Corked Bottles on CellarTracker: A winemaker’s perspective

Every so often I see corked bottle notes on CellarTracker about Franny Beck wines. Sometimes I’m able to figure out who the note taker is based off their handle or location. Often it’s easier when it’s someone whose bought from us for a long time and I know them, personally.

I’d just like to say here, and I’m certain every winemaker participating on this site will agree, that I wish people would contact me when they open corked bottles of ours. I will replace every corked bottle, every time, no questions asked. You can email me or PM on this site or through our website and I’ll send you a free of charge replacement, shipping included. Cork taint is no fault of the buyer and my wish is that you get to experience my wine at peak performance. Thanks everyone

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I’d just like to say here, and I’m certain every winemaker participating on this site will agree, that I wish people would contact me when they open corked bottles of ours. I will replace every corked bottle, every time, no questions asked.

Great policy. champagne.gif

I hate when people don’t use the flaw feature on on oxidized or heat damaged wines and give the wine a 60.

IMO, there’s no point in posting notes on corked bottles. They’re not representative and typically, they’re not anyone’s fault.

When I open a corked bottle, I generally contact wineries from whom I have purchased directly. The results are mixed. The majority will promptly replace the bottle or offer a refund. Some, a small number, simply ignore you or make promises that are not kept.

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Thanks Michael… As consumers, I tend to go back to where I purchased the wine. I haven’t had any issues getting refunds so far. I will keep this in mind and it’s good to know that some winemakers care about that. I’m not sure it applies to the larger winemaking operations, but I may be wrong.

Great post and glad to hear it. I’ve never had an issue getting a bottle replaced due to cork taint or premox when it’s been recently purchased at a reputable retailer. I think the gray area is what about 10 years later you’ve been aging this wine and it’s tainted, what are they apt to do about it then?

IMO, there’s no point in posting notes on corked bottles. They’re not representative and typically, they’re not anyone’s fault.

Disagree.

While it is no one’s fault it is important to see if there was a batch of bad wine. I would think a wine maker would like to know this to look at future wine making processes and maybe alternative closures. Plus the fault feature does not allow for a score. As I said above putting a score for a flawed wine is not something we should do.

Are you suggesting they don’t post a tasting note saying “corked” on CellarTracker?

To me it’s a useful note if I have the wine to look for possible corked bottles. The type of closure, natural cork, diam or other composite, glass, screw top, etc… obviously does matter and an occasional corked bottle/note is to be expected, so it doesn’t affect my buying decision, but it’s useful information.

I’ve also contacted wineries at times but usually just consider it part of life and move on.

There’s no reason you can’t do both of those. I think noting corked bottles is important and useful especially if you’re dealing with older wines. Sometimes you have wines that have bad run of corks and knowing there’s an increased risk of purchasing a flawed bottle is incredibly helpful, much like reports of premox in TN. They let consumers know of any potential issues that may happen with their bottles.

Great policy. My experience is that most winemakers/proprietors feel the same. I recently had a corked 2001 Napa Cab, and while the winery couldn’t replace the same bottle 20 years later, they replaced in kind without hesitation. I also don’t feel there should be a time limit on such a policy, particularly when a wine is built to age.

I think it is useful to post a note, both for myself and others. That way I can:
A) see over time what proportion of wines are flawed and keep easy, searchable records about which wines they were and what the flaw was.
B) see the incidence of flaws in others’ bottles of wine before buying.
C) provide some information to another person who might think something is weird about their wine but not have the knowledge or confidence to identify it as a flaw - this can help limit the number of red-herring 50-point reviews.

I would never post a score on a flawed bottle of wine. And when I do post a score on a wine where I suspect there could be a low-level flaw, I always include that as a possibility in the written note.

This is how it happens to me most often. Most recently, a 1995 Rostaing “La Landonne” - from my daughter’s birth year and opened to celebrate her engagement. Ouch, ouch, and ouch. I’m not sure where I purchased it back in 1998 or whenever it was released. Kermit was the importer but doesn’t carry Rostaing anymore. And it’s not like Rene can ship me a bottle from France (and the shipping on one bottle would be ridiculous). Of course, I’d love a replacement bottle, but I don’t see that happening.

Major props to Franny Beck and all who follow the same policy!

You’re right. I suppose I don’t use CellarTracker the way in which it is intended and certainly not the way that you do. For me, CellarTracker is where I go to see others reviews of wine. I don’t track anything there so I didn’t consider the uses that you have for it.

