I Received the wrong wine in a shipment

[Racer Chris]

and I'm undecided if I should contact the retailer.

I added a couple bottles of an inexpensive 2010 Haut-Medoc to a larger order to get over a $500 threshold (free shipping) but they sent a Lussac-St. Emilion instead.
I ordered Chateau du Moulin Rouge, but received Chateau du Moulin Noir.
The website only shows the Haut-Medoc, but it's simply listed as Chateau du Moulin. They don't even have the St Emilion listed on their website.
The little bit of info available from CT and Wine-Searcher doesn't provide much about the wine itself, and the scores on CT are rather suspect.
The only detail I did glean is that the Moulin Noir may be slightly more expensive than the Moulin Rouge, but neither is widely available.
I haven't perused the bottle label yet.

[AKR]

It happens. My long term problem rate has been about 1-2%.

I had one vendor that was perfect for like 15 years, and then two glitches in one year.

Normally I don't do anything about it unless its material (either way, in my favor or against me)

[jckba]

The couple of times this has happened to me I have always brought it to the vendors attention via email in order to see what kind of options they presented and then take it from there.

[Antoine]

In 2005, I purchased a case of Leo Poyferre 2004 and received a case of Pichon Baron 2004 in 2006. Called them and they asked me to keep it as, anyway they had no more Leo P left... The Pichon is good I don't know how the Leo P is but OK, these things happen...

[Racer Chris]

I just sent them an email letting them know of the error, and told them I have no problem accepting the St Emilion in place of the Haut-Medoc.

Right before shipping I was informed that they only had 8 bottles of something I had ordered 12 of. (2008 Senejac)
They kept the free shipping and the case discount in place even though my order no longer met those criteria, so I'm pretty happy either way.

[AKR]

In 2005, I purchased a case of Leo Poyferre 2004 and received a case of Pichon Baron 2004 in 2006. Called them and they asked me to keep it as, anyway they had no more Leo P left... The Pichon is good I don't know how the Leo P is but OK, these things happen...

I once got shipped a case of 2000 Cheval Blanc by accident, and another time a case of 2000 LMHB, also by accident.

Both times I called up the retailer and they were grateful, and sorted it out, by sending prepaid boxes to send back. I asked them to please make a note in my customer files that I had done this because clearly this could have gone the other way (and did for someone, since my wine likely ended up with the other folks).

One of them sent a darn nice bottle of Champers as a thank you. The other went out of business maybe 1 or 2 years later.

=====

Not sure I'd be so cool about what happened to Antoine though. If someone wants something enough to buy futures, the vendor has agreed to be on the hook for that. And neither LeoP nor P-B are so rare that they cannot be found. It would have cost the merchant something to sort out (take the Poyferre back, obtain a new case of P-B, two rounds of shipping) but that's what they were signing up for when they offered futures. I don't think "pay us $800 for a random case of 2nd growths 2 years from now" would have had the same marketing appeal.

[Racer Chris]

Maybe I should look on this as a free upgrade.
Tonight I opened the first bottle of the Moulin Noir and decanted a couple glasses worth for an hour or so.
This is a nice, although at 14.5% abv, modern leaning St Emilion.
Raspberry and plum fruit, smokiness, well resolved tannins, a hint of heat on the finish. Very pleasant.

[Racer Chris]

I wonder if they have more.

[Racer Chris]

Here's an odd bit about this wine:
In Cellartracker Chateau du Moulin Noir is listed both as Lussac-St Emilion and as Montagne-St. Emilion.
There are many overlapping vintages shown such as '07 and '09, where the labels are identical except for the Lussac vs Montagne sub-appellation.
I wonder why they would produce the same wine with two labels like that.

[AKR]

Some estates have vineyards that are in multiple AOC. Not common, but I think Faugeres has some like that.

There's some big Medoc whose name escapes that also has that issue.

[Racer Chris]

Some estates have vineyards that are in multiple AOC. Not common, but I think Faugeres has some like that.

So if I had a bottle of both wines, would they be made from different (possibly adjacent) vineyards? ie. not the same wine?
Or would it be all blended into one wine in the cellar and labeled both ways for sales?

