Ali and I attended the Champagne Tasting at The Wine Club on Friday. This was the first Friday tasting I've been to. They are scheduled to run from 4PM-7PM. We arrived a little after 6PM

Here's the line-up they had:

Elexium $25
Le Noble $31
Roederer Estates $22
Mailly $44
Moet Brut Impertal Rose $45
Laurent Perrier $53
1999 Veuve Cliquot Reserve $60
Moet White Star $32
Moet Brut Imperial $36
1998 Dom Perignon $115
1996 Veuve Cliquot Grand Dame $90
Krug Grand Cuvee $100
Moet Nectar Imperial $45

The price for the tasting was $30, which works out at the average cost of a half bottle of all the wines. That seemed like a very fair deal.

Unfortunately it appears that demand outstripped supply. As a result we didn't get to taste any of the ones highlighted in red; also the two highlighted in blue weren't chilled. The actual value of the wines we tasted was almost half that advertised. Something I found particularly annoying was a few people re-tasted the Dom and the Krug; the bottles ran out while we were sampling the Roses. This included a guy in a Wine Club shirt who took the last half glass of the Krug.

We went to a similar tasting at a local wine shop a few weeks ago. They ran out of the '96 Grande Dame before we got a chance to try it, so they refunded the entire tasting fee (which was only $10/person, iirc).

Dave,

I hope you expressed you disappointment.

I would write a short letter expressing (without anger) how disappointed you were. I would just say the exact same thing you have posted here. There is certainly no harm that could come from doing so and we'll see what they say and in someway rectify the situation. They'd be crazy if they didn't.

And the [censored] employee who drank the last glass of Krug is something that I can't believe it happened it is so stupid. I would definitely say something about that and if possible name names if not at least describing him. I can't believe they want someone this stupid and inconsiderate working for them.

If you pay you should get to play. They need to keep opening bottles until every person who paid to taste tasted each wine. That's lame.

Vociferously complain at length.

But... in my opinion one gets their point across a lot easier with honey rather than vinigar.

Absolutely! - it's all in the delivery. <she says in a honeyed voice> Of course if someone shorts me champagne I might have a different delivery.

I didn't complain then - everyone seemed busy and we had 7:15 reservations at Parcel 104.
I sent the following email to them. I'll let you know what happens:


Alex,

I'm writing to tell you how disappointed I was with the Champagne tasting on Friday.
We arrived a little after 6PM and paid for two tastings. Here's the list of wines:

(as above)

By the time we got to them, none of the five wines in red were available. The first three had already gone; the last two were finished while we were tasting the roses. The ones in blue were available, but had just been opened and were not chilled (which is to a degree understandable, but frustrating). It was particularly annoying to see people who had arrived before us re-tasting the Dom and Krug - including one members of staff who took the last half glass of the Krug.

From tastings I've attended in the past you appear to base the tasting price on the average cost of a half bottle, which for this tasting should have been close to $30. The average cost of a half bottle of the wines that we were actually poured was less than $15.

I found it most annoying that when we arrived both the Dom Perignon and the Krug Grand Cuvee were still being poured but those were finished off by people who had already tasted them. In future you might ask the people pouring to ensure that there is sufficient wine to serve the people who have paid but have not been served before they allow people to re-taste.

Tactfully worded.

I've found a new tactic that helps with the Wine Club's tastings. I post the notice on the fridge for a few weeks before so I can mentally prepare for the following:

1. The 15 'Miles' that will be there.
2. The pourer who would rather chat than pour.
3. The 2 staff members drinking behind the table and ignoring the paying customers
4. The 4 screaming children
5. The people who plant their arses in front of the table and won't move
6. Running out of 2-3 wines before I've tried them
7. The 3 morons parked in front of the dumb bucket
8. Did I mention the screaming children ages 2-5?
9. 1/2 the wines poured will not be available for purchase.
10. Having to listen to the 15 Miles trying to flirt with the pourer.

Saturday I hit 9 of the 10 above. They did have all the wines as advertised.

Also in an effort to not conform or be mistaken for Miles, I refuse to wear the following: Deck shoes, lofers, polo shirts, hawaiian shirts, or a Rolex. I actually prefer to come right from the vineyard with muddy boots and my cowboy hat.

3 more ads today. I can take a hint.

That's funny, I've tried numberous times to sign up for the email offers and have never been successful - I finally gave up.

Same story here Eric. I guess I'm glad.

Dave, I would give Alex a call.

Got a nice response from Alex today. He apologised and offered to comp our next tasting, which is more than fair.

I would say it is fair but I wouldn't say "more than fair". Your time is worth alot and they wasted yours. But I say WTF. All I would have really wanted was an apology and you got more than that.

Randy,

I didn't make the screaming kid part up. Someone showed up with 4 kids under 6 years old. They were ok for about 90 seconds. Then #1 kid got fidgety and wanted to stand in front of the table. Then as mom was distracted tending to that one, #2 started to play 'chase' up and down the aisles. As kid #1 was dragged away from the table, he started to cry, which set # 3 to crying, and as dad chases #2 around the store, he starts to scream. That sends kid #3 running to see where the fun is and starts him to screaming too. Kid #4 is happily distracted in the tasting area playing with dirty glasses while chaos runs through the store. IT was just a few minutes for things to calm down, but then kid #2 returned to 'chase' which he mostly maintained for our remaing time there.

There used to be a "No One Under 21 Allowed" sign they put up during tastings, but that was not present on Saturday.

And I totally agree with your pouring size. I asked, then begged for them to pour less. I dumped probably 3/4 of the wine they poured us.

This is a huge problem for Stefania and I both. We pretty much just go to wine tastings to make purchasing choices or evaluate a producer, region, or some technical aspect of winemaking. More and more that's rare in a tasting room or commercial event. It's perhaps 90% people there to get hammered and have a good time. Nothing wrong with that, that's why we host parties, but I wish there was some good way to seperate out the two groups.