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.
I would also like to send a special thanks to Ben from www.vinotology.com for his guest editing services on this post.
Kevin – WineDudeOnline
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jimmy Parker and Ben Simons, Kevin Whitaker. Kevin Whitaker said: finally a new blog update: Your Tasting SUCKED! http://bit.ly/aA9Uym #wine #fail Thx to @vinotology for the assist! [...]
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by WineDudeOnline: finally a new blog update: Your Tasting SUCKED! http://bit.ly/aA9Uym #wine #fail Thx to @vinotology for the assist!…
Comment from email I received.
I’m with Lisa on this. You would have been better off to stay home and drink a bottle of Lisa’s vintage Barefoot, sitting on a Home Depot bucket in our driveway! I look forward to our next Whitaker Wine tasting…but don’t even THINK about opening a can of mixed nuts. That shit won’t fly with us!!
Kate
Oooooh, this makes my blood boil. Very pleased to see the winery return your email. I hope that wine shop wakes up. Competition is too stiff for this kind of fail.
Josh
Hello,
Great review of a wine tasting! I run a store that has the unfortunate distinction of having a similar name to the one reviewed, and we do wine tastings, even a Rombauer tasting from time to time.
I appreciated hearing your feedback from your experience, and agree with all your comments about wine stock and salt. I like the salami idea too!
To give the benefit of the doubt, sometimes it’s impossible to know how much of a product to bring in, and if your distributor channel isn’t flexible, it can mean a lot of headache and wallet-ache to misjudge. It’s a newbie mistake, I hope for your sake in your town that the folks get it right for future events.
If you’re ever up north in north Idaho, near Spokane, stop in for a wine tasting, we promise to pour generous helpings and have a good time. If you’re planning on coming, check our tasting event schedule here and let us know: http://www.corkjoy.com
Thanks,
Russell Mann
Enoteca – Fine Wine & Beer
Josh,
Yeah this made me fume so much. that is why i had to have Ben look it over to ensure that i wasn’t rambling too much or that i wasn’t too aggressive. It was nice that Kr responded so quickly and that it appears he may re-evaluate how his wines are represented in the future.
Kevin
Here is the follow up email that I received from the wine bar owner!
Kevin:
Thank you for sharing your insights. I sincerely apologize for the
‘negative’ experience you had at our recent Rombauer tasting. I would very
much like to discuss this further with you in person and refund your tasting
fee. Please give me a call at 480-xxx-xxxx
Thanks
Kevin Schirmer
Enotria
Russell,
Thank you for the business side insight. you make valid points about predicting the volume needed and possible distributor issues. I hope that they do get the “kinks” worked out, because I don’t want them to fail, just trying to give them honest feedback.
Kevin
Have you ever owned a wine bar or any business and had a client/customer come up to you and express their pleasure about your service, product, store? The feeling at the end of the day is one of ownership and pride.
Have you ever owned a wine bar or any business and had a client/customer come up to you and express their displeasure about your service, product or store? It’s challenging, however if given the opportunity face to face or even via the phone to correct the situation, most clients/customers are reasonable and resolution is achieved. The feeling at the end of the day is still one of ownership and pride.
All of this goes with the territory of owning a business as many of us know.
Now, have you ever owned a wine bar or any business and had a customer not express displeasure face to face to you or at the very least via the phone and they place a very descriptive blog on a website stating “Your wine tasting sucked”? And not had the opportunity to discuss the displeasure or resolve the situation? And in addition to the “sucky title” of the blog, they also stated “you should/will fail?”
Wow, in this economy, it takes all of us to work together and help everyone succeed. Talk like this will only tear one’s image, ownership and pride down, especially if the one “blogging” is not behind the scenes, trying to understand what is happening or standing in one’s shoes. Just as Russell stated, “If your distributor channel is not flexible, it can mean a lot of headache and wallet-ache.” It is truly a rare endeavor for a small wine store to score one of K.R. Rombauer III’s stature and at a short moment’s notice. Such a short notice, as you saw, by your statement of going to 3 different stores to locate the wine you liked, clearly shows you the lack of supply of this nature. And this is clearly what happened. However, you wouldn’t have thought of that. It was more about the pour and what was not happening to your expectations. Did you once, pull the owner aside to discuss this with him? It takes a big person to stop, think, talk and respond accordingly rather than one who will shoot from the hip without clearly receiving all of the facts and start negatively stating information or as I call is reacting. I really believe that you owe the owner an apology. He did contact you and extend a full refund to you and the opportunity to discuss it further with you. Has that occurred so that you can inform us all what really happened? It takes a big person to do that.
