The Auswine Forum

Hi Good Peoples,

Some wineries just go that bit further to keep their customers happy. Wirra Wirra is one of them!

About a week ago, I opened up my last 1996 RSW and it was corked. I emailed the winery that night; recieved a phone call the next day with an apology, and they told me they would replace it with another 1996 RSW from their museum stock! The wine was here by Friday too.

Bloody well done Wirra Wirra. Service doesnt come any better.

Very good, always nice to hear stories along these lines.

It's not a new policy with Wirra Wirra either, they had a big problem with corks in the 94 RSW. After striking 3 corked bottles in 12 of the 94 I contacted the winery in August 2001 and they admitted they had noticed from their own museum stock that they had a dud batch of corks in the 94, replaced the 3 corked bottles and swapped my remaining 3, all with the 98 vintage.

I'm not trying to be a smarty pants but do you think you and Brian get really really good service from wineries in general (not specifically Wirra Wirra) because of your websites?

ie: Would I expect to get the same response if I rang a winery that you would?

Again, not trying to be a smart alec or to knock Wirra Wirra at all.

Ratty,

Thats a perfectly reasonable question. In this case, I sent the email from my "Animal Magnetism" account and signed it Ric. They had no idea who I was, and judging by the reaction when I gave my second name and the conversation we had, they did not know about me or torbwine, although I did send them an email to thank them ..... and correct that!

Ratcatcher wrote:I'm not trying to be a smarty pants but do you think you and Brian get really really good service from wineries in general (not specifically Wirra Wirra) because of your websites?

ie: Would I expect to get the same response if I rang a winery that you would?

Again, not trying to be a smart alec or to knock Wirra Wirra at all.

RC, no problems with the question. I only started my web site a bit over a year ago, so the original WW service was well before then. Besides, I'm not remotely as well-known to wineries as Ric is.

I started getting really serious about chasing up corked/oxidised/bretty etc wines about 5 years ago when I realised how much money I was pouring down the drain.
I think you will get similar service from most wineries if you:
. approach the wineries politely;
. explain the exact symptoms of the problem;
. have the bottle/contents available to send back if they want;
. preferably have the original cork with any symbols/codes and be ready to quote codes from the bottle in more recent bottlings.

I also keep my purchase receipts for quite a long time, this helps if it's a more recent purchase, I just take them back to where I bought them, or contact the e-tailer for a credit. If you deal regularly with good retailers you will also get good replacement service from them, although you may have to ask for a manager in some shops where some of the staff don't have much training/experience with faults in wine.

There have been a few instances from smaller "premium" makers who have refused to honour their obligations under the TPA, they usually get savagely hounded on various Oz forums until they see the light or lose enough regular customers to change their mids. Ric and I used to buy a reasonable amount of Chapel Hill wines, until Pam Dunsford refused to replace some corked wine. I believe the policy has (long) since changed, but I haven't bought Chapel Hill wines since, must be time I at least gave them a try again.

If you are sure the wine is faulty, it is your right to get a suitable replacement, some wineries have enough museum stock to replace with the same vintage, usually it will be current vintage though and you can argue whether the current vintage is a suitable replacement for an older wine, sometimes you will get a bonus bottle of the same or a different wine to make up the value.

Worth mentioning that Rockford have been great to me in the last 2 months. First a 1996, then a 1998, both corked, and both replaced with the same vintage, in the same week. While I am sure that being a Stonewaller helped, there are other much larger companies that have left me disappointed by comparision

Ratty,

I don't have a website and am probably totally unknown to all but a very few wineries which are owned or operated by friends.

I have always contacted wineries when I have had faulty wines, that is faulty not wines that I don't like, and have never had a problem with a replacement, ever.

Use the polite approach, explain the symptoms of the fault as smelt or tasted by you, and let them do the rest.