Thanks Michael… As consumers, I tend to go back to where I purchased the wine. I haven’t had any issues getting refunds so far.

It amazes me how many people say they dump the wine down the drain. As a wine maker I would want you to return it and get a replacement so you would possibly buy my wine in the future instead of saying it is a bad wine (non cellar tracker and wine berserker member example).

Most places in the Twin Cities refund but occasionally I get the interrogation treatment. Needless to say I don’t shop at those places. The consumer should never eat the cost of a flawed bottle.

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Do most places ask you to send the corked wine back? Most of my corked wines come from a retailer with a policy that anything purchased older than 10 y/o is at the customers risk, so those just go down the drain, as I knew the policy and risk when I made the purchase.

The only other corked bottles I’ve had also went down the drain, but I just shot the importer an email and he’s always immediately credited or replaced and he has never asked me to return the corked bottle. (Although thinking about this now, I guess people with poor ethics could take advantage of such a policy.)

Edit: On CT I mark them as flawed and usually write “corked” with no score.

Do most places ask you to send the corked wine back? Most of my corked wines come from a retailer with a policy that anything purchased older than 10 y/o is at the customers risk, so those just go down the drain, as I knew the policy and risk when I made the purchase.

Haskell’s will take back any vintage but I never buy old bottles from them as their prices are sky high. I also would not risk the 10 year policy.

I’ve had great experiences with winemakers replacing corked/flawed bottles from just a note on CT/WB regardless of where purchased. NVW&C gave me credit for a corked 20 yr old Forman Cab that I had purchased from them! I had a bottle of Arcadian Chard which Joe felt, from my tasting note, did not live up to the experience it should have given and he offered a replacement. Bedrock, Lagier Meredith come to mind quickly as well but there are many many more.

I had one winery refuse to replace a corked bottle, that I brought back to the tasting room for inspection, since they had no record of me purchasing it from them. It was corked the day it was bottled, where I purchased it should never have been an issue. Needless to say I have not purchased another bottle of their wine since. I always mark flawed wines as such. Especially if it’s a recent vintage. Wineries need the data to bring to their supplier.

I’ve had great experiences with winemakers replacing corked/flawed bottles from just a note on CT/WB regardless of where purchased. NVW&C gave me credit for a corked 20 yr old Forman Cab that I had purchased from them! I had a bottle of Arcadian Chard which Joe felt, from my tasting note, did not live up to the experience it should have given and he offered a replacement. Bedrock, Lagier Meredith come to mind quickly as well but there are many many more.

I had one winery refuse to replace a corked bottle, that I brought back to the tasting room for inspection, since they had no record of me purchasing it from them. It was corked the day it was bottled, where I purchased it should never have been an issue. Needless to say I have not purchased another bottle of their wine since. I always mark flawed wines as such. Especially if it’s a recent vintage. Wineries need the data to bring to their supplier.

I had one winery refuse to replace a corked bottle, that I brought back to the tasting room for inspection, since they had no record of me purchasing it from them. It was corked the day it was bottled, where I purchased it should never have been an issue. Needless to say I have not purchased another bottle of their wine since. I always mark flawed wines as such. Especially if it’s a recent vintage. Wineries need the data to bring to their supplier.

Nor would I. An email I get but bringing it to them is bad judgement on their part.

Thanks for the perspective Michael. I have contacted wineries in the past about this issue. But I always feel hesitant because I don’t want to guilt or pressure them into acting on my behalf. TCA is part of the game and in many cases things are just not replaceable anyway. If I do have a new release wine that is infected I will normally contact the winery to see if they want to do anything about it. Whether they do or not is not something I fret over.

One advantage to buying from local retailers of which I do not do enough, is that it is easy to drop back by with a corked bottle for replacement.

Of course the other issue is that I like wines to age. I would never feel comfortable seeking replacements for wines that the seller is not likely to have a replacement for without sourcing and spending retail prices to replace for something like TCA.

I do post corked notes on CT. More for informational purposes. Some people like to survey notes in order to glean numbers for such things. It can also be useful for older wines where TCA was a common problem for a certain maker or bottling in particular timeframes.

I check other’s notes on my wines daily on CT, easily one of my favorite CT features. Especially if there’s a bottle I’m planning to open in the near term. I actually saw the comment in reference and replied that they should reach out to you - great customer service!