Let’s stop negatively expressing our opinions about things and see how positive thoughts and opinions can affect our day to day activities and how that will make changes for the better.
Kevin, you clearly have “Credentials” in this area, otherwise you wouldn’t have a website with the opportunity of being challenged. So why don’t you use those “Credentials” to positively impact business’. Everyone has a bad day, a challenge or an obstacle to overcome. I’m sure you have too. However, if you had someone bogging about you and your challenges, I’m sure you would be upset, angered, etc. Kevin, you weren’t harmed, albeit a bit inconvenienced, you didn’t die over this, and you probably, I’m guessing, still have a roof over your head, and clearly have the opportunity to speak your mind. However, don’t do it at the expense of someone else. It just shows how immature you are. And from a reader’s point, I have no respect for someone, who clearly can’t or won’t go up to the owner and have a frank discussion about their incident.
It’s not all about you, nor is all about me. Cutting one person down to benefit yourself is just not cool. Kevin, it’s time to grow up and learn how the real world moves.
Kevin,
After reading your rant about the KR Rombauer tasting at Enotria and your absolutely caulis lambasting of the owner, Kevin I found myself thinking how much YOUR article truly sucked. First you state, “I’m not sure whose oversite this was…” and then proceed to condemn the owner on every detail without obviously researching all the facts. Since I was at that same tasting, and most tastings the store puts on, I am very familiar with how this new owner has shown, that even in a struggling economy a wine store can do fairly well if there are steps taken to improve as you go along. And improve he has even from the previous owner who I visited as well. But that is not the point. The point is, if you’re not sure about what goes on behind the scenes (and there was more than just the owner involved in this and most tastings —- even as noted in Mr. Rombauer’s response where he states he “should monitor the amount ordered for tasting events”. And, as Russell, an actual wine store owner, noted “To give the benefit of the doubt, sometimes it’s impossible to know how much of a product to bring in, and if your distributor channel isn’t flexible, it can mean a lot of headache and wallet-ache to misjudge”—Less you forget that Enotria did offer to order the wine for you? You were not ignored and you were not taken advantage of. What if you wanted to order several cases of the wine? I doubt any store would have enough stock of every wine, even at a designated tasting, to sell as much as they’d like to everyone.) Secondly, I’m not sure if you were just focused on your nuts but there were platters of several types of cheeses with bread etc at nearly every table and on the bar. This has been with every tasting I’ve been to there. It was interesting that you stated you thoroughly enjoyed the Frank Family tasting—I did as well, and other than a stock issue with this tasting, the owner, distributor and wine maker together presented a very pleasant evening. I also didn’t feel it was unorganized. There were three people pouring and my glass as well as my five guests and the very large table of nearly nine others all had been taken care of in a very timely manner. It was busy; there were a good number of people, all of which were drinking at different rates. One of my guests was behind a glass but didn’t act like an ass because he didn’t have the next glass with everyone else.
As mentioned I have had the pleasure of several tastings at Enotria, both with the wine and the service. And as a business owner myself I know it is a daily challenge, especially in this economy, to please everyone all the time. Kevin has shown me and all of my guests on that evening and other events where I’ve entertained there, that he is willing to do what it takes, especially as a new owner, to give you value at a fair price and an enjoyable experience. No doubt there will be good days and not so good days owning any type of business — However, here is the part that really pisses ME off — for you to tell someone that “they’re in the wrong business and probably will/should fail” is absolutely rude and uncalled for, even if you didn’t have that great of an evening. Why in the world would anyone ever say that to someone who knows nothing more about them then a couple of wine tastings? You my friend, as you state in number 2 of your final thoughts, ARE sorry. Did you think to critique the Frank Family tasting and say something positive about your evening? At that time would you say he should fail for that performance? Well, here’s a critique about your perspective, better yet, my final thoughts. Learn to be decent and address your concerns like an adult. The wine maker did and Enotria’s owner did as well.
