Is it uncommon to be served a bad glass of wine in a restaurant?

[Anonymous]

I happened to me once at the local Italian restaurant were they serve Pinot Grigio. They don’t even tell you the name of it. I just asked for a new one. No big deal.
I once bought a nice bottle of barolo from Balducci’s. It was corked. I brought it back but they wouldn’t refund me. That was annoying and has made me hate Balducci’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, it happens quite frequently. If it seems off just send it back. It's not a big deal. We've been served entire bottles of wine that were off and they replaced them. It happens.

I drink wine all the time and it’s never happened to me.

It's only happened to me once or twice.

I have a friend who is a huge wine snob and she constantly sends wine back and claims it's "corked" or off somehow. I think either her taste buds are off or she just likes being imperious with servers. Or maybe just doesn't like wine? Some wines intentionally taste more earthy than others, some wines are meant to be sweeter. That doesn't mean it's a bad bottle, it means you ordered the wrong wine.

I think a lot of people would be well served from ordering from a narrow range of varieties and vineyards at restaurants. Like if you don't really know wine, stick with cab sav and Syrah for reds and sauvignon blanc for white (chardonnays have a broader range of profiles and it's easier to screw up). Experiment with other varieties at home when you can research and make sure you're pairing something properly.

When someone difficult like this suspects a glass of wine is bad, do they want another glass of the same wine poured from a brand new bottle or do they use the opportunity to switch to a different glass of wine?

Does someone like this expect a waiter to come out and open a brand new bottle in front of them and pour a single glass for them table side?