Well, this weekend I had the Artiste Vanessa (white blend) mentioned in my last post with my Chicken Marsala. I thought it was pretty good with it….it had enough body to stand up to the creamy marsala sauce and to the alfredo sauce for the fettucine. I think I might mark the other bottle exclusively for Marsala use…..Lucy, what’d you think?
And, how sad I was that the 1999 Marsannay we had was bad...the one time the Luce's want to voluntarily drink Chardonnay and its turned! Darn you wine gods!
Showing posts with label darn you wine gods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label darn you wine gods. Show all posts
Monday, September 21, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Cursed customer service
Recently, Mr. Lush and I went to a winemaker dinner. I've had their wine before and enjoy them. The winemaker was fun, the wine was great, and the food was good. A good Lush time was had, so we signed up for the wine club, which sends things not available here in Lou.
Well, Friday the 13th my wine was sent to my house, which of course I wasn't there. I returned home to find the Info Notice on my door, called, and requested the wine be held for pick up that night. They called me and said to come after 7. I arrived at 8:30....and waited....and waited....until 9:45 when I was told, sorry, we don't know where your wine is and there's nothing we can do because I'm not the shipper.
A-W-E-S-O-M-E. That's exactly how I wanted to spend my Friday night - waiting for wine I wouldn't get.
So I leave, furious, and write an email to the wine club marketing manager. Long story short - I feel that I deserved a little something from them. It wasn't their mess up, but they choose who to ship through and they are the ones who have recourse to get shipping fees back. I don't have either option. I didn't want a lot....half of my shipping charge ($8) back, or a bottle of their merlot (on sale for $12) included in my next shipment. She can't give me back my lost Friday night, nor my valentine's day without the wine we wanted, but she could've given me something to say, hey, we're sorry, we value you as a customer and let me make it up to you.
But no. She told me "you are free to resign from our club without penalty".
So I did. But not before I wrote an email stating why I was cancelling - solely because of her lack of customer service. (and bcc'd the winemaker)
Maybe it was omen-getting my wine on Friday the 13th it was destined to be cursed??
I don't know if its unreasonable to expect a little something, I don't think so, but feel free to weigh in with your thoughts.
***note, I did actually get the wine, on Monday. UPS just didn't know where it was that night***
Well, Friday the 13th my wine was sent to my house, which of course I wasn't there. I returned home to find the Info Notice on my door, called, and requested the wine be held for pick up that night. They called me and said to come after 7. I arrived at 8:30....and waited....and waited....until 9:45 when I was told, sorry, we don't know where your wine is and there's nothing we can do because I'm not the shipper.
A-W-E-S-O-M-E. That's exactly how I wanted to spend my Friday night - waiting for wine I wouldn't get.
So I leave, furious, and write an email to the wine club marketing manager. Long story short - I feel that I deserved a little something from them. It wasn't their mess up, but they choose who to ship through and they are the ones who have recourse to get shipping fees back. I don't have either option. I didn't want a lot....half of my shipping charge ($8) back, or a bottle of their merlot (on sale for $12) included in my next shipment. She can't give me back my lost Friday night, nor my valentine's day without the wine we wanted, but she could've given me something to say, hey, we're sorry, we value you as a customer and let me make it up to you.
But no. She told me "you are free to resign from our club without penalty".
So I did. But not before I wrote an email stating why I was cancelling - solely because of her lack of customer service. (and bcc'd the winemaker)
Maybe it was omen-getting my wine on Friday the 13th it was destined to be cursed??
I don't know if its unreasonable to expect a little something, I don't think so, but feel free to weigh in with your thoughts.
***note, I did actually get the wine, on Monday. UPS just didn't know where it was that night***
Monday, November 17, 2008
Unexpected wine moments
Do you ever have those random unexpected wine moments? Ones that are either fantastic or slightly disappointing, but either way you learn something along the way? I’ve had a few in the past year. I’ve gotten to taste some wines I’d never buy but were curious about, such as Cristal (good but overrated), along with wines that were so good I wish I never knew about them because I’ll covet them forever (such as Viader and Stag’s Leap Cask 23), a bottle that the sulfur aroma was so strong decanting just made it worse, a box of 20+ year old Riesling that was suddenly offered to us, which was akin to apple juice at that point but interesting to taste, and one more this past weekend.
