Ok so I wasn’t going to gripe in this blog. EVER. Things that can’t effect the way the world goes around don’t normally bother me. My opinion is that in the big picture of life, all of the little stuff doesn’t matter.  Picky guests, guests that want to split a glass of wine, guests that change tables two or three times, guests that want their Filet Mignon well done (it is their filet!), even 10% tips, that doesn’t even get to me.  But there is something, and it really rarely happens, that just fries my…….um….tilapia!

So this is how it works, The importer or domestic distributor orders several pallets of wine from any given winery or large firm that sells for multiple wineries. In the case of an importer, those pallets are in a "container" on a big boat that is sailing slowly across the Atlantic. It is either new wine for the importer / distributor or, more probably, wine they already carry. Now, the ship docks or the pallets arrive in a huge OTR rig and there is a guy that is waiting there with a hand held scanner to receive it.

Lets talk about that guy. This is a guy that answered an ad for a warehouse worker / receiver. His job requirements are that he can lift and carry 50 lb. on an ongoing basis, that he has experience as a receiver in a warehouse, and that he can operate a forklift. A requirement of his job is most likely not to analyze the writing on the boxes he receives or to know anything about the vast intricacies of wine. He has an invoice with a quantity of items on it, he checks to make sure the quantity is correct as well as the general description of said items. He does know in advance what wine is expected to arrive so he won’t inadvertently receive boxes of Belgian ale when boxes of Maison Louis Jadot are expected. So the boxes say Maison Louis Jadot Pommard 2005. Did he know that this vintage was a new vintage? Did he even know that the 2005 on the box had anything to do with what was inside the box? Most importantly, does he know that in all of the restaurants in the city that carry Maison Louis Jadot Pommard, the current vintage is 2004? The answer to all three is probably no. So the 2005 on the box probably won’t even register in his mind as being relevant and he most likely will not inform anyone that a new vintage came in.

So then there is the regional sales manager that gets the e-mail that the expected shipment of Maison Louis Jadot Pommard is in the warehouse. That person probably goes out to the warehouse to see the pile of boxes and verifies that the quantity is correct. He then e-mails the people that update the inventory and since he wasn’t informed a new vintage came in, they will enter it as the same vintage. OR, what probably happens today is that when that receiver guy checks the wine in from the container, that hand held scanner that we discussed earlier immediately enters it into to the electronic inventory so the sales people know right when it is physically there.

And believe you me, that hand held scanner really doesn’t have a clue that 2005 is a new vintage.

So it is Tuesday and I am waiting for the various sales people to arrive so I can place my order, and darn it, I am out of Maison Louis Jadot Pommard 2004. So I order a case of Maison Louis Jadot Pommard 2004. The sales person looks at the inventory and sees that the pallet is in the warehouse, but doesn’t see the necessity of telling me that it is a new pallet because why would I care. He just wants to make sure I get the wine. It arrives on my day off and a bartender that isn’t paid to be cognizant of the vintages on a wine list that has over 300 French selections, stocks it.

I come in to work the next day and I see that there is Maison Louis Jadot Pommard in the bin and I am happy. I sell it to my guest, bring the bottle over and …..thud…..the bottle says 2005. (ok,ok, I should have looked at it before I took it to the table, but I was REALLY busy!)

Now 99% of the time, this is not the end of the world. Guests usually understand that these things change, but then there is that one person who "knows" all about vintages and gets upset. "Why don’t you have the 2004? Why is this 2005 the same price as the superior 2004? (wrongo Mr. smarty pants!) Shouldn’t the price reflect the vintage? (wrongo again, the price reflects the Euro.) As I try to gently explain that 2005 is far superior to 2004, and that they are getting it at the 2004 price, such a deal!!, with that one person that explanation never flies.

Because the guy with the scanner didn’t know to tell the regional manager, who didn’t know to tell the data entry person, who didn’t know to put the new vintage in the electronic inventory, that didn’t tell the sales person that it came in as a new vintage, who didn’t know to tell me that it would come in as a new vintage, wine lists can often have vintages wrong on their lists.

But it will be alright. 2005 was a superiour vintage in Pommard than 2004 and if I didn't check closely enough, you ARE geting such a deal!

He who loves not wine, women and song remains a fool his whole life long.

Martin Luther, 1777

Santé