had mysteriously gone past prime. His storage is perfect so it was probably a bad bottle. I didn’t say anything. Does anyone here ever say anything about the bottle? We just smiled and sipped very slowly and passed on a bigger pour.

Would you say anything if it was corked? What about premox? (Obviously for wb, not for Barolo)

So he was drinking it and didn’t notice? I wouldn’t say anything either.

FYI, I had a similar incident a little while back. I took a bottle of 2002 Latour CC over to a gathering and offered a glass to my neighbor who is into wine. It was definitely a bit past its prime, but I liked it enough and was drinking it. He sipped it slowly, only said good things about it, but my wife told me she saw him quietly pour the rest into the sink later. I think that’s the proper way to handle it if you don’t appreciate it, but it’s not entirely flawed. After talking to him later, I found out he likes his WB young, so it was clear to see why this was definitely not up his alley.

I wouldn’t say anything if my friend didn’t notice. Unless he was a really good friend and my wine experience was greater and they had previously indicated a desire to learn more from me about wine.

I think it also depends on your relationship. It has happened to me on occasions; with my closer friends we can be honest with each other. There have been a few times that I didn’t tell the person because I didn’t know them well enough to take a chance in offending them.

When It comes to wine I bring, I hope people will be honest with me. I don’t take offense because it’s not a personal attack. Also if I feel the wine is fine, it can tell me something about there preferences in wine for the next time I bring wine to share–So I will hopefully choose a wine they will enjoy.

what do you guys think

Close wine friends who are obviously into wine education. Sure I would raise it just to drive discussion.

Family friend/dinner party. No just move on to another wine or some other drink.

Yeah, that’s about right.

Frankly, even wine geeks, and experienced ones, can be defensive or reluctant to acknowledge their bottle is flawed or bad, so even then, it’s good to approach it with sensitivity and tact. Let them take the lead on discussing the flaw.

Depends…

  1. If it were not a wine tasting crowd and the wine was simply poured as part of a social dining experience, I would only speak on it if the group otherwise started the conversation first.

  2. If it were with my wino friends or a wine focused group/evening, I would discuss immediately as we usually do with pours.

Like Mark and Chris said. It’s very group and event dependent. Some individuals take the news in stride. Others feel personally affronted.

It sounds like your friend is a wine enthusiast. That being the case I would feel fine gently asking if perhaps the wine was not quite right.

How about the opposite? I took a Forman cab to a citizen (non wine geek) friend’s house. It was hideously corked and they would not let me replace it, insisting that the wine that I had offered as special was “just fine” when to me it was undrinkable.

Personally my etiquette would depend on how flawed the wine is and who I’m with. With casual friends, I’d probably [slowly] drink anything drinkable and not mention it. With “wine friends,” discussing the wine is kinda encouraged… wouldn’t hate it if somebody else suggested it first though!

If he had a 2001 Barolo I would tell him. Perhaps hold hands and have a kumbaya moment as you put the wine to its final rest.

And then I’d encourage him to open something else!

Buddy of mine opened a 2005 Opus One for the four of us.
We both looked at each other and said this is done.
We drank it. Just wasn’t the experience either of us wanted.

For me, it would depend on the person and the setting. If it was someone I regularly taste with, I’d likely give my honest thoughts as I know we love knowing what everyone thinks and we just enjoy learning and discussing, even if a wine isn’t something we love. Also, we all bring wines that don’t show as we’d hope, so it’s nothing against the provider of the wine. If it was a work dinner or dinner with a colleague or supervisor/client/etc., I would avoid telling them that I didn’t like the wine or thought it had seen better days.

I would treat my friend and I would like them to treat me. I’d ask nicely if the wine tastes right to them and take it from there. I generally would not share my opinion unless asked. Not all palates are aligned. If it tastes good to them, I won’t judge their enjoyment, but I’ll move to another bottle or slow play it if no other options.

In one of my tasting groups, there is a friend who is commonly knows as the person with bad taste in wine. This friend usually gravitates towards bottles that others might considered flawed which is fine with me as it leaves more pours of the good juice for me. [cheers.gif]

There’s very few occasions where we wouldn’t bring it up. Only if you didn’t really know them and it appeared they loved it. It can be done subtlety, in the context of
“let’s talk about this bottle” as you’re drinking it.

This. I wouldn’t unilaterally say that the wine is past prime. Some people like wine at that stage of development. But I would certainly provoke the discussion.

If I open a bottle that does not show as expected I give it some time to improve and if it doesn’t I’m finding something that will please me more and will call the underperforming bottle out. Why continue to drink something that’s disappointing? Seems like he was too caught up in what he opened and didn’t want to admit it whiffed. But why? It’s not like anyone else didn’t notice the same thing.
If I failed to recognize a flaw I would hope my guests would. I’m not too proud.

Situational for me.

Tasting with all wine geeks: yes.
Drinking with a mix of friends and geeks: no.

In this case, it seems like only the OP and his wife had a problem with the wine.

A lot of people like very mature Barolo that, for my palate, tastes oxidized. I have serious wine friends who ooh and ah at bottles that are past it so far as I’m concerned (caramel and coffee notes, for instance). So this might be a case where there is genuine difference in preferences. But to anyone knowledgeable about Barolo, a 2001 shouldn’t be to that point!