I have not but that is an excellent idea! Thank you
- It is totally fine for the consumer to add a note on CellarTracker. However, they should click the FLAWED checkbox which disables the ability to add a score.
- If anyone sees a note on an obviously flawed bottle that DOES have a score, if logged into CellarTracker, it is two clicks for you to report it to us. (Now if the user debated about whether or not they thought it was flawed but was not totally sure and did add a score, sorry, we won’t touch those).
- Any winery with a CellarTracker account can add a comment to a tasting note asking the author to get in touch. This will notify them.
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- It is totally fine for the consumer to add a note on CellarTracker. However, they should click the FLAWED checkbox which disables the ability to add a score.
- If anyone sees a note on an obviously flawed bottle that DOES have a score, if logged into CellarTracker, it is two clicks for you to report it to us. (Now if the user debated about whether or not they thought it was flawed but was not totally sure and did add a score, sorry, we won’t touch those).
- Any winery with a CellarTracker account can add a comment to a tasting note asking the author to get in touch. This will notify them.
Thanks for the reminder on option 2
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Who does the sniffing: truffle pigs?
There are a few cork manufacturers that guarantee TCA-free natural corks. They essentially soak the corks in an alcohol solution and then several trained testers sniff the samples to check if any cork has imbued TCA odors into the liquid. There’s also some automated technologies that check for TCA in natural corks, like the ones Amorim uses
That’s very good customer service! I used to be ITB on the distribution side, and I know that individual distributors have different policies/tolerances for returns from retailers, so I only return corked bottles to the retailer if I know they can get their money back. I don’t want the retailer to have to eat the cost, although I know that many distributors end up eating the cost, too, but not always. There are a lot of wineries and importers that just won’t give credit back to the distributor for defective bottles and just don’t want to be bothered with it.
I have never had an issue getting credit or replacement for a corked wine. I will mark said wine as flawed on CT. It helps me track bottlings over time. One producer, who replaced every corked bottle, had an in ordinate number of 2012 vintage wines as corked.
This inspired me to look at 11 years of notes to see what I found flawed. Kind of interesting to check back. PS: Rhys and Stony Hill contacted me immediately to replace. 
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2004 Domaine Huber-Verdereau Volnay Les Robardelles - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay (4/29/2020)
Ladybugs. Pyrazines. Green meanies. NR (flawed) -
2005 Domaine Pierre Guillemot Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Narbantons - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru (2/15/2020)
corked. NR (flawed) -
2011 Stony Hill Chardonnay - USA, California, Napa Valley (12/29/2019)
Oxidised. Color was visibly off before opening and the wine was lifeless except for the butter/sherry note. Very disappointing as I’ve had it 2x at the winery with typical Stony Hill notes.
EDIT: Winery is replacing bottle. NR (flawed) -
2007 Domaine La Millière Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Unique Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (11/15/2019)
Corked. NR (flawed) -
2006 Château d’Epiré Savennières Cuvée Spéciale - France, Loire Valley, Anjou-Saumur, Savennières (9/18/2019)
Hmm, found a bottle in the cellar from a vintage I thought I’d drank up. Hooray! Bottle was oxidised. Boo! Hiss! NR (flawed) -
2007 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault En La Barre - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault (6/5/2019)
Premoxed. NR (flawed) -
2010 Kirkland Signature Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de Nalys - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (4/5/2018)
Boring bretty stuff. Let’s just call it flawed. NR (flawed) -
2004 Verget Meursault Lieu Interdit - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault (12/23/2017)
Corked. NR (flawed) -
2014 Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy Sancerre - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Sancerre (7/4/2017)
The flaw was I thought I bought a white 3 months ago but when I opened it I found it was rouge! Instead of deleting this and creating a new entry figured I’d leave a PSA to those not familiar with Sancerre rouge: Pinot Noir from here can be earthy, tasty stuff. Try it. NR (flawed) -
2007 Domaine Monier Perréol St. Joseph Blanc - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph (3/19/2017)
Oxidised,. Otherwise some bitterness and oversweet apricot coming through. I suspect this would probably be rated below average if it was not flawed. NR (flawed) -
2005 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (4/22/2016)
Oxidised. Came back to it 45 minutes later and confirmed. NR (flawed) -
2003 François Raveneau Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos - France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru (4/13/2016)
Even with slight cork taint this showed that it’s normally a great wine. My only bottle and I think it’s better than what the vintage would suggest. NR (flawed) -
2002 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (6/27/2015)
2nd of 2 Poruzots premoxed. 0 for 2 on 2002 Poruzots with no bottles left. NR (flawed) -
2001 Edmunds St. John Syrah Wylie-Fenaughty - USA, California, Sierra Foothills, El Dorado County (2/21/2015)
Corked - arrgh. Became more apparent with time. NR (flawed) -