We were over at a friend’s house who doesn’t really drink much, particularly not wine, and he says “Hey, I’m glad you guys are here. I’ve some old red wine and want to know if its still good.” Now, Mr. Lush and I are weary of old wine owned by non-wine drinkers after the Reisling, but we say its red, so its got a shot. He opens a cabinet and shows us 4 bottles of French wine his dad gave him shortly before his death. At this point I’m more than just lightly curious. Of course, French wines can age and I’ve never had any old Bordeaux so I really want to taste them, but am sad that they are being stored in not optimal conditions (room temp now and no idea about the past), so its fairly likely they are bad, or on their way. There was a 1977 lower end “red grape wine” and a 1959 Grand Cru (I don’t remember the other two). He said lets open them. Well, ok, but we caution him that its unlikely they are in good condition, although the Grand Cru is probably the best shot, but does he want to open them with us? On a random Friday night? He states he just wants to open them, and if they are good, have someone who likes wine to enjoy them with. We oblige.
First up is the 1977: we peel off the label and see the top of the cork is basically soaked through and is sugary-looking. Not a good sign. Sure enough, we put the corkscrew in it and the cork falls right through. The wine has spoiled. Sadness sets over all of us. But he doesn’t give up, opening the 1959 Chateau Bouscaut Grand Cru. Well, the cork (which was really long) was fairly soaked all the way the way through, but was holding tight in the bottle and kept intact, so are hopeful when we smell-it smells like wine, not like funk or dirty feet or anything like that. We pour a glass. Sip. Hmm. Tastes….surprisingly ok. A real possibility. So, we pour a few glasses and let them sit for a bit. About an hour plus later, we drink. It was fairly good and the finish went on forever, although I’m sad to say we thought it was a bit past its prime. It hadn’t gone bad yet, but it was heading in that direction.
Yesterday I looked up information and there isn’t a ton of info except that that vintage was the last of the original Chateau because of a fire, but it was rebuilt. However, its clear based on pricing that the rest of the world agrees its past it prime. (Not readily available and recently $250+, it was reduced to $170.) So, even if it had been stored in optimal conditions, this particular wine wasn’t meant to last quite this many years. Either way it was an interesting experience because if a 49 year old Bordeaux that’s been stored in less than optimal conditions can still be drinkable, I have hopes and reasons to buy quite a few bottles on our trip next year and put them out of sight and out of mind for the next 25 years.
Cheers to unexpected wine moments- keep 'em coming, wine gods.
We were over at a friend’s house who doesn’t really drink much, particularly not wine, and he says “Hey, I’m glad you guys are here. I’ve some old red wine and want to know if its still good.” Now, Mr. Lush and I are weary of old wine owned by non-wine drinkers after the Reisling, but we say its red, so its got a shot. He opens a cabinet and shows us 4 bottles of French wine his dad gave him shortly before his death. At this point I’m more than just lightly curious. Of course, French wines can age and I’ve never had any old Bordeaux so I really want to taste them, but am sad that they are being stored in not optimal conditions (room temp now and no idea about the past), so its fairly likely they are bad, or on their way. There was a 1977 lower end “red grape wine” and a 1959 Grand Cru (I don’t remember the other two). He said lets open them. Well, ok, but we caution him that its unlikely they are in good condition, although the Grand Cru is probably the best shot, but does he want to open them with us? On a random Friday night? He states he just wants to open them, and if they are good, have someone who likes wine to enjoy them with. We oblige.
First up is the 1977: we peel off the label and see the top of the cork is basically soaked through and is sugary-looking. Not a good sign. Sure enough, we put the corkscrew in it and the cork falls right through. The wine has spoiled. Sadness sets over all of us. But he doesn’t give up, opening the 1959 Chateau Bouscaut Grand Cru. Well, the cork (which was really long) was fairly soaked all the way the way through, but was holding tight in the bottle and kept intact, so are hopeful when we smell-it smells like wine, not like funk or dirty feet or anything like that. We pour a glass. Sip. Hmm. Tastes….surprisingly ok. A real possibility. So, we pour a few glasses and let them sit for a bit. About an hour plus later, we drink. It was fairly good and the finish went on forever, although I’m sad to say we thought it was a bit past its prime. It hadn’t gone bad yet, but it was heading in that direction.
Yesterday I looked up information and there isn’t a ton of info except that that vintage was the last of the original Chateau because of a fire, but it was rebuilt. However, its clear based on pricing that the rest of the world agrees its past it prime. (Not readily available and recently $250+, it was reduced to $170.) So, even if it had been stored in optimal conditions, this particular wine wasn’t meant to last quite this many years. Either way it was an interesting experience because if a 49 year old Bordeaux that’s been stored in less than optimal conditions can still be drinkable, I have hopes and reasons to buy quite a few bottles on our trip next year and put them out of sight and out of mind for the next 25 years.
