Etiquette for Sending Wine Back

[Mo0o]

People who are into wine are just like audiophiles, paying large premiums for minute differences that would have required large amounts of sampling (and money) to cultivate in the first place. Then they use overly floral language to describe something that is already incredibly difficult to qualify (although i would say this applies for audiophiles more than wine fans. Read audiophile descriptions of equipment make me cringe with their pompous ambiguity.

 

[ColdFusion718]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: ColdFusion718

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Descartes
Also, I should note that I've sent probably a dozen or more bottles back in my winedrinking history. The bottles were either corked or worse. In one case I had to send an Italian Nebbiolo back to the sommelier at a trendy restaurant in Atlanta only to be told, "That's how the Italians make it." The wine was distinctinly sulfuric, and having made a few hundred gallons of wine in my time I know when sulfur makes its way into a wine, and it's never on purpose.

Same here, I've probably sent back 6 wines.

Italians are tart, but sulfuric and crunchy is bad.

Crunchy? I didn't know wines crunched? This is wine snob talk. Btw, I've taken a few viticulture and enology classes so I know how to make wine and whatnot.

You've taken viticulture classes and you don't know about tartrates?

A lot of the BS jargon that wine-tasters use are just highfalutin talk. What happened to "this wine tastes good, I like it"?

Sufficient for dinner, but not sufficient for qualifying a wine. Anything that delves into sensory overtures at a casual dinner is being a little pompous, but the descriptions used do have their place. There's nothing wrong with pointing out that a wine is tannic, oaked, fruity, acidic, etc.

I wanted to prove a point so in one of the classes I took years ago, I challenged a wine snob to a taste test. I gave him a few different wines to test (I made sure others were around). He went on and on about this one wine had flamboyant, rebellious character. Personally, I think he was the flamboyant one, not the wine. :evil:

Ok, never in my entire life have I heard anyone describe a wine as flamboyant and rebellious. That's florid nonsense speech, and it says very little about the wine unless he's saying that the style is rebelling against more common styles for a given region; for example, you'll sometimes find people experimenting with style. Pinot Noir in Oregon's Willamette Valley and California Carneros are primary examples.

Finally, I gave him a very cheap $5 bottle of wine to try and he said that one was the best and said how it was the same $200 bottle he had in France. You should have seen the look on his face when I said "Dude, I bought that for $5 down at the farmers market."

I'm calling shens on your entire story. In wine, you are paying for complexity in growth, preparation and style. Additionally, there is a premium for high-demand low-supply wines like those of the Cote d'Or. No one, and I mean no one, would mistake a $200 French anything for a $5 anything else as being comparable. It has nothing to do with price.

Looks like I've managed to smoke the wine snob out into the open. j/k

On another note, I have heard of many wine snobs using the word "overture" when describing a wine. Whine all you want (pun intended), but words like this one are reserved for their intended purposes.

Descartes, I know you're a wine lover. I was also pointing out that a lot of wine aficionado are full of sh!t. But you seem to know what you're talking about without going over-the-top.

OK, part of the reason I picked my choice of words was to get a rise out of you and you fell for the bait hook, line, and sinker.

Btw, that was a true story; also I've pulled the same stunt on a few of my friends over the years--they all seem to prefer the cheaper stuff.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: ColdFusion718
OK, part of the reason I picked my choice of words was to get a rise out of you and you fell for the bait hook, line, and sinker.

Riiight. More than likely you were BSing and he caught you.

 

[zinfamous]

I've sent glasses back, but never a bottle. What I would like to see...is someone trying to send back a bottle at a BYOB

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Mo0o
That's why you gotta check the date on your box of wine before drinking!

Watch out. You can now get good wines for cheap from a box.

Sure they aren't great wines, but they are decent due to the glut of grapes. There are really good wines out there for cheap, and they are in a box.

Wine, good wine, never comes from a box, never.

