Ordering the "Wrong" Bottle of Wine: Whose Fault is It?

Filed in archive Wine News by Sandy Mitchell on February 15, 2008

Ordering the "Wrong" Bottle of Wine: Whose Fault is It?

Recently Vinography remarked on a story in the New York Times about a New York diner who intended to order a $110 bottle of wine, but mistakenly ordered a $2000 bottle instead. I suppose most of us have made a mistake ordering wine once or twice (those pesty bin numbers, pointing in a dimly-lit dining room...). However, thankfully, I've never made the kind of mistake that this diner claims...not even close.

The discussion centers around the restaurant's liability in all of this. Now, as a former fine dining server and restaurant manager, my initial reaction was "he ordered it; he drank it; he pays for it. Upon further reflection, though, the situation is to me less "black & white." How much effort would it have taken for the server to have subtly verified the order? or the sommelier (presumably the restaurant has one if it's serving $2000 bottles of wine)?

The moral, of course, is to pay attention when ordering wine and when it is brought to the table.

What are your thoughts? Is the restaurant at fault?

^{(image © Photos.com)}

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More Wine and More Female Sommeliers - 25 July 2006
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Restaurant Wine Advice - 04 April 2007
Wine & Smokes - 13 June 2007
"Lite" Wine? - 17 July 2007

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Response from: Linda B (02/15/08 10:25am)

I don't believe the restaurant is at fault. They were at a "very fine" NYC restaurant, which tells me that already everything is pricey. The one who ordered the wine "didn't notice" the price. Well, it's his fault then.

I get so irritated when people fail to take responsibility for their own actions and try to blame someone else.

How could the server have alerted them without sounding condescending? And since this was a "very fine" restaurant, they probably get big spenders all the time.

The customers made a mistake, but it's not the restaurant or the server's fault.

Response from: Sandy (02/15/08 1:40pm)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Linda. I tend to agree, especially since the diner consumed the wine before "realizing" his error. Where does it stop?