2002 Michel Colin-Deléger et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru En Remilly - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru (10/25/2014)
Corked. At least it wasn’t premoxed! NR (flawed) -
2005 Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Pur Sang - France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé (9/26/2014)
Oxidised. Had the brilliant acidity and none of the tropical fruits. A shame. NR (flawed) -
2001 Michel Colin-Deléger et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chaumées - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru (3/8/2014)
6th of 6 bottles. All oxidised. NR (flawed) -
2002 Domaine Francois et Antoine Jobard Meursault 1er Cru Les Poruzots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru (12/26/2013)
First premoxed Jobard. Definitely premature as they have a reputation for a long, long life. NR (flawed) -
2006 A. et P. de Villaine Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise Les Clous - France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise (1/22/2012)
Premoxed. Arrgh. NR (flawed) -
2001 Michel Colin-Deléger et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chaumées - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru (11/1/2011)
The 5th of 6 bottles. All oxidized. Arrgh. Luckily of all the different bottlings I have of Colin-Deleger only this one has been premoxed. I stopped buying it soon after this vintage. NR (flawed) -
2004 Rhys Alesia Syrah Chileno Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast (12/31/2009)
This wine was a bretty poopy mess. Too bad because it seems like there is something interesting beneath the fecal stew. Hope my other two bottles fare better! NR (flawed) -
2004 Villa Carafa Aglianico - Italy, Campania, Sannio (12/31/2009)
Plastic cork and still corked! NR (flawed) -
2002 Rapet Père et Fils Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru Sous Frétille - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Cru (11/7/2009)
Premoxed. Feh! NR (flawed)
Posted from CellarTracker
I have never had an issue getting credit or replacement for a corked wine. I will mark said wine as flawed on CT. It helps me track bottlings over time. One producer, who replaced every corked bottle, had an in ordinate number of 2012 vintage wines as corked.
That was good service on their part. We get corked bottles happen and I doubt anyone would not want a replacement even if it is different vintage.
That’s very good customer service! I used to be ITB on the distribution side, and I know that individual distributors have different policies/tolerances for returns from retailers, so I only return corked bottles to the retailer if I know they can get their money back.
I would hope the distributor would take it back. They are buying it for the lowest cost. I certainly will not eat the cost of a $50 bottle.
I make note of corked bottles in CT. My tasting note will simply be “TCA”, and I do that because CT marks them as “Flawed,” and there are other types of flaws beyond TCA.
I’ve recently started indicating in my “TCA” tasting note that the winery replaced the bottle if, in fact, they did. I’ve always been on the fence about that – not knowing if wineries like that kind of public acknowledgement, or if they don’t (for fear it will inspire others to cheat the system, so to speak). My conclusion on that quandary recently changed — I would love to hear from winery owners if they like, or dislike, that type of public acknowledgement so I can adjust accordingly.
Interesting use of flawed!
I’d have to concede that might not be due a refund . . .
Best flawed bottle I ever drank!
Tangentially related story:
Ordered some still PN BdN to be delivered to my offsite. Got a call from a confused and worried worker inventorying the wines concerned that the wine I ordered was accidentally mislabelled/misbottled as the label noted PN, but the wine was clearly white. Had to explain to them that they were indeed correct.
John, in my opinion the ultimate responsibility is with the winery that used the cork (or even cork supplier), but often times it just ends with the distributor, which really isn’t fair either. And you wouldn’t believe the number of “bad” bottles that get returned to distributors that are just fine but that have to be returned for credit if you want to do business with chains or get restaurant placements.
Kudo’s for the policy and the communication Michael.
To the others, anyone have a good contact for Krug? I have a defective MV, clear cork problem (no flare to the cork,and highly oxidized) but it wasn’t from a recent purchase, so I’d like to contact Krug. The message feature on their website dis not elicit a reply.
Definitely is.
But also wrong use of tasting notes, at least in my books. I think TNs should only be left for wines you’ve drunk and they should be descriptions of the wine, not where you had it or with whom. You really couldn’t find any actual TNs if all the users started to leave pointless memos like this for wines they even have never tasted.
Just curious how you know they’re “just fine.” Do they taste returned bottles?
Nearly identical thing happened to me with a high end Sonoma County Pinot producer. Dropped from their mailing list and haven’t bought since.
Then last weekend I had an off experience with a bottle of Bedrock. I didn’t call it out as corked because it was extremely mild on TCA mildew and I couldn’t pick it up on the cork itself. Just had everything muted. Based on the note itself Morgan contacted me and said it sounded corked to him and offered up a replacement bottle. Needless to say I probably purchase 8-10 cases of Bedrock a year. The other winery, 0.
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I think it says it right here, ditch that Euro Trash. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}