As for the OP's question, I would simply return it. If the wine isn't to your tasting you have every right to send it back. Just let your server know it's not what you thought it would be. Since it's a trendy restaurant and not a smaller local type, the money they could possibly loose on the bottle won't make a difference. Now, if it was a smaller operation type, I would definitely keep the bottle.

Text

You might educate yourself before making silly statements.

Educate myself? Have you tried any of those wines or are you simply quoting a news article from the PI for sake of rebutting?

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: Darwin333

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Mo0o
That's why you gotta check the date on your box of wine before drinking!

Watch out. You can now get good wines for cheap from a box.

Sure they aren't great wines, but they are decent due to the glut of grapes. There are really good wines out there for cheap, and they are in a box.

Wine, good wine, never comes from a box, never.

As for the OP's question, I would simply return it. If the wine isn't to your tasting you have every right to send it back. Just let your server know it's not what you thought it would be. Since it's a trendy restaurant and not a smaller local type, the money they could possibly loose on the bottle won't make a difference. Now, if it was a smaller operation type, I would definitely keep the bottle.

So you would make the restaurant eat the cost of the wine simply because you made a poor decision? Regardless of how "trendy or big" they may be its not their fault you didn't make a good selection.

Well for me, I just don't pick a bottle of wine out of the menu and hope for the best. I get the servers recommendation and once the recommendation is made I ask exactly what i'll be expecting as in taste. If I'm not happy with it, I'll send it back. I have a certain taste i'm looking for and if I'm paying good money for the dinner and wine I expect it to be to my liking. Even if I do not decide to send the wine back, the bottle will be sitting 3/4 of the way full and the server will ask if it's not what i wanted and most likely give me something else or take the charge off anyway, so either be honest and assertive or wait until the end. They'll most likely take it back anyway.

Some may think that's snobby, but if I spend at least $100 on dinner and wine I expect it to be good.

 

[umbrella39]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Mo0o
That's why you gotta check the date on your box of wine before drinking!

Watch out. You can now get good wines for cheap from a box.

Sure they aren't great wines, but they are decent due to the glut of grapes. There are really good wines out there for cheap, and they are in a box.

Wine, good wine, never comes from a box, never.

As for the OP's question, I would simply return it. If the wine isn't to your tasting you have every right to send it back. Just let your server know it's not what you thought it would be.

Well for me, I just don't pick a bottle of wine out of the menu and hope for the best. I get the servers recommendation and once the recommendation is made I ask exactly what i'll be expecting as in taste. If I'm not happy with it, I'll send it back. I have a certain taste i'm looking for and if I'm paying good money for the dinner and wine I expect it to be to my liking.

100% wrong (at least in the fine dining I have worked in). If the wine tastes the way a particular wine is supposed to taste, it does not matter if you don't like it, it is your own fault for ordering it and not being educated about what you are purchasing. And I really dislike when people try to pawn it off on "server suggestion", if you don't know what is what, don't blame the server. Like the server is supposed to know what you like and have the same taste as him/her. When I was a DM, I might let something like this fly once in a blue moon. But by the sounds of it, you think you are entitiled to pick and pick until you find something that suits you. I used to send guests like that packing. No soup!

He did mention the color was off. Off from what I wonder? Has the OP purchased this wine in the past that you would know what its color is supposed to be? If so, then you had a right to send it back ofr being discolored. If this was just a shot in the dark purchase that you thought would taste the way you like a pinot to taste and it didn't, then buyer beware imo. But most managers will let you send it back no problem especially if you are a good customer with no repeated history of sending bottles back. A lot of times, they have a bottle open in the bar and you can ask for a taste, but to be honest, if you have to crack a bottle in order to see if you like it, you have purchased it.

 

[Reel]

At a fancy steakhouse, my parents and I shared an expensive bottle of wine for my graduation. It was by far the best wine I have tasted. We went back about a year later and ordered the same thing. It had gone bad. We informed the waiter who summoned the somallier. He tasted it and was hesitant to admit it was bad but he brought a second bottle that had also gone bad. We ended up drinking something else but we were all sad that such a great bottle had gone bad but sometimes they don't continue aging gracefully.

