And a bouquet for Southcorp

Some time ago in a journal I had a shot at Southcorp about their attitude and procedures in relation to replacement of defective wine. In short, you contacted Southcorp and explained the problem, the wine had to be picked up prior to a replacement being sent and the letter attached to the replacement in many instances were to put it bluntly was BS. Sure the wine was replaced, but it was tedious and the process didn’t make much sense.

Someone at Southcorp might be reading theses Journals (the wine forums, listening to customer feedback) and taking notice of our comments because I am very pleased to report that things have been changing for the better over the past few months.

Firstly, once contact is made provide they either know you are not telling pokie pies or are satisfied with your tale of woe, they don’t demand the defective bottle is returned in all circumstances, although they might request some of the more expensive brands be returned, which is fair enough.

Today I received a replacement bottle for a defective one and the text of the letter that came with the replacement shows a very positive change in attitude and position.

In part it states” …..From your description, we believe your product was affected by cork taint. A small proportion of all corks used for bottling of wine contains a compound called 2,4,6, tricloroanisole (TCA), which imparts a distinct mouldy, musty character to the wine.

Complete control of this contamination during the cork making process is not currently achievable, but despite continuing research on the phenomenon. The presence of TCA in the wine does not pose a health risk if consumed.

Southcorp Wines is working towards the control of cork taint in a number of ways. We maintain close communication with our suppliers and have strict quality control standards, rejecting any cork batches found to have a trace of taint. This issue is one factor that has encouraged us, along with other wine companies, to introduce into the marketplace a number of alternative closures.

As a gesture of our appreciation for bringing this matter to our notice, please find enclosed some complimentary wine which we trust you will enjoy.”

Good on you Southcorp, firstly for recognizing the fact there was a problem with the difficulty of the returns policy and more importantly, admitting there is a problem with cork and cork related issues that were impacting on the image of your wine.

So now as consumers we have a situation where three out of four the big four are prepared to admit there is an issue with cork related defects and are making positive steps to reduce and impact on customers.

You can look forward to seeing a lot more Stelvins on c-though but that does not solve the problem for the red bigots of this world that unfortunately will still have to put up with an unacceptable level of bad wine caused by corks. Roll on a solution for that too, PLEASE!

Hopefully the momentum that is being created by finding solutions for c-throughs will flow over and taint the red problem, bad pun intended.

Cheers