A few weeks ago I wrote about a negative experience my friends and I had at  J Vineyards & Winery in Healdsburg. The short story is that we were part of a Wine Club special event tasting where employees were uneducated about the wines and food pairings, they lacked attention to detail and their guests and the “sparkling only” wine shipment was overpriced and handed to me not with pride but apologetically.

A few days after sharing that experience I was contacted over Twitter and the phone by Carolyne, a representative of the winery. We talked at length about what happened, what should have happened and what will happen in the future. Carolyne was kind to listen, apologize and provide me with the confidence that myself and others will not be dealt the same poor service ever again at their tasting room.

Carolyne followed up with an email:

Once again, my apologies for your recent visit and we do  appreciate the feedback. Your feedback has led to us implementing a few new procedures that will not only enhance the experience of your next visit, but also all future guests of J Vineyards & Winery.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you soon!

This was the right way to handle a situation like this. To listen, to care and to respond. To no care that I am but one person among the thousands that go through their tasting room ever month.

Had J Vineyards & Winery ignored my story and not acted to make things right from within, not only would they have lost me and my friends as customers, they would certainly lose a number of other formerly loyal customers.

As a consolation, J Vineyards & Winery have offered me another tasting, this time in their Bubble Room for me and a few friend. This was not necessary but it was certainly a generous offer. They also shipped to me a magnum of their J Cuvée 20 Brut.

I’ll make sure to report back on my next few tasting experiences there. The only thing I forgot to discuss with them was the “sparkling only” wine shipment which was anemic and overpriced. Perhaps this too will be fixed. I’ll make sure to note this the next shipment.