 

[thehstrybean]

Originally posted by: bctbct
This is why you should drink beer. You can check the born on date, if its not a good blend, 12 ozs and $3 later you get to start over.

Yep, or on Tuesday nights here, you can spend $2 and get a pint of PBR...umm...College beer...

 

[Darwin333]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: Darwin333

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Mo0o
That's why you gotta check the date on your box of wine before drinking!

Watch out. You can now get good wines for cheap from a box.

Sure they aren't great wines, but they are decent due to the glut of grapes. There are really good wines out there for cheap, and they are in a box.

Wine, good wine, never comes from a box, never.

As for the OP's question, I would simply return it. If the wine isn't to your tasting you have every right to send it back. Just let your server know it's not what you thought it would be. Since it's a trendy restaurant and not a smaller local type, the money they could possibly loose on the bottle won't make a difference. Now, if it was a smaller operation type, I would definitely keep the bottle.

So you would make the restaurant eat the cost of the wine simply because you made a poor decision? Regardless of how "trendy or big" they may be its not their fault you didn't make a good selection.

Well for me, I just don't pick a bottle of wine out of the menu and hope for the best. I get the servers recommendation and once the recommendation is made I ask exactly what i'll be expecting as in taste. If I'm not happy with it, I'll send it back. I have a certain taste i'm looking for and if I'm paying good money for the dinner and wine I expect it to be to my liking. Even if I do not decide to send the wine back, the bottle will be sitting 3/4 of the way full and the server will ask if it's not what i wanted and most likely give me something else or take the charge off anyway, so either be honest and assertive or wait until the end. They'll most likely take it back anyway.

Some may think that's snobby, but if I spend at least $100 on dinner and wine I expect it to be good.

I have two bottles of wine I uncorked at home that I didn?t like. Do you think I can bring them back to the wine cellar I bought them from?

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: Darwin333

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Mo0o
That's why you gotta check the date on your box of wine before drinking!

Watch out. You can now get good wines for cheap from a box.

Sure they aren't great wines, but they are decent due to the glut of grapes. There are really good wines out there for cheap, and they are in a box.

Wine, good wine, never comes from a box, never.

As for the OP's question, I would simply return it. If the wine isn't to your tasting you have every right to send it back. Just let your server know it's not what you thought it would be. Since it's a trendy restaurant and not a smaller local type, the money they could possibly loose on the bottle won't make a difference. Now, if it was a smaller operation type, I would definitely keep the bottle.

So you would make the restaurant eat the cost of the wine simply because you made a poor decision? Regardless of how "trendy or big" they may be its not their fault you didn't make a good selection.

Well for me, I just don't pick a bottle of wine out of the menu and hope for the best. I get the servers recommendation and once the recommendation is made I ask exactly what i'll be expecting as in taste. If I'm not happy with it, I'll send it back. I have a certain taste i'm looking for and if I'm paying good money for the dinner and wine I expect it to be to my liking. Even if I do not decide to send the wine back, the bottle will be sitting 3/4 of the way full and the server will ask if it's not what i wanted and most likely give me something else or take the charge off anyway, so either be honest and assertive or wait until the end. They'll most likely take it back anyway.

Some may think that's snobby, but if I spend at least $100 on dinner and wine I expect it to be good.

Do you do that with food too? There's this one restaurant that has this salmon risotto that everybody loves... personally i hate salmon, but i decided to give it a try since everybody loves it... but it still tasted like salmon, and i didn't like it. Should i have returned the dish and asked for the lobster ravioli like i normally do?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you've never even fine dined before... because if you did, you may get away pulling this once or twice, but you'd know by now that this isn't how the industry works.

 

[blert]

What I've done is let the sommelier or server know that I do not care for the bottle and wish to purchase a new or different wine. We let them know that I fully expect to pay for the bottle that we currently have, and more often than not if we have been polite about it the bottle is removed from the bill.

It helps if you are a consistent customer of the establishment.