In Kathryn's post last week on corked wine, she advised returning it to the store or refusing it at a restaurant.
The wine savvy among us might have no problem with this. But for those of us who feel timid at the prospect of returning an opened bottle of wine, here are a few notes on etiquette.
First of all, don't return wine just because you don't like the way it tastes or because it's not as good as you were led to believe. If you think it's too sweet, too tart, or too bland, that doesn't necessarily mean that the wine has actually gone bad.
In these cases, chalk it up to experience, remember the name of the wine, and don't buy it again! If most of the bottle is left over, there are plenty of other ways to use it up.
If you suspect that a wine is genuinely corked, get a second opinion.
Ask a friend for their thoughts and then bring the bottle with you to the store so that the seller can smell and taste it too. At a restaurant, you can ask the waiter or sommelier to taste it and give you their thoughts. If it is corked, they will replace it immediately.
Like our mamas said, be polite. You're far more likely to get a positive response if you approach your interaction as a learning experience instead of a criminal offense.
Remember that wine can become corked for any number of reasons, none of which is usually the wine seller's or the restaurant's fault. There's also no real way to tell that a bottle is corked before it's opened, so no one is trying to pull a number on you by selling a corked wine.
A wine seller will usually be grateful to know that a bottle of their wine was corked. There could be other bottles from that vintage with the same problem or it might indicate a problem with the wine producer that the seller will want to address.
Have you ever returned a bottle of wine?
Related: Wine Picks for Spring
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for the first time(s), twice just recently! once at a well-liked french restaurant in chicago and once to whole foods.
at the restaurant, we had 1 glass each (red) at the bar and when we ordered a second glass with dinner from our waitress, she opened a new bottle at the table for us, and it was totally bogus. we were polite, offered/suggested for our server to taste it, but she wanted no part of it. the glasses from the next bottle were back to goodness.
and, recently, we bought a bottle of white at whole foods that actually tasted alright, but had a putrid stench to it. they happily refunded us, no questions asked.
view mrs's profile
Open container laws, anyone? I can understand returning a bottle if you bought it near your house and can walk it back there, but traveling with a bottle that contains corked wine via car or subway seems daunting. Any tips to get over geographical distances?
view BetsyGinDC's profile
Just like with an over or undercooked steak, it is perfectly reasonable and acceptable to return corked wine. This is precisely the reason a tasting glass is poured before pouring out the other full glasses.
Having worked in a wine bar for far too long, I know that if a customer claimed the wine was corked, it was replaced, no questions asked, for free, even if we tasted it later in the back and found the wine to be just fine. No one wants you to drink or eat something you don't like! Well, at least in a good restaurant...
view MFDiz's profile
As a server in a fine dining restaurant I will always allow the guest to determine whether a new bottle is corked through the taste I pour. If they think it's corked I smell and and taste it and bring it to our sommelier to taste and smell as well. Of course, I also bring a new bottle to the table right away (which hopefully is not corked as well!). I've worked at this particular restaurant for a nearly a year and have only experienced a handful of corked bottles (one of which I had ordered myself while dining at my restaurant!).
Final note: the taste a server pours for you is not meant for you to determine whether you like the wine or not! It's only to determine if it's corked. Use the knowledge of your server or sommelier to help you select a wine you will like based on your personal tastes or food pairings! I'm always happy to make recommendations to my guests!
view mrupert's profile
p.s. the server at the restaurant where we had corked wine went whole hog and poured two full glasses from the new bottle. her bad ....
view mrs's profile
I've twiced returned bottles that had been corked, once to Trader Joe's and once to a neighborhood purveyor. Both times the response was exemplary, which is something I remember and enjoy, and makes me all that more loyal and satisfied a customer.
view krister's profile