Wine Enthusiast Magazine
SubscribeHas the tide finally turned on sending bottles back? Is it just me, or have sommeliers and waiters gotten better with this?
I dislike having to do it, but when I smell the musty, newspapers-in-the-damp-basement aroma of trichloroanisole in a wine, I still have to do it. I tell the waiter I think the wine is corky, she smells it and then there’s a moment when I don’t know if she’s going to believe me.
Lately, though it seems like nine of out 10 times, she does.
Could it be that the tide of awareness and staff training has finally turned? It’s about time. For many years, inexperienced waiters and sometimes overly confident sommeliers had control of this moment, and they often would use it to save a sale and put down the diner’s revolt.
They wouldn’t always agree with the diner. They didn’t recognize a corky wine when they smelled it. “It smells OK to me sir, but if you don’t like it, I’ll bring you a bottle of another wine.” That meant that they didn’t think it was corky, but that you were possibly an idiot who didn’t know that a great red Burgundy was supposed to smell like a week-old bath towel that never quite dried.
Now, I feel that I am usually on the same team with the wine waiter. The dynamic is different. Maybe there has been a change in restaurant wine etiquette. Bad corks have gotten so much publicity that restaurant staff have a much better awareness of it, and they’ve joined us diners in the fight against the forces of evil.
The last time I sent a bottle back, the young waiter got excited about it, in a good way. His reaction when I said I thought the wine was corked, was, more or less: “Really? Cool.” He smelled it and a light bulb went off in his head. He said it was the first time anyone refused a bottle from him. He eagerly went back to the kitchen to share his epiphany.
He came back out with a new bottle, we both sniffed it and everything was cool. We had conspired to win a little battle against TCA. This was a good thing, and I hope it’s a change in the style of sommeliers that’s here to stay.
Has anyone else noticed this change in attitude? I’d like to hear your best story about sending a bottle back, good or bad.
Filed under: Closures, Restaurants and Food, Sommeliers
10 Comments
August 13th, 2007 at 1:03:25 PM
Jim, I wonder if this is a case of restaurants simply taking more of an interest in educating their waitstaff about wine, or is a natural reflection of the overall growing interest in the topic? It seems that more younger bartenders and waiters are taking it upon themselves to know more, not only because it’s good for their careers, but because they personally enjoy learning and tasting.
August 14th, 2007 at 1:59:56 PM
I sent a bottle back in Vegas at Marino’s for being corked and the staff thought I was nuts. I haven’t seen any proof of it getting better.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:05:54 PM
No proof of the restaurant industry getting any less snide when i return a bottle, yet. I take no shame in returning any bottle that i feel is less than perfect. Don’t you do the same with a fine meal?…I just can’t wait until the big boys in the wine world fully migrate to screwtops so we can all just get on with drinking the good stuff instead of running back to the cellar for another questionable bottle…
August 16th, 2007 at 6:34:38 PM
I agree with Susan’s comments above. Also, I think it depends where you dine and who the sommelier is. I recently had two consecutive bad bottles of Burgundy at Canlis in Seattle, very uncharacteristic of their cellaring. The first was obviously corked, the second had lost its fruit. Both the waiter and the sommelier agreed, and didn’t hesitate to offer a third selection. Further, wine in restaurants is so overpriced these days that no one should be reluctant to send a bad bottle back, regardless of how snooty the waiter.
August 17th, 2007 at 11:18:24 AM
Especially being a young oenophile, waiters still tend to be rude if I question a bottle. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, the usual response is a look of doubt and disbelief. I do hope the tides are turning.
August 21st, 2007 at 12:48:23 PM
Maybe I’m lucky, but I have yet to be presented with a corked bottle at restaurant. I don’t know- maybe I just am not sensitive to the odor. I’ve been drinking wine for many years and always thought I could perceive very subtle and not-so-subtle aromas (I’m a big Bordeaux fan). Now, I’ve had wine I didn’t care for- but that’s another matter. If it was actually spoiled or corked I would send it back. I just never knew that I should be prepared to deal with some bad attitudes. I hope my good luck (or bad nose) keeps going.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:29:31 PM
Jim, that’s a great experience! I’d love to see the neurons connect like that. I do agree that it’s becoming less of a problem to send wine back, but I think I’ve only had to return a bottle once, so maybe I’m not a good judge. More often (because I have three children and we end up in family restaurants a good bit of the time) I’m sending back a single glass that was poured from a bottle that was opened two months ago and left to turn to vinegar on the shelf. You have no doubts about it when you become a casualty of a faulty FIFO system. :) It’s unmistakeable, from the moment the glass gets even close to your nose. (I have an Italian nose, so it’s closer to the glass sooner). The first few times I had to send a glass back, I got an offended sniff, and “maybe you would prefer a sweeter wine. Something white.” (I’m a girl . . .so obviously I must prefer sweet, white wine, right?. . .Something with a very long, German name!) Lately though, I’ve had more apologies and fewer condescending reactions. Especially of that sort.
Sometimes I wonder whether my husband has had a hand in changing those particular perceptions. When we do order a bottle and they immediately bring him the first swig, he always says, “give her the first taste–her palate is better.”
When he first started doing that–I was a little self-conscious and the sommelier plainly humoured him. Now though–neither of us bats an eye.
August 27th, 2007 at 1:46:47 PM
Forgive a novice, but is that why you are presented with the cork and a dash of wine in your glass? I always thought it was to see if there is too much sediment.
August 28th, 2007 at 10:27:50 AM
Hi Jim. Yes, the reason to sniff the wine is to see if anything obvious is wrong with it, and the most obvious and frequent problem is the “corky” smell. Seeing the cork itself, if it’s stamped with the winery name and harvest year, only confirms that you’re not being sold a counterfeit bottle or the wrong vintage. Some people sniff the cork, but it doesn’t tell you much about the wine. I’ve frequently had corky bottles where the cork looks and smells normal, and sometimes I’ve had extremely musty corks that indeed correlated with a musty wine. So there’s nothing conclusive.
August 28th, 2007 at 12:02:50 PM
Jim G–One wine enthusiast recommends feeling the bottle to make sure it hasn’t been stored too warmly. But since that’s one of the things you’ll find out anyway as soon as you take that first taste, it seems like wasted effort to me. I can’t imagine feeling the bottle and then refusing it unopened–although maybe that would be better in the long run as far as the sommelier is concerned. ?