I’ll continue to support Enotria and the “newbie’s” good efforts both on good days and not so good days. Perhaps you have forgotten what the “experience” is all about — wine is for enjoying and finding the good, not wishing ill will on someone’slivelihood.
DJ
Meant to comment on this earlier. I recognize that we consumers aren’t always aware of everything that is going on “behind the scenes”, but bad customer service is bad customer service. As a business owner you have to go the extra mile to make sure that your customers have an experience that exceeds their expectations. A little better planning could have completely changed the course of that evening, and could have resulted in some additional sales.
Were you there Ben? Did you actually experience the customer service? I believe that Kevin Whitaker was discussing the fact that he didn’t receivce an approapraite amount of pour and that he couldn’t take bottles of wine home at the event. No one mentioned customer service. Again,let’s stop the negativity! Take some action and discuss it with the owner at the time it happens. Otherwise, I guess you can stop complaining.
You’re missing the point Ben. Kevin Whitaker had an opportunity to talk with the store owner the eveing of the event and discuss his displeasure but apparently hadn’t. Secondly, he could have picked up the phone and spoke about this earth shattering subject. But more importantly the presentation of his “rant” could have been more objective rather than subjective and personal. He enjoyed one tasting just fine and had no issues with the owner’s performance — but now on this tasting he pulled out all the stops and chose language less than kind. I was one of the last people out of the store that evening and I witnessed most people personally expressing to the owner and wine maker how much they enjoyed the wine and the event. Kevin Whitaker is one person and one opinion who is enjoying his site to seem all important. In time his opinion and one dude’s perspective will fade away. Certainly people will have an off day or make mistakes but is it really that important to use language which suggests the owner shouldn’t be in business at all? I think not. Kevin Whitaker is conflicted and it appears not “big enough” to admit he’s gone too far with his words. Question Ben? Were you there that evening? And if you “recognize that we consumers aren’t always aware of everything that is going on behind the scenes” then how do you know any better planning could have changed that evening? I’m guessing you didn’t and you don’t so “there’s your sign”.
DJ,
I think you and your wife are missing the point. As you pointed out “In time his opinion and one dude’s perspective will fade away.” That may be true but, experiences and opinions are subjective and personal and I am choosing to “voice” mine. I am glad that you both had a positive experience at that event. My wife and I did not walk away with the same feeling that you and your wife did. Could I have used a softer, more gentle approach so I wouldn’t have hurt anyone’s feelings? Looking back, sure I could have. However, that doesn’t change the way I feel and I stand by thoughts. After going back and reading over the post a couple more times I have changed a couple of points for clarification purposes. Like the mixed nuts comment. I did note that those were not present at the tasting event but during regular visits that i have made to the wine store. As for reaching out to the owner, I have contacted him and tried to get a mutually agreeable time to discuss this. however at this point in time it doesn’t appear that will happen at least for a couple of weeks.
Kevin,
I don’t think I am missing the point. I believe that you are missing the point. The point is, you never reached out to the owner at the precise moment of your displeasure. You slandered a local wine bar and the owner via a website and Face book (All publicly), instead of bringing your “thoughts you stand by” to his attention directly. Do you go to a restaurant and have a horrible dinner then blog about it? No you ask to speak to a manager. You give them the opportunity to resolve or discuss the matter with you. Your “thoughts you stand by” and “voice” so clearly are perfectly fine. Not to the world when you haven’t tried to address them at the time they are happening. That is the point! And the fact that you called it a rant and now after having some comments have gone back and changed the first original blog, answers my question. You should never go back after the fact and now want to talk to the owner. I too own a business and if I have displeasure over something, I reach out to the owner/manager/supervisor, etc. This is the right way to handle any situation that occurs. We would love to hear the outcome of this via the website as well as Face book, however more importantly, I believe that an apology publicly should still be warranted. Your manner of handling your thoughts was not the right way. I do not believe that the owner harmed you in a manner to warrant that kind of behavior. He wasn’t even aware of your displeasure. In fact, I belive he didn’t deserve this blog at all! It takes a big person to admit wrong doing and express that. A recant sure would be more applicable than stating someone is missing the point. The point is an apology is necessary publicly!
