Now that I have your attention, let me explain.
I recently attended a tasting hosted at Enotria, one of my local wine shops, which was having KR Rombauer III pouring his family’s wine. My wife and I have visited the winery once or twice and thought that it would be nice to meet one of the owners and taste some good wines. So here is where I start ranting. I, like most wine drinkers, try to support my local retailers as much as possible. But I have a hard time doing that if the owners will not help themselves or do stupid things. Enotria used to be owned by another group of owners and had small but faithful following because they had a great wine selection, knowledgeable staff and the place had good atmosphere. The new owners opened the store again and unfortunately have nothing in common with the old place except the name. Most of the wine they carry would only be found on the bottom shelf at your local grocery store. I get the idea of trying to have inexpensive wines that everyone can afford, but they may have three or four medium level wines in the entire shop. Because of this, I have been reluctant to go in the wine bar very often. I recently received some emails, they bought the old owners mailing list, inviting me to some wine tasting events they were hosting. The first tasting was Frank Family Vineyards which was being poured by the winemaker Todd Graff. We had been meaning to try some of the FFV wines so thought that this would be an excellent opportunity for us to do so. We went and had a great time and loved the wines so much that we bought some and had the winemaker sign them for us.
This leads me to my “Your Tasting SUCKED!” segment. Seeing that the turn out for the previous tasting was so good and that we enjoyed ourselves as much as we did, we decided that we would attend the Rombauer Vineyards tasting that was being held this past Saturday. So, we RSVP’d as requested, paid our $15 tasting fee each ($5 off that going towards the purchase of your first bottle not a bad deal) and set about tasting the four wines that were being poured. First of all, Kevin (owner) was pouring less than you get in most tasting rooms in Napa. Second, because there was no organization it was taking forever to get through the tasting and some customers were getting skipped over all together. Finally after about an hour and a half we had gotten through all 4 wines, which by the way may have only equaled half a glass total. We did like a couple of the wines and decided that we would buy some and have KR sign the bottles for us. Here is the part that really pisses me off! After the last wine had been poured, I immediately went up to the counter to purchase the Chardonnay and Zinfandel only to be told that they didn’t have any on hand but we could order it. I look around and realize that including what they poured for the tasting, they may have brought in a total of just over a case of wine. Why in the world you would do this I do not know! Needless to say we left very aggravated. Because we wanted the wine so much we ended up having to drive to 3 different wine shops before we could find the wine, which ended up costing us less than what the wine bar wanted to charge us.
I don’t feel that this was a reflection of any kind on Rombauer wine or KR. I did want to make my thoughts and feelings known to him so I sent him an email explaining my experience. My email and his subsequent reply follow;
KR,
My Wife and I had the pleasure of meeting you at a recent wine tasting
you held/hosted here in Scottsdale. I just wanted to touch base with you
and offer my feedback. Let me start off by saying that we had a great
time and thoroughly enjoyed meeting you and tasting your wines.
Unfortunately, we did have a negative experience as well. The event was
hosted at Enotria this past weekend (3/27/2010). After tasting the four
samples being poured, we were very excited to purchase 2 bottles each of
the Chardonnay and the Zinfandel which we were going to have one of each
signed by you only to be told by the bar staff that there was none
available.
Needless to say my wife and I were extremely disappointed. Because we
had liked the wine so much, we proceeded to drive to 3-4 different wine
stores to find them. I am not sure who’s oversight this was, but I just wanted
to let you know what we thought.
Sincerely,
Kevin
Hello Kevin,
Thank you for coming to the wine tasting at Enotria in Scottsdale. I had a great time pouring and talking about our wines. I am glad you enjoyed my chatter and the wines. I must apologize for the shortage of wine. Usually, when we do these sort of tastings the distributor sales person and the retail owner figure out how much wine they should bring in for the event. Perhaps, there was something lost in the communication channel. Regardless of the circumstances, I apologize for any inconvenience the shortage caused you and your wife. I will make sure in the future that I monitor the amount ordered for wine tasting events much closer.
Thank you for your helpful comments. Sincerely, KR Rombauer. [cell
707-484-XXXX]
Final Thoughts for Enotria:
1. If you are going to host a wine tasting, ensure that you have a sufficient amount of wine on hand to sell afterward!
2. I am sorry, but if I go to a tasting and find a wine that I really like, I want to buy it and take it with me, not order it and have to wait god knows how long to get it!
3. If you don’t have enough wine for customers to buy after the tasting so they are unable to use the $5 credit, you are RIPPING THEM OFF!
4. NOTE* this is during normal visits, not during the wine tastings i have attended. * I know that you don’t have a kitchen in order to offer food, but opening a can of SALTY ASS MIXED NUTS doesn’t cut it! In fact, the salt ruins the taste of the wine.
5. Note* Again, this is during regular business, not during the tastings.* In lieu of previous mentioned “NUTS”, you could offer salami and cheeses. It can be done, previous owners did it!
6. Dimming the lights too low and having a local radio station on in the background it not ambiance.
7. Finally, the aforementioned “thoughts” are merely my observations & opinion from a handful of visits and are offered to highlight possible areas for improvement/growth.
Have you ever had a negative experience like this or know of a wine shop/bar that doesn’t deliver as expected? Please share your thoughts and comments.