Cheers to unexpected wine moments- keep 'em coming, wine gods.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Really old Reisling
A few weeks ago we had a garage sale to get rid of some of the pre-wedding handme downs. We didn’t have much of real value, most of it was junk, but junk that took up space. A lady purchased an old patio set asked us to deliver it, since she was just a few houses down. No problem, of course, so Mr. Lush takes off. He comes back with a large container of wines that she had from her father, and she doesn’t drink wines. Sounds very exciting right? The vast majority of it is Riesling from 1979-1986. Hmm. I have never had 20+year old Riesling before, but I thought it lasted a while and call Lucy to ask her. She had heard the same, but had never had one.
Curious, Mr. Lush and I open a bottle of 1982 Spatlese. (Spatlese refers to the level of sugar/sweetness in the wines) Hmm. Its awfully golden. That’s what happens to whites when it ages, right? Smell. Hmm. Smells like sauternes-ish. Probably not going to be very Reisling, right? Taste….sort of apple juice like. Not moldy apple juice or funky apple juice. Just apple juice like. Dang it. We tried a few more, one with the Luce’s, who thought the same thing. Dang it. After looking it up we see that Spatlese wines will keep for 5-10 years, maybe 15 in extraordinary years. The youngest wine we had was a 1986, so they will all probably be thrown down the drain. Of course, I’ll open them and taste, hoping that perhaps we had one bottle that magically managed to stay good, and will probably be disappointed that the wine acted just as it should’ve….it was past its time. It might’ve been fantastic in 1990, which is probably how long she’d had it, based on other bottles in the bin.
I could be mad at the Wine Gods again, but one bottle did have a lovely rendition of a tapestry of the wine gods in a garden, so I thought perhaps it was a sign that I shouldn’t be mad at them, since I'm collecting art wine labels.
Curious, Mr. Lush and I open a bottle of 1982 Spatlese. (Spatlese refers to the level of sugar/sweetness in the wines) Hmm. Its awfully golden. That’s what happens to whites when it ages, right? Smell. Hmm. Smells like sauternes-ish. Probably not going to be very Reisling, right? Taste….sort of apple juice like. Not moldy apple juice or funky apple juice. Just apple juice like. Dang it. We tried a few more, one with the Luce’s, who thought the same thing. Dang it. After looking it up we see that Spatlese wines will keep for 5-10 years, maybe 15 in extraordinary years. The youngest wine we had was a 1986, so they will all probably be thrown down the drain. Of course, I’ll open them and taste, hoping that perhaps we had one bottle that magically managed to stay good, and will probably be disappointed that the wine acted just as it should’ve….it was past its time. It might’ve been fantastic in 1990, which is probably how long she’d had it, based on other bottles in the bin.
I could be mad at the Wine Gods again, but one bottle did have a lovely rendition of a tapestry of the wine gods in a garden, so I thought perhaps it was a sign that I shouldn’t be mad at them, since I'm collecting art wine labels.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Darn you wine gods!
I hate disappointing wine experiences. Not when you unsuspectingly open what should be a perfectly good bottle and its gone bad/spoiled. That stuff happens sometimes, although I will say that we’re rather lucky and it hasn’t happened much. I mean when you purchase a bottle, maybe its expensive, maybe its not, but for whatever reason you have hopes that it will be good and then you open it….and its not what you hoped. The torture continues, as you hope that “it just needs some air” so after some vigorous “air” via swishing, decanting, aerating, etc, you taste again….and still, its just not that good.
This happened over the weekend. I picked up a bottle of Napa County Line, a merlot/cab blend that from Robery Sinskey, who I typically like. We were in Kansas City, so we took it back to the hotel and opened it up and it was just way too fruit forward, almost juice like, minus the sugar, of course. Air didn’t help, temperature change didn’t help. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good. And we had no other wine in the hotel to make up for it- we couldn't say c'est la vie and open something else. Instead we suffered through about half of it, then went about our evening. The next morning while packing, I looked at the bottle on the desk and I was almost sad. Like the bottle had let me down in some way. I angrily shook my fist in the air and said “darn you, wine gods, darn you!!”.
I didn’t really, but it made a good ending, didn’t it?
This happened over the weekend. I picked up a bottle of Napa County Line, a merlot/cab blend that from Robery Sinskey, who I typically like. We were in Kansas City, so we took it back to the hotel and opened it up and it was just way too fruit forward, almost juice like, minus the sugar, of course. Air didn’t help, temperature change didn’t help. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good. And we had no other wine in the hotel to make up for it- we couldn't say c'est la vie and open something else. Instead we suffered through about half of it, then went about our evening. The next morning while packing, I looked at the bottle on the desk and I was almost sad. Like the bottle had let me down in some way. I angrily shook my fist in the air and said “darn you, wine gods, darn you!!”.
I didn’t really, but it made a good ending, didn’t it?
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