I do believe that having available product from a tasting is part of customer service. It is a bad customer experience to be at a tasting and then when you go to purchase the wines represented at the tasting, there aren’t any available. I don’t even feel like I am attacking this business, just saying that better planning/execution could have avoided the kind of issues experienced here.
Your point was not missed DJ, I simply didn’t see your comment. I don’t remember seeing it (or Colleen’s) when I posted, although your comment clearly was made before mine. My mistake. The fact is, there are two different questions being discussed here, and both may have merit. I was still involved in discussing the post, while you were discussing the poster. I think it’s certainly a valid conversation that Kevin should have gone to the owner first before posting this, and maybe he would if he had it to do over again. I am also a blogger, and I know that we sometimes have a tendency to post first and ask questions later. Still, when it comes to the actual content of the post, it seems like the most legitimate criticism of what Kevin wrote has to do with the title. Other than a somewhat inflammatory title, Kevin gave very specific examples of what he didn’t like about the event, and what could be done to provide a better experience. Sure, they are his personal opinions, but they seem like generally reasonable suggestions to me.
In short, I think that it is a good idea to go directly to the owners to talk about these things, but in the world that we live in, business owners have to go above and beyond to EXCEED customer expectations, because it is easy for someone (right or wrong) to quickly disseminate a review of an experience on tools like Twitter and blogs. This is the current business climate, and business owners have to be aware of that fact. Maybe Kevin could have taken a different approach, but he still would have given a negative review to the event, because he had a negative experience.
Colleen,
I clarified some points. And yes i do blog about it if I have a bad dinner. I am under NO OBLIGATION to speak to anyone at any given time. I also never said he harmed me rather that I was unhappy with the event/service. As for being a big person and admitting wrong, I already stated that I could have used a gentler approach but do not take that as me saying I was wrong! Also, here are a couple of suggestions so maybe this wont happen in the future: If you know that you do not have sufficient product on hand for an event, let the customers know in advance. Maybe put it on the printed order sheet that due to limited stock we will be unable to sell X,Y, or Z bottles here at the store. Maybe have the owner/representative tell the customers due to late notice we were not able to get a sufficient amount of stock on hand or that the this was all that we could get from the distributor on such short notice. as a business owner you try to do everything possible to minimize opportunities for unhappy customers.
Ben,
Thanks for discussing this as a normal individual. The fact is, unforeseen circumstances happened due to the distributor the day of the event. Now what would have you done two hours prior to the event? He did the best he could do, and if only “one wine dude” had a bad experience, then I say that he was successful with a huge challenge presented to him hours before the event. Again I go back to what Russell stated earlier on, paraphrased. You are only as strong as your weakest link…. that being the distributor. Kevin did exceptionally well under the circumstances. Now can we all give the guy a break and perhaps in this date and time in the state of our economy have a heart? Kevin was brash and again shot from the hip. Everyone has challenges. It takes a human to stop think and realize that there are underlying circumstances. Everyone at the wine tasting did their best to make sure that everyone was taken care of knowing that they were in a challenging situation, even calling in back up employees to help. That to me speaks volumes. He was making the effort to EXCEED customer service knowing that he could have a negative reaction. Negative experiences happen all the time, however all I am saying is that everyone needs to stop….. think….. and then respond…… I understand the statement about bloggers. However it is very difficult to take back the spoken word and then when all of the questions are answered, damage has been done. We all need to stop and think about the consequences about shooting from the hip.
Again, thanks for the calm and rational discussion.
Ben,
Thank you and your points are well taken. Looking back I probably would have approached it differently. You are also correct that, whether I had approached the owner while he was still hosting the event or not, I still had a negative experience and thus wrote a negative review. I do think that we are debating two different aspects of this post. Colleen and her husband DJ are arguing the manner in which I handled/presented rather than the shortcomings and subsequent suggestions.
