Bad bottles

[Rosie]

What is the best way for a customer to deal with a bottle of wine that they believe is bad? What percentage of bottles are sent back at Babbo?

[David Lynch]

There aren't a ton of bottles sent back at Babbo b/c we prime glasses and therefore can tell if a wine is corked before we put it down. However, in ourt haste some do slip thru the cracks...

People are very shy about sending wines back, because they are worried about being bullied into accepting them by the sommelier. But I will say this: the tasting ritual at the table is NOT designed to determine whether you like the wine or not. It is to determine whether the bottle is "sound," i.e., that it is not corked or shot (oxidized). If you order a bottle and simply don't like its particular flavor profile, that is not, in my opinion, grounds for sending it back. However, if you believe the wine to be faulty, stand your ground and politely but firmly ask for it to be removed. But do it right away--at the point of tasting.

Differences of opinion do exist as to whether a wine is shot or corked, and you can expect more debate from the sommelier as the price of the wine goes up. But detecting a corked wine is not rocket science--if it smells like a moldy cork, it's corked, bottom line. The smell is derived from molds that grow in an improperly sanitized cork.

Just send it back right away--if you are way off and the wine is perfectly fine, I will sell you something else and then, if I think the wine you sent back is sound, sell it by the glass to someone else.