Feeling like creating a little Burgundy at home, I made Oeufs en Muerette tonight. The first bottle I opened to make the sauce was 2015 Domaine Robert Perroud Brouilly ‘Pollen’. It was flawed (sulfurous mercaptan odor). I found a bottle of Morgon and all was well and everything came out fine.
I almost never take back flawed bottles. In this case, I have a couple more of these and it made me wonder — when do you return bottles to retailers who know you? The ones you do a fair bit of business with? If I sampled something I bought in the past year and it was corked, I generally return it — though that probably doesn’t happen more than once a year. After owning it for a year or so, I figure I own the issue. I’m not concerned about these particular bottles — it’s more of a general curiosity as to how board members treat these things…
Right but when? I opened a bottle of corked 2003 Leoville Barton that I bought from Dan Isenhart (Wine Club SF — what happened to that place, btw?) 16 years ago — does that count? Just curious how people think about the timing aspect of it.
Unless it’s something recent and pricey I just rarely bother. Not worth the hassle, and the pain is unlikely to get back to where it belongs. If I could dump the corked wine on the head of a cork supplier then maybe I would do it.
I recently read a CT note on 2016 Pergole Torte which hits on this topic…can the retailer resell this or go they get screwed?
“October 20, 2020 - blind tasted with Sergio Zenato amarone 2013 & Carpineto CC Riserva 2015.
Didn’t get the hype with this wine. Maybe it is in fact to young at this point but for $189 CAD it should be better then the $29 CAD Chianti…which it wasn’t. Ended up returning my case of 2016 pergola torte.”
This is one of the reasons I don’t buy from Sotheby’s retail. I can’t say I love the auction house either, but a few years ago, I had a corked bottle of Bordeaux, which they agreed to replace. After three calls, and more promises which they never did anything about, I gave up, and avoid them.
To be honest, I don’t usually ask for replacements for corked wines but I had bought this a couple of weeks before specifically for a dinner.
if I don’t like something there are a few stores that let me return it. 89 Beaucastel was one return, stinky beyond drinkability. I know other lots were great.
I’ll ask for a refund when I immediately open a purchased bottle, but find it’s corked when it was clearly stated to be in excellent condition or directly from a cellar.
To address OP’s “fair bit of business” thought, I actually had this happen with Envoyer recently. Been buying from him for years and never had any issues. Popped a flawed Burg from a cellar sale and asked him for a refund (no replacement option). He only credited back his profit margin instead of the original order, which was a bummer, so I later asked him to cancel my subsequent orders. He said he’d charge me a 20% restocking fee. Sometimes, retailer no care about fair bit of business, so you shouldn’t either. At least it wasn’t DRC RC
I’ve had two such bottles recently and both retailers took them back easily and said they’d get the distributor to replace them or credit them. If you are buying secondary market stuff, I wouldn’t expect much. If you can get credited half your price, you’re doing pretty well.
I return a bottle, perhaps once a year, when I just purchased it recently and it’s corked or clearly flawed/damaged. For example, I’m drinking through a lot of 2016 Barolos and Barbarescos right now. Were one of them to be corked, I would return it, assuming I purchased it locally.
The retailer gets the credit through the distributor. It’s a cost of their doing business. And, it’s not like you’re making some inconvenienced trip to your local wine shop…
I buy most of my wine direct and have had zero issues asking for a refund for corked wines. I probably have had 4-5 instances in the last few years. The quality producers I deal with refund my money or offer replacement.
The wines I buy retail are usually <$25 and on the rare occurrence of a corked bottle, I just dispose of it and move on.
Last year I had a corked wine purchased winery direct a few years back. I like supporting the winery and did not want to hassle them. The next week it was still bugging me so I reached out to the winery and asked them if they could make a donation to a local fire relief effort rather than replace the bottle. They took me up on the offer and it seemed like a win-win to me
Last year I had a corked wine purchased winery direct a few years back. I like supporting the winery and did not want to hassle them.
Why is this a hassle for them? They run a business and part of that in the wine world or any business is to take returns. It is important to have some data on the amount of flawed bottles especially if it is coming from poor transportation issues which has been known to happen. Shipping wine without refrigeration being one of them.
I will, on rare occasions, return expensive bottles shortly after they were purchased if they are clearly off. I bought 2 bottles of 2014 Batard from a producer and one was fully premoxed; I returned it, the store gave me credit. The other was probably heading that way, but was just not great rather than off. That’s on me.