Colleen, I appreciate your comments as well. As you have pointed out, I wasn’t attending the event, so this is an almost purely academic conversation for me. I’m interested in the general issues of both blogging and customer service, so this conversation has been very insightful. I really only have one last point on this.
While I do understand all of your comments regarding the courtesy of addressing issues privately with the business owner, part of what us bloggers do is review products and establishments. Maybe Kevin could have used gentler language in his review, but he still would have given a negative review of the experience on his blog. I question the integrity of bloggers who only ever give positive reviews. What is the purpose of that, and how would it be of use to a reader? None of us uniformly has a positive experience with every wine we drink, every meal we have, or every event we attend. As bloggers, we sometimes have to post negative reviews. We can try to be diplomatic with those reviews, but ultimately they will still be negative.
What I have learned from this conversation is that we should also make sure that we gather as much information as possible so that we can provide an explanation for the experience we had. Maybe it would have been useful to know what caused the business to be short of stock for the event. Was this a problem that just cropped up at the last minute, or was it a result of poor planning? Some of this information could be acquired in a conversation with the owner, which is another reason why it would make sense to speak to him/her prior to posting.
Thanks again for the good conversation, I know that this has given me some things to think about.
Kevin,
Well, if you were the only one unhappy, then I guess Kevin was successful in his wine tasting. You can’t please all of the “wine dudes” all the time. Knowing how many people that were there, the percentage of happy customers was 99.9%. Not a bad percentile. And I guess the rest of the people that were there were very understanding. That says a lot about the individuals that support Kevin’s wine store.
Sorry you had such a negative experience. Maybe your expectations were set too high. You know this isn’t Napa. Maybe redefining your expectations would be one way to avoid your displeasure in the future. Don’t expect and therefore you will not be disappointed.
I hope that after you have discussed this with the owner you are able to post positive notes about the store. Again using such a medium to bring attention to positive places is supporting all local business. I’m sure other wine stores would appreciate it. They all, even though they are in competition, do support each other. Again, this blog was just one person “whining” about something he didn’t have the guts to bring to the owners attention. Just be careful about blogging such harsh words especially about the “should/would failure” of an individual. Someone could take that as slander. And again as I mentioned to Ben, once the words are spoken, the damage is done. I would hope that you would not be a damaging individual, especially all in the name of a glass of wine. After all it’s just grape juice. The importance of this whole conversation is really not as important as what you have given. Yes a gentler approach would have been much better. Especially directed at the owner not for the world to read. You are damaging business for him. And that is not a fair! Think before speaking. That’s the point I am making here Kevin. It is easier to speak about negative things, and the good positive remarks are never broadcasted. Don’t damage someone’s business just because you didn’t take the approach to speak to the owner. There was no malicious intent directed towards you.
Colleen,
Your points are well taken and as I already told Ben, every situation presents us with an opportunity to learn. It is called growth.
thanks
Kevin
Ben,
Thanks for understanding! That’s the best thing I have heard all day. You have made my day! As a business owner, I too have learned a thing or two regarding this posting. I own two companies and therefore am on the end of the supplying of products and services to the general public. So, I completely understand Kevin (the owner’s) dilemma. I believe in what I saw and heard, he did the best under the circumstances. I respect him for that. No one wants to be in that kind of situation. It was just salt on an open wound to have someone rake him and the store over the coals, when a simple conversation could have sufficed. Did it need to broadcasted so negatively, I don’t think so. Criticism is one thing as a review, however when it borders on ranting then the whole point is lost. Reviews are perfect negative or positive, however if done in a diplomatic way, damage is minimal and the store could then learn from the comments. The emotion in the critique was very overwhelming.
Again, thanks for the valuable information and frank discussion. Have a great Friday
I would agree with Kevin’s comments. If you participate in a wine tasting you have certain expectations that need to be upheld by the wine bar. I would like to purchase a full glass after the wine tasting is complete so you can enjoy the wine that you found most appealing during the wine tasting, along with being able to purchase a few bottles that you would liked at the time of service. It is critical to be able to purchase at least a few bottles so you can get your discount and enjoy some of the wines that you liked during the tasting. The wine bar needs to be more consumer friendly. I think if I had experienced this bad service I would NOT go back to that wine bar again. There are plenty of other wine bars out there.