Last week, we began a look at an all too common problem for those of us who enjoy a good bottle of wine: Getting one from a store or restaurant that just doesn’t taste right, or which could smell like moldy cardboard, gym socks, and “have all the appeal of drinking nail polish remover,” as Seal Beach wine expert Abbe Rabenn describes damaged wines.

Her comments were echoed by wine educator Kevin Simon, with the Conrad Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston. He has great sympathy for people who enjoy good wine and happen to live in “parts of the country where it can be summer six months of the year.”

“They’ve got a real problem, and that problem is the attitude of too many people in this industry who do indeed understand how fragile wine is, where and under what temperature conditions it should be stored, but they simply don’t care about the customer.

“Even with so much effort by wineries and distributors to educate retailers and restaurant owners on how to properly store wine, I am still amazed to find wine stored on window sills or in display cases with the sun beating down all day long. I have explained what sunlight and heat does to the wine — how it cooks it, and how that can never be reversed. Yet, when I return, nothing has changed,” Simon explained.

“You find restaurants that put wine on back bars, near refrigerators or bar equipment which vibrate and generates heat. A lot of home builders place wine racks underneath the cabinet above the refrigerator. Heat rising destroys the wine,” he added.

What the customer should do

“A customer does not have to accept wine which has been either cooked, corked, oxidized or over the hill.

“Cooked wine smells like over ripe fruit, almost burnt and will have an unpleasant taste, like burnt earth. Color can change, where reds look brown, and whites can look dark with brown stain. Corked wine smells like musty old books, wet cardboard, and when really bad, body odor or dirty sweat socks. This is the result of a bacteria called TCA which enters the wine through the cork.

“Oxidized wine has an off color and metallic taste. A faulty closure with too much oxygen invading the bottle is the reason. Over the hill wine is simply way too old — it should have been sold years earlier and will taste flat, no aroma.

“If any of these four issues are present, there is justification for sending the wine back. Any reputable restaurant with knowledgeable wine people there will recognize it is bad. They will know and should be apologetic,” he maintains.

You are not harming the retailer or restaurant

“Often, restaurant patrons or retail customers are either afraid to speak up, or worried that this will cause the business to lose money.

“But restaurants or retailers do not lose money on returned bottles. Product which is bad, unless caused by the retailer or restaurant, goes back to the distributor, and is either replaced or a credit is given,” Simon points out.

“It is important to realize that two things are in your favor when asking a waiter to bring you a different wine. First of all, even if the wine is OK, that bottle will be taken to the bar and sold by the glass, which brings far more profit to the establishment than single bottle sales. The restaurant can also use this bottle to help educate the staff to sell in the future.

“Secondly, it just shows that you are dealing with a responsible, professionally run business and you’ll probably be back.”

Both of the wine experts I spoke with wanted to underscore the importance of understanding the difference between wines objectively damaged or spoiled in some real way and those which we don’t like the taste of.

“Just because a wine wasn’t what you expected, this does not justify sending it back,” they stated.

Exceptions to the rule

So, does this mean that wherever I go, retailer or restaurant, that if I get a bad wine I can always send it back? No, not always.

There is one situation where it’s “buy at your own risk,” and even if it tastes like diesel fuel, it’s not going back and you’re going to pay the sticker price.

“Very old wines — special, rare collectibles — are typically sold without warranty, purchased with the full understanding of the risks involved. With these wines, the restaurant must make this clear on the menu, or wine list, in some prominent place.

“If they do, they’re off the hook,” wine professor Simon concluded.

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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“Your article about noisy restaurants really got my attention. That has been one of my pet peeves as well as ordering an expensive bottle of wine in a restaurant or buying one at a wine shop only to discover that it has been damaged due to improper storage.”

“I grew up in the Napa area and worked during the summers in the wine industry, so I know wine. After medical school in San Francisco, I moved to Fresno. In climates such as San Francisco, you can be fairly certain it will not be heat damaged. Here the chances of being, not just disappointed, but ripped off by sellers and restaurant owners who know better are very high.”

“Recently, my medical group invited a number of doctors to an upscale restaurant and ordered some fairly expensive wine. You cannot imagine the off taste so many bottles had, but more than that, the attitude of the staff was worse, denying anything was wrong, and not wanting to credit our purchase or just give us some other bottles. The wine was actually warm! Your column is very educational, and a lot of people – especially in hot parts of the country – have no idea they have probably purchased heat damaged or improperly stored wine. Dr. Whine.”

Is this wine or nail polish remover?

“It is truly very disappointing how many wine shops and restaurants improperly handle and store wine,” wine expert Abbe Rabenn of Seal Beach told me when we discussed my reader’s comments.

“When I hear someone tell me that they do not like wine, it’s not difficult to discover why; often they have been turned off by some of the bad tastes and odors, which can result from poor storage conditions, such as the smell of nail polish remover!”

“Typically, heat-damaged wine will have an unusual aroma. It could smell like wet cardboard or sweaty socks. It will not make you ill, but a severely damaged bottle will taste like you are eating spoiled fruit. Unless you know what properly cared for wine should taste like, you might wonder why anyone would ever want to drink this stuff,” she points out.

Why does storage matter so much?

“Wine is not like a bottle of soda. It is an amazing, evolving liquid. Wine should be thought of as perishable – just like fruit – and needs to receive proper care. That begins with temperature. Heat destroys wine, and it doesn’t take long to turn an expensive bottle of wine into something completely undrinkable. This can easily happen if the bottle is left in a hot car or in a wine store display case that is improperly placed facing direct sun,” Rabenn explains. She asks a question almost everyone can answer:

“How many times have you walked into a wine shop, supermarket or liquor store and seen bottles of wine, standing up, in pretty display cases facing a window? While it may look appealing, this is an invitation for disappointment and wasted money. You do not want direct sunlight on wine. It can prematurely age and oxidize the wine – actually bake it! Be careful of lovely displays near a window. Think of wine as if it was fruit – you would not want it sitting in direct sunlight.”

“Unfortunately, I have walked into many wine stores where the temperature is far too high and I leave. But, if you walk in a store and feel a little chill in the air, chances are good that the wine has been properly handled and stored,” she observes.

So, just what are the ideal storage conditions?

“There are several factors which are important, which I’m sorry to say, are often ignored by both retailers and many restaurants. Temperature, humidity, vibration and lighting are critical. A store or restaurant may purchase quality product, but when exposed to fluorescent lighting, the ultraviolet rays harm the wine, and that’s why most fine wine stores use old-fashioned incandescent lights. Ideal storage temperatures for red, white and sparkling wines is between 50 and 60 degrees. Fifty-five is fine.”

The customer’s rights

“It is important to point out that there is a difference between a truly bad bottle of wine, and one which you simply do not like. Before you buy, make sure to acquaint yourself with the store’s policy for return of defective bottles. Also, you should carefully inspect the bottle for defects, such as a broken seal, liquid dripping down the sides or a cloudy quality of the wine itself,” Rabenn concluded.

If you do get a bad bottle, both the retailer or restaurant has an obligation to make it right, and next week we’ll tell you how to make that happen.

Cheers!

Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield and enjoys hearing from his readers. Contact Dennis Beaver.

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