Returning Wine

[RAD]

Howdy all--

Back from a week in CA. Had a conference in Monterey/Carmel, then stayed a few days up in Napa/Sonoma. Will report on other aspects of Napa/Sonoma later, but I had an interesting experience that I wanted to ask everyone about.

My wife and I and another couple ate at Pacific's Edge restaurant in Carmel two consecutive nights. The first night, everything went wonderfully--great food, great wine, great service, great view (it is high on a hill overlooking the Pacific.)

The second night began superbly as our waiter from the night before brought us two complementary glasses of champagne while we waited for our guests. After looking over the menu, I decided we needed a red and a white (the restaurant serves several appetizer-sized portions, and we were having a variety of fish and beef). The wines I ordered were a 99 Kistler Les Nosoittiers Chardonnay and a 97 Arrowood Saralee's Vineyard Syrah. The former I'd had at a tasting before, and it was wonderful.

However, the syrah was problematic. This particular bottling is a wine with which I'm very familiar, as I've bought several bottles at various visits at the winery, and I've ordered it in restaurants several times since (when I could find it). The sommelier presented the bottle, then took it away to decant it, then brought back the carafe and poured me a taste. It just didn't seem right, and I said a little something (don't remember exactly what), but accepted it and he poured some for everyone, but we basically were just letting it sit, waiting for the meat dishes, and drinking the Kistler.

I thought perhaps maybe it needed to open up. By the time the meat dishes came (2 courses later, about 40-45 minutes), I tried the wine again. Still, it did not seem right. It just tasted off--not the deep, rich wine with which I was familiar--something was just not right. It wasn't terribly bad per se, but again, it wasn't the wine I knew and loved. I got the sommelier's attention and asked him to try it. He tasted it, and found nothing wrong. He suggested that perhaps the wine was in a "dumb" phase--I haven't tried any of my bottles lately--but still, I've never had a bottle vary that significantly.

I wasn't pleased at all with the wine. I was quite gracious, as was he--in fact, he offered to let me select another bottle, saying he could sell this one by the glass. I obliged his request, and did in fact order something else (I cannot even remember what it was).

I have never before refused a bottle of wine in a restaurant. Has this happened to anyone else here? While I feel comfortable with the action I ultimately took--he did say that he could resell the wine--my real gripe was about the decanting (although I didn't bring this up; in fact, I tipped him separately upon leaving for his generosity in taking the bottle back when he thought it was fine). He decanted away from the table, out of view. As there were many diners in the restaurant, I honestly think he mistakenly brought me the wrong bottle of wine.

Does anyone have opinions about decanting within view, or even at the table, in a restaurant? While I'm sure most establishments would never willingly substitute a cheaper bottle of wine for another one (not that this one was super-expensive, but it was ~$110), I'm just as sure that many patrons, just for piece of mind, would prefer to view the procedure. I think it adds the entire experience, anyway.

Any thoughts?

RAD

[This message has been edited by RAD (edited 05-18-2002).]