Paul Gregutt
Wine adviser

    Q. In a recent column you talked about some wines that were served to you that had some problems –one had the wrong date, another was corked and the third was a charm. Who was on the hook for the first two bottles? Who bears responsibility for checking the date? The cork crumbles, who is stuck?
A. There are no hard and fast rules for these situations, but the more control you the consumer assumes, the better your odds. In the column you refer to, the first bottle that was brought bore the wrong vintage date. I always — always — check vintage dates on wines purchased in restaurants. It is by far the most common inaccuracy in wine service. If you don’t care, then don’t bother. But if you have specifically chosen a wine for its vintage, you should always be certain that is the wine being offered. If the restaurant shows you the wine before it is opened (as they should), then it is no problem sending it back, as I did. Since the wine was unopened, there was no charge. Had I not checked the date and approved the wine, I would have had to pay for it.
The second bottle, which was corked, will be returned by the restaurant to the distributor. The fact that the cork crumbled was not the issue; it was the contamination with TCA that rendered it undrinkable. In this instance, the distributor will probably attempt to recoup the cost from the winery. A corked wine should never be the consumer’s responsibility to pay for.
The third wine, which was delightful, was the one for which we were charged.

Paul Gregutt can be reached by e-mail at wine@seattletimes.com.