If you buy a half gallon of milk and it’s spoiled, do you take it back?
If you buy a car, and the axles break as you drive it home, do you get it fixed at the dealer’s expense?
When should wine be any different?
If it is corked, filled with extreme Brettanomyces, are you supposed to drink it? Heck no.
In a perfect world, you would get credit for your bottle, the retailer would get credit from the wholesaler, and the wholesaler credit from the importer or winery. If problem bottles are not reported up the chain, how can they ever be noticed or fixed? Like love and forgiveness, it has to start somewhere.
I only return bottles that are recent purchases, i.e. easily replaceable, that are corked. I would also if it were broken in some way like the cork didn’t fit or wasn’t present. Cracked bottle. Or other similar.
I would never return one because I didn’t like the wine or it had something I didn’t care for like brett or mercaptins. That’s on the winemakers. That’s a lesson for the consumer about who they will buy. It’s not returnable anymore than your carrots not being as sweet as you want them to be from your local grocer.
I return bad bottles, and when I experience consumer unfriendly policies with regards to faulty bottles at a retailer I stop shopping there.
The time question is an interesting one. I tend to think bottles meant to be cellared should have a longer warranty period.
I’ve never returned a corked bottle before but I mentioned to a new to me local place today that a wine I recently purchased as part of a mixed sample case was corked and the owner offered to credit me the cost. I thought that was great, and they will get more of my business going forward.
not the same discussion but whats the general consensus on purchasing a bottle (online from a reputed wine shop) not rare but not available to replace either…2015 $85 1er burgundy that was sold with a wine stained label and you were not told of it beforehand?
Personally, if it’s just a cosmetic damage to the label, then I don’t do anything about it. A slightly torn or stained label is not going to affect the taste or my enjoyment of a wine. Now if you’re talking about highly collectible wines where where even a slightly torn or stained label affects resale price, then it’s a different story. However if there’s signs of seepage or anything like that on the bottle then I usually contact the retailer to return it.
It’s fashionable to bag on mailing lists, but this is one significant advantage to them. If I email someone like Rhys or Carlisle and tell them a bottle was corked, even an older bottle, they’ll credit me or replace it, cheerfully and without a bunch of hoops to jump through.