This has come to light recently as I had opened a 1996 Burgundy that I purchased from one of my newer, but regular retailers on line. I know this topic probably has already been started , but I thought I would ask the question.
What do you think?
I opened a 1996 Burg from this reseller in Ca. that I have had nothing but great service from. The wine was bad. My wife and I recognized it immediately. What is apppropriate? In the past, I would assume that it is buyer beware unless I bought direct from a winery or if it was a recent vintage.
Since it is a 1996, should it be expected that the company that sold it to me , replace it? Or do I just maintain my past stance “Oh Well, I guess thats the risk one takes buying older wines”.
What do you think is appropriate. Also, I will say that I do believe one or two of the principals or employees might be on this board as well and thus, I prefer not to name them at this time because overall, I am very happy with my experience with them, but not sure how this should be handled, or maybe it just is a stroke of bad luck I have to suck up. The wine was $115, so its not an inexpensive bottle.
never hurts to ask. A year ago I had a massively corked bottle of 02 Arnoux, shot an email to Greg @Envoyer and he replaced the bottle immediately even though he had bought only 2 bottles from someone’s collection.
If they don’t do it, that’s okay, but if they do… you know that’s someone you can support in the long run!
Since you said “reseller,” I assume this was a retailer like Blicker-Pierce which buys wines from individual collectors and then resells them. In addition to whatever limitations might appear on their website (or your invoice/receipt), they might disclaim liability for corked wines since they can’t take them back to the distributor.
I agree with all of that. I wouldn’t expect replacement, but I would mention the situation to them to see what they would do. I’d be a really loyal customer if they did replace it.
You are right, they are reseller, who buys collections etc etc. I went to their site and looked at their T and C’s.
This is what I had expected to find: I have removed their name and just put an underscore, I don’t care to name them as I mentioned previously. Overall, I really enjoy dealing with them, but I do have a hard time even asking about compensation or exchange because in my heart, I know they can’t possibly warranty the actual liquid asset.
“While __________ inspects each bottle of wine that it sells and endeavors to describe each bottle that it does not deem to be in excellent condition that might affect its drinkability, certain spoilage mechanisms are undetectable. _________ makes no specific representation of drinkability of any particular bottle of wine. ___________ makes no representation of the suitability of any particular bottle of wine as an investment or for any other purpose.”
I just wanted to hear about others experiences. I just hate having a corked wine. I would rather have it be a bad wine I don’t like, at least I got up to bat and took a swing … , but I didn’t even leave the dugout, lol.
I have had great experiences going to the winery. I have only contacted the wineries on two occasions. One was a Scarecrow 2003 that was corked-- this was given to me by a friend, so I had no receipt or anything other than the bottle and most of the wine in it. They sent me a replacement bottle and a shipping label. Awesome service. I tried this with a 1997 Beringer Private Reserve Cab and they were gracious as well. They did require the bottle, which I had thrown away (not thinking that I could return it to anyone because I bought this on auction)-- so no luck this time, but the service was great nonetheless. Of course the wine in question is from France, so I don’t know how this would work. But reputable wineries do seem to back up their wines even if the retailer/reseller won’t/can’t.
I have to disagree with you there. When you’re buying meat, you’re buying from a store, who buys directly from a supplier, and the expectation is that it’s fresh.
In the case in question, you’re buying from a reseller that buys and resells collections. Some of these bottles are old, and there’s no way to verify how they’ve been stored. They state clearly on their website that you are assuming some risk because there is no real way to tell the condition of the wine in the bottle if the bottle appears outwardly sound. It’s not like you can just check the date to see if it’s expired.
So, the reseller is not REQUIRED to replace or refund in the same way that the grocery store is for bad meat. What they DECIDE to do in order to keep their customers happy is a different story. They may decide to assume some of the risk, but that would be voluntary on their part.
Sticky situation with a reseller… There is no distributor that they can get credit from (which then goes back to the winery). Plus, the profit margin is typically lower on this stuff… I wouldn’t ask for anything personally.
Since the wine in question was a Burgundy, that’s probably not a helpful route.
I would still contact the retailer and tell them what happened. There’s no harm in letting them know, even if ultimately they say there’s nothing they can do.
I keep seeing comments like this and I’ve got to point out that TCA isn’t a storage or aging issue. A corked wine was corked the moment it was bottled.
As for a replacement… depends. Some people resell wines they’ve bought elsewhere and, because they didn’t buy it on release and can’t know the conditions it’s seen since then, won’t replace. Others will. I’d ask, but I’d ask for a replacement, not a refund.
Absolutely you should tell them, regardless if they’re a reseller. If it’s corked then there’s no issue with the wines provenance. See what they can do, they should want to keep you as a customer. Hopefully they can replace the bottle or give you credit.
I want to give Kudos to Rare Wine Co. for their fantastic service. I opened a bottle of 1996 Azienda Bricco Rocche (Ceretto) Barolo Brunate for my birthday dinner (Wetrock, Hagen, Dietz, Paul Lin, and Rob Winn might remember it from the last bottle I opened, which was spectacular) and it was no bueno. Poured into the decanter brown, almost no nose to speak of, and when I grabbed a taste, it was shot. Cooked.
I emailed rarewineco and asked if they would replace it, and near immediately Barry offered to do so (and I didn’t even use the ‘birthday dinner’ guilt trip!) and ship it with my next order.