The Auswine Forum

Hi ordered a couple bottles of Kooyong chardonnay today due to a DMs special and was expecting 2016s but got 2018s. It was one of those ones where there is an asterisk saying it may be a different vintage and 2016 wasn't explicitly in the product title.

Do you typically ask for a refund or is it just the luck of the draw?

I did buy a couple Cristal bottles once that were supposed to be 07s and they were 08s, so no complaints there!

Hi, you could always call first, or indeed exchange or refund.
Cheers craig

Tried that and they said it's not guaranteed to the that vintage but I could exchange if a local store has it. This one has better reviews/descriptions than the 2016, so I may just keep it.

If it said '2016 Kooyong' then I would. Otherwise it's luck of the draw, they usually only have high end wines with specific years.
e.g. 2016 389

Yes it was listed as 2016 in the vintage detail section with asterisk, but not in the product name. It was less than $30.

Nick Wine Guy wrote: It was one of those ones where there is an asterisk saying it may be a different vintage

I think you answered your own question right there.

I had a similar experience recently with Pewsey Vale Riesling (which I buy a dozen of every year). I ordered a dozen of the vintage specified on the website (2018) and got a couple of 2017 and 2016 mixed in. I suspected this might happen, so I queried it at the time, and left the older vintages there. The missing bottles were replaced with 2018 within a few days.

Nick Wine Guy wrote:Tried that and they said it's not guaranteed to the that vintage but I could exchange if a local store has it. This one has better reviews/descriptions than the 2016, so I may just keep it.

That seems a reasonable response, though I would also hope that they would offer refund at local store if not happy with the substitution. After all, this approach would allow them to replace a good vintage with a dog of a vintage - and if they pulled a stunt like that then I'd expect a full refund or it would be the end of me doing business with them.

I'll be happy in this case to keep the 18s and enjoy them. The Cristal mix up on their part was very lucky for me indeed. Likewise, I ordered a Penfolds Bin 16A once and got a 15A instead (no asterisk, this was a mistake) and kept it, given they were both the same price and the 15A sounded like a better vintage/was one more year aged.

Nick Wine Guy wrote:Yes it was listed as 2016 in the vintage detail section with asterisk, but not in the product name. It was less than $30.

This is normal for most of their wines, it's a listing of just the wine and they will indicate what the current vintage is up to but having someone fulfil your order might mean you end up with mixed vintages due to what's on the shelf / storage. The regular bar codes don't accommodate vintages.

They do however have listings for specific vintages. In that case I'd be challenging.

Incidentally, I ordered three 2017 Penfolds 389's when ordered online for the current offer. I arrived and when I checked, they'd given me two and accidentally put in a 28.

Hi Redav,

Yes, all good - happy to keep the 18s as it would be more of a hassle to do an exchange and they should still be great wines.

I ordered a couple '17 389s and thankfully got the right ones - got an RWT, too, since it was on sale, as well.

Hopefully they don't go down further with Black Friday/Cyber Monday, but I assume not if they're already on sale.