Posted on 10/23/2020 11:11:24 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
A young couple who once dined at the Big Apple’s iconic Balthazar couldn’t bottle up their emotions after ordering an $18 Pinot Noir — but being served a $2,000 Mouton Rothschild instead by accident, the eatery’s owner recounted this week.
...the restaurant’s night manager said the host of the business meeting actually praised the purity of the cheapest wine on the list, while the lucky couple “jokingly pretended to be drinking an expensive wine,”
“The young couple were ecstatic by the restaurant’s mistake, and told me it was like the bank making an error in their favor,” said the red-faced owner, who admitted the embarrassing mix-up.
“The trouble was, it was me who was down $2,000, not the bank,”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The couple lucked out and avoided the problem mentioned yesterday: “How Income Inequality Has Erased Your Chance to Drink the Great Wines (NYT alert)”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3897073/posts
Waiter: “Would monsieur care for another bottle of Chateau Latour?”
Navin: “Ah yes, but no more 1966. Let’s splurge! Bring us some fresh wine! The freshest you’ve got – this year! No more of this old stuff.”
Waiter, appalled: “Oui, monsieur.”
Navin, to Marie: “He doesn’t realize he’s dealing with sophisticated people here.”
With some meals a $5 wine is OK. With other more refined meals its better to pair the dish with a decent wine IMO.
I learned a lot by being ignorant when I started drinking wines about 25 years ago. It cost me a lot of money in the beginning. I also found that ratings did not match my tastes.
I was at a wine tasting many years ago and one guy asked the wine expert what the best wine was. The expert said, “The one you like most.” I never for got that answer.
This had to be a hoax.
The restaurant set the whole thing up and got the restaurant’s name in free media.
The point of diminishing returns is about $10-20.
With a little bit of ‘study’, that is learning to identify basic things like aromas and flavors, most people can learn to appreciate the difference between bad stuff and wine that is competently made from good grapes.
Beyond that, it seems like the difference between a 175 mile per hour car and a 210 MPH car- a difference, yes, but only discernible for a very few experts.
Not a pro, but do live in the wine country, taste many weekends, and have studied enology and viticulture formally (feel free to freepmail me if ever visiting Sonoma/Napa)
“regerts”. Lol
My dad made the strongest wine yearly. There is nothing I buy that comes even close to how good and strong his is. It makes me sad because I love cooking with wine.
I had much the same thought BUT note that this was a 'young couple' in a business meeting and apparently some others shared a taste. How do you divide the responsibility, how do you ask your boss(?) to split a cost of a 3rd party mistake? Could they afford an instant pay of $1.8k or would you have them pay an installment plan?
Not an easy read as to propriety from just these story details!
The federal and state beverage taxes are based on alcoholic content. So, a $20 wine and a $2,000 wine with the same alcoholic content would have the same beverage tax. If a $2,000 wine is sold for $20 the sales tax would be based upon $20. So the tax argument is moot.
I was invited to a friend's place for dinner with his Mom and some friends of hers...Phil and Sheila. Phil was an oenophile and loved to talk wine. Unknown to me, he had helped prepare cocktails and the wines for dinner, desert, etc.
When I arrived, we retired to the dining room and began our meal. The appetizers were served and wine was poured in the kitchen and served.
My friend's mom said, "I wonder Phil. Could you tell us the name and vintage of the wine being served?" Phil smiled and said, "Of course."
He then proceeded to lift his glass, smell the aroma after a swirl and then taking a sip. With a smile, he responded, "I believe it is a Puligny-Montrachet...perhaps 1971. No!...1973. Yes...1973." My friend's mom exclained, "Exactly right! Well done."
I was aghast and exclaimed, "That's amazing Phil! How did you do that? You clearly know your wines well."
He let go a belly laugh and said, "Elementary m'boy. You see...I'm the one who brought the wine!"
The whole scene was for my benefit and my "comeuppance" for being a bit late for supper. All had a laugh at my expense. Good fun.
I remember when a misplaced decimal led to us selling a $20 item for $0.20. Major ouch as we had sold several hundred of them in the couple of days it took to see the error.
Not the customers fault so we swallowed hard and put a double check on the price entry.
“Hey, wait a minute. That’s not what we ordered. We ordered the twist off. That bottle has a cork and a bunch of dust on it.”
I thought the $100 cognac was pretty good until I tried the $1200 per bottle stuff - sweet mama.
Yeah that would really be an incredible call!!
I wonder if anyone out there can actually do it?
I recall being served, my a financial wholesaler salesman on the Frisco wharf in the late 80's, a small glass and they said it was like $50, I took a sip and said I didn't want to waste it and he could have it.
Me too. Nothing but the finest cardboard for me. Finely aged in a New Jersey warehouse for at least five years. I will accept nothing less!
Long ago a wine connoisseur suggested looking for the ones with a cork, they are better than the screwtops.
He was recommending his favorites from Argentina.
One of my saddest memories from waiting tables was forgetting to charge a few tables for 3 or 4 bottles of outrageously expensive wine.
The host scrutinized the bill but I was so busy... He, a Canadian, tipped me maybe 5% on this table of perhaps 12. Blew out all of my tips that long (12hr+) shift, just covering for my error at that one table.
People who have never been waiters, and Canadians, generally, cheat when they can and tip mercilessly.
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