Way too many to list but Bedrock is truly a gold standard, no matter how badly I f-up an order they are back to me in minutes to fix the problem!
Sorry for costing you time and money Morgan and Chris ![[thankyou.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/d/df165fe9c1593d19166ae7e1ffe5e272089cc07b.gif "thankyou"){kind=small}
Herman Story and Bedrock at top of heap for me … Probably why they’re the bulk of my cellar. (Oh, and because they’re kick ass wines.)
Ridge has also gone above and beyond in the past for us.
Won’t repeat specific customer service raves for all of the above, since I’ve mentioned them here before, but suffice to say I was more than impressed. 
One example was a winery that saw a CT tasting note indicating a bad bottle. They sent me a replacement before I even contacted them. I can’t recall, but i think they also included a just bottled “preview” bottle from the coming vintage.
SQN.
No, I am not joking. Although it did take 6+ years to make it to the mailing list, they always responded to my emails during that period and once I got on the list, they have been extremely prompt in answering all of my inquiries, varying from shipping dates to how long to decant a particular wine. I recently sent a message to a bunch of wineries about having to change a shipping address due to a change in the location of the office where wine was to be shipped, and SQN was the first to respond.
Hey, it’s not their fault that they are so popular that you have to wait 6 years to get an offer. Actually, of course, it is their fault, but can you blame them for making wine that people like?
Chris, this is a great idea for a thread.
I just want to reiterate one thing that was said above: the Rhys team down an exceptional job of providing info and responding to specific questions and concerns on WB. Just totally professional.
There are some other great examples too, this one just stands out for me as I’m not buying direct from that many wineries.
I certainly agree with the names already listed–at least the ones that I have dealt with.
I live in Southern California. So, I don’t receive this benefit, but, in years past, Paul Gordon of Halcon has personally delivered orders in Northern California. I really don’t know how he defines his delivery territory, and I don’t know if the practice continues, but I think that is very cool.
Seriously? This board is so hyper-positive about Rhys, I think the rare comment that says or asks anything that isn’t pure adulation is treated as though it’s way worse than it is (e.g. in the latest Rhys mailer thread, one guy said one very mild thing about wishing the allocation system were slightly different than it is, and a dozen people pounced on him for it). And while it’s undoubtedly work to respond to all the Rhys posts, I’d think it’s a nice kind of work to mingle with adoring customers like they have here.
Anyway, I agree that they have terrific customer service, I’m just weirded out by this notion that Kevin is on here dealing with loads of criticism and snark all the time.
Sojourn. It may have been the last winery I ordered from this Fall, and it is the first shipment I received. Got it today.
They’ve already been mentioned, but an exchange just moments ago with Chris confirms that Bedrock needs to be on the list. Thanks, Chris!
Perhaps I’ve read some differently than you, which is ok. I don’t have time or the desire to go back through many threads and find examples.
No problem, I agree it’s not worth the effort. And I agree that Rhys has great customer service.
For me, I’m not sure the value of listing off winery names, and I’d be afraid to have left someone off.
My thought on the subject generally is that wine is such a highly competitive business right now, both in terms of producers and retailers, that good customer service is at a particular premium. All of us here know far more great wines than we can possible buy and good retailers we can shop from, so if one even gives you a bad experience one or two times in some way, it’s pretty easy (and can even be a bit of a relief) just to scratch them off the list and buy elsewhere.
Contrast that with the DMV, the passport office, the Social Security office, etc. You have no alternative to those, so no matter how awful the experience and service are, you still have to go back. No surprise, the experience and service usually turn out to be awful, because they have little real incentive not to be.
A slightly less drastic opposite example is the airlines. There are only a small number, and the difference in fares on a given booking are usually pretty large. So we all grouse about the lousy service and so forth, but most of us end up buying whatever fare and time are better and just putting up with it. And, again no surprise, the service is generally pretty poor from the airlines.
But with wine, the customer can have one bit of rude treatment or screwup once and just say “I’m moving on.” It may not be fair taken in isolation or viewed in the context of what the winery or retailer deserve, but it’s just the reality when there is this much good product and this much competition. And so it’s no surprise that the service is usually terrific in the world of wine, where even the exceptions you encounter infrequently are usually little more than minor annoyances rather than major grievances. A lot of us buy a lot of wine based on having had a friendly and enjoyable visit to a winery, or nice interactions on WB with a winemaker, or remembering that one time we called about a corked bottle and they happily replaced it right away with no questions.
Agree with many of the above plus Nicora
MacDonald wins. There was a problem with my credit card on my last order because it had been stolen. 100% my fault. I called and left them a voicemail message. Alex called me earlier this evening from AT&T Park during the sixth inning of the playoff game to straighten it out.
+1 and shout out to REALM
also +1 on Liquid Farm so far
I’ll add
Continuum
Cristom
Seven of Hearts
P Green–Jim has been great
Does Alex MacDonald ever sleep? I’m very impressed.
Just looking through my cellartracker…
Alpha Omega
Bedrock
Donum
DuMOL
Hall
Herman Story
Liquid Farm
Rivers Marie
Switchback Ridge
Heck, even Duckhorn/Goldeneye… They switched from FedEx to UPS a few years ago for a very brief time. I called and asked for FedEx deliveries only, they called me back a day later and said “No problem, we’ll make sure it comes to you FedEx from now on”, and it has.
But too be fair, I don’t think I’m tough to please. There are several wineries that I probably could’ve mentioned on this list but I’ve never had any issue that I ever needed to discuss with them.
I place my order, get my email that my wine is on the way, make sure I’m home. Put my bottles in the cellar… done. No Return due to Corked issues, no problems with communication or at tasting rooms.
I don’t need to feel special, just don’t make me feel like you think I’m an asshole for nothing. **COUGH caymus **
Felton Road NZ
Tarrawarra Aus
Stoniers Merrick Aus
SHANE
The first thing that came to my mind was Dirty and Rowdy. Hardy seems to really enjoy dealing with customers which is always nice.
Rivers marie
Sqn
Lillian
Hobel
Carlisle
Fairchild
Loring
Rhys
Corra
Off the top of my head
Newcomer stone the crows gets an honorable mention.