Looking for some Clarety (clarity) here?

It was not ‘April Fools Day’, but it could have been.

Alas, in mid-July I received an email from the UK Petrus (Pomerol) agents, after they were contacted by the property (or we could say Chateau) because they “have detected an imperfection in the label caused by a technical error made by one of their suppliers.” Apparently this can cause the front of the label to become detached. Therefore, asking for all bottles to be returned to them for inspection and relabeling.

What a funny old world eh! Well, the two cases and two bottles 2014 Petrus that I had purchased, one ‘en primeur’, where all sold on, of course. I did the honorable thing and forwarded the Petrus email on to the customers whom I had sold the wine on to.

Only one of them replied, to tell me that he had actually drunk the wine, and the labels were very much still intact when he did so. I suggested that maybe we should send the empties back to Bordeaux for inspection, but at what cost? I never heard anymore from him about this, or anyone else for that matter.

So, if you are reading this and you bought 2014 Petrus from me can you drop me a line, if you so wish, and we can organize the sending back. Personally, I am still looking for a bit more clarity on the situation from Bordeaux.

It all sounds a bit like a right olde dog’s dinner.