Mmmmmm
Mark Fisher at the DAyton Daily News had a recent post concerning a buying experience he had at a local Trader Joe's. I don't have the time to post the pictures so go check his blog but it is quite interesting. One bottle looks about like it should while the other one not so much. As far as taste, the difference was remarkable.
When he brought this to the attention of the management the response was this:
Sounds like a great reason not to buy wine at Trader Joe's.
When he brought this to the attention of the management the response was this:
“There is no difference in the wine or the quality of the corks. It’s just that the glass in the first lot is 100 percent clear, and the second one is off-white glass. That’s the only difference. It’s the same product, same quality cork, just different glass. That’s why you see a change in color, but it actually isn’t a change in color. I hope this explains everything for you.”I have to admit, I haven't heard this one before but it's a pretty clever response. Obviously, this is a silly statement and one that unfortunately would have quelled most people's curiousity. But after posting the blog and getting 50 some-odd comments, Trader Joe's came back.
“We kind of goofed,”and then
All wines that go into TJ’s stores have to go through a tasting panel, Dumper said. “When we approved it, we only approved one” version, she said. “We’re dismayed that we had two different blends on our shelves, but now, everything’s pulled.”I know the old 'What's in a name?' bit but seriously, couldn't they have found someone, anyone with a surname that didn't imply much less confirm what's really going on?Dumper?!?!
Sounds like a great reason not to buy wine at Trader Joe's.
2 Comments:
I've had quite a bit of experience with bottling wine in my 2+ decades of work for wineries, and I can say that the explanation they were giving is quite reasonable as far as the different colors of glass was concerned.
It's rather common for a glass supplier to run out of a particular batch of glass when filling an order, and then fill the remainder of the order with glass from a different batch which could have a different color/hue to it. Wineries that care about their product's appearance have some sort of QC program in place to assure the materials to be used are consistent and meet their criteria. Sounds like someone dropped the ball at the winery, or they didn't have the time to reject the glass for a new batch that was in line with what they used already, or maybe their bottling was a rush job, or finally - that they just didn't care.
It's also possible they had someone else bottle the wine for them - and didn't pay close enough attention to the supplies the bottler was using.
That being said, the explanation given doesn't even start to address the issue of different sensory experiences between two bottles of supposedly the 'same' wine...
St. Vini
(formerly Huge J)
http://zinquisition.blogspot.com
there have been further developments in this Trader Joe's story: TJ's has decided to pull this particular wine from its shelves nationwide. Details at http://www.daytondailynews.com/wineblog. And thanks for picking this up!
Mark Fisher
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