When to Send Back a Bottle?

[Thomas]

In a restaurant, when the waiter pours the first taste for me or my wife to give the thumbs up or down, we just smell the wine, never taste it. There are only a few things to look for: corked, oxydized, volatile--all can be told in the smell. If there is nothing technically wrong with the wine, the taste is subjective, and that is no reason to send it back.

Same holds for wine bought at retail, but like Roberto, at is-wine we take back any wine a customer returns, provided he or she hasn't consumed most of it. After we test it and we find it has not gone bad we still exchange it but we also explain to the customer that we think perhaps it was simply a matter of taste preference.