Whining about wine

January 3, 2018 8:27 PM

Let’s say I buy a nice ($30+) bottle of wine from a reputable wine store. It turns out to be clearly undrinkable — corked or double-fermented, etc. Is the expectation that I will write that off to the risks of being a wine drinker? Or is that a situation where it would be reasonable for me to go back to the store and ask for a replacement? If so, do I bring the remainder of the wine?
posted by eugenen to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

...the second option, and yes, bring back the remainder.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:30 PM on January 3, 2018 [8 favorites]

You are buying a bottle of wine of the expected quality, not a chance that you will get such a bottle of wine. Do take the remainder, if possible.
posted by uncaken at 8:47 PM on January 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

A reputable wine store will be glad to replace the bottle for you. Yes, bring back the nearly-full, undrinkable bottle.
posted by toxic at 8:53 PM on January 3, 2018 [7 favorites]

Take it back, a reputable store should stand behind their product.
posted by BoscosMom at 8:53 PM on January 3, 2018

Speaking as someone that has worked in wine retail: absolutely bring the remainder and expect a full refund or replacement. No one should suffer corked, oxidized, stewed, or otherwise flat-out 'wrong' wine. Not at $30, not at $5.
posted by komara at 8:54 PM on January 3, 2018 [19 favorites]

I always wished we'd brought back that one bottle of wine that inexplicably tasted not like cheese, but like Kraft Singles, specifically. I think we kept drinking it out of sheer disbelief, and were too lazy to go back for a refund. I think it was under $10, but I bought it on the recommendation of one of the staff (who did not seem to be trolling.) Don't be lazy, especially if the wine's bad in a way that's entertaining enough to share. It's selfish to keep cheez wine from others who would benefit from its existence.
posted by asperity at 9:04 PM on January 3, 2018 [7 favorites]

Best answer: To follow up on my earlier comment, if you want more details than are necessary: typically the wine in a retailer's shop has been purchased from a wholesaler. In my state the retailer should have every expectation that they can hand any bad bottle back to the wholesaler and receive a full refund. You're not taking money from the retailer by returning this product. At worst you're causing them a few seconds of paperwork as they fill out a bad bottle return form.

For the wholesaler it's a different set of circumstances. They bought the wine from a distributor (winery, consolidation group, whoever). Those companies set their own rules on bad bottle charges, usually one of the following:
- they pay 100% for all bad bottles
- they split bad bottle charges 50/50 with the wholesaler
- they pay nothing under the "you bought it, it's your problem" motto

but who cares about that, right? You're the consumer dealing with the retailer, and the retailer should absolutely not be put out by your return - and again I'd like to reiterate that you should return any bad bottle you get, at any price range. Your bottle may be an outlier or it may be the last one in a series that helps the retailer make the decision to pull all the product off the shelf and get it replaced by the wholesaler, and you've just saved some other customers the inconvenience of returning their future bad bottle purchases.

In summary: never be afraid to return a bad bottle of wine. If your shop won't accommodate you then absolutely send your business somewhere else.
posted by komara at 9:06 PM on January 3, 2018 [29 favorites]

At the extreme end - like $300+ - bottles are usually sold sans-guarantee. This is simply due to the bottles being generally not sold via a distribution system and generally being significantly aged.

In the $30 bracket, yes, feel free to take it back. You'll likely not even be asked any questions and they'll give you a replacement bottle.
posted by saeculorum at 9:21 PM on January 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

Yes, and a reputable retailer will typically be glad to know about a bad bottle rather than wonder why you never came back again. Stopper up what's left and take it back.
posted by holgate at 10:05 PM on January 3, 2018

Even in PA State stores with notoriously poor customer service, they take back corked bottles of $10 vino without complaint.
posted by desuetude at 10:33 PM on January 3, 2018 [4 favorites]

I once dropped a bottle of vodka and the lid snapped, vodka everywhere. Next time I was at the store, I told the owner about it - just as a funny story because we were on friendly terms. He was upset I didn't bring it back to him so he could replace it. Liquor/wine stores want to help you with this sort of thing.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 6:59 AM on January 4, 2018

Definitely return it. The retailer will at the very least want to check out the rest of that case to be sure it's a single bottle issue, not a bad batch/improper storage issue. That does them a favor.
posted by Miko at 8:06 AM on January 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

This topic generates some heated debate on wine discussion boards. There are some retailers who don't take back defective bottles and some people who say that you should not try to take them back, as the risk of a less than magical bottle is on you. However I think it's safe to say those people are in the distinct minority. In California, retailers are, to the best of my personal, non-lawyerly understanding, required by law to accept defective alcoholic beverages (and, interestingly, cannot refund non-defective bottles). In practice I've never had a problem returning the occasional bad bottle, and they are much, much less frequent these days than even a decade ago, with worldwide improvements in sanitation and closures. Any retailer that won't take a non-aged bottle back is off my list permanently. When, exactly, a wine transforms from a beverage into a collectible is also a matter of debate, but certainly anything less than 10 years old and undrinkable should be refunded, whether it's $2 or $200.
posted by wnissen at 10:07 AM on January 4, 2018

Quick legal note here: When you replace the cork, pound it all the way in so that you're not driving with an open container. You should require a cork screw to get it back out to be legal. If it's a screw top, put the whole thing in the trunk.
posted by Capri at 10:35 AM on January 4, 2018