I just checked Wine Searcher, and bottles of both 2010 vintages are supposedly available, although in CellarTracker only the Lussac is shown in 2010.

[AKR]

Well if the grapes are from different AOC, they're not supposed to be combined unless labeled with the broadest AOC that would cover them all.

Those are basically the same rules that would cover US AVA's too, although there are lots of hypertechnical nuances to that.

It could also be that they are vinified in different manners, for reasons related to differences in terroir, grapes, ripeness, or sheer end market value.

=====

In CNDP Charvin owns a vineyard (which used to supply Rayas) that they now bottle up themselves. Some of the vineyard is not entitled to CNDP AOC, and only gets generic Cotes du Rhone status.

They basically raise the wines in effectively the same manner, maybe a little more TLC for the grand vin though. But one gets 3x the price of the other by the time it gets to the end customer.

But I think one would have to taste things side by side to make the determination. Selection, oak treatment, transport/care etc. are generally all going to be better for the product with a higher expected end price, so I wouldn't totally buy into the "same as the grand vin" hype that some merchants rely on.

[Racer Chris]

I found on the Alexander Wines website that these chateaux are owned by Ambrosia (Chateau Maucamps, not Ambrosia Wine Group).
They have this 2010 tasting note - "A beautiful blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc. The fruity bouquet reveals notes of black cherry with silky, ripe tannins and a finesse to add to the lingering finish."

I also found something on the Field & Fawcett website, a tasting note for the 1999 Montagne-St. Emilion - "Softly-textured claret from an estate in Montagne-Saint-Emilion. Moulin Noir consists of seven hectares of vineyards on a good clay and limestone site. The wine is a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc and is aged 12 months in part-new oak. It has silky plum and blackberry fruit with some hints of cedar."

It turns out I have wine from another chateau owned by Ambrosia - Chateau Lescalle, Bordeaux Superieur.
This chateau has an interesting history, having been owned by Emmanuel Tessandier.
The Tessandier family owns these chateaux today.

[AKR]

Sometimes you'll observe that certain retailers have relationships with importers/distributors/estates directly that are strong, so they will carry the entire lineup of wines an owner has. Even if they aren't well regarded or reviewed.

Sherry Lehman in NYC was famous for their full throttle support of Georges Duboeuf, and the rainbow of cru Beaujolais he offered. (I realize many now curse his banana flavored interpretation of gamay, and its honestly been 5-10 years since a bottle of his has last graced my lips, but when I was first exploring French wines, these were the ones to have in the summer, in the daytime.)

I find that JJ Buckley is a great source for most of Jeffrey Davies selections, well rated or not, flash vintage or not. If you like his kind of Bordeaux -- Charmail is the best example I think -- JJB is worth getting to know despite what can be the aggravation of their order fulfillment/pickup process.

Total Wine seems to be tight with the Lurtons and Dubordieu families, as well.

[Antoine]

Alex,
The mishandling merchant (I think chateau on line) was later bought by 1855 who later on went bankrupt.
I must say I was relieved that I got something (moreover, the wine was good and, indeed, 2004 prices were low enough to make a logistics exchange more expensive and bothersome than telling me to keep the box) as I have had my share of wines never delivered or with enormous difficulty (going after the merchant for 2012 en primeur which finally got delivered in 2016 (bar one box reimbursed).

[Racer Chris]

I drank the second bottle last night, and now I'm sure I want more. It's definitely a fruit forward wine, but really well made.

I feel a bit like a fool, thinking my bottles were the Lussac-St Emilion all this time, while they were actually the Montagne-St Emilion.
My mistake must have started when I entered the wine into CellarTracker.
I must have entered the vintage in my search and the 2010 Montagne had not been previously created, so it only brought up the Lussac.
Without a bottle at hand to verify, and not knowing both existed, I put the wrong wine in my database.

As it turns out, I can buy the 2010 Chateau du Moulin Noir, Montagne-St. Emilion in-state with free shipping, at less than $19/bottle.