Ah. . .Tartaric Acid. . .

If you are ever in the St. Louis area or drive past Mt. Vernon, do not go here! We had the great displeasure of visiting this winery. To make a long story short, here is the email that I sent to them:

To whom it may concern,

My family and I came to Rend lake this year to partake in the Annual Art and Wine festival at Rend Lake. However, it was canceled on Saturday due to in climate weather. We understood that for everyone’s safety that was the best move and can respect that. However, we chose to go to your winery which was 25 miles out of our way so that we would be able to partake in the wine experience that your winery had to offer. As you can tell by my footnoted signature below, I drove a long distance to enjoy myself. We sampled 4 wines after waiting about 20 minutes and I hurried up and made my choice which was the Vignoles; purchased 2 bottles unchilled and one chilled for us to enjoy on your deck with cheese and crackers. Halfway through the bottle, I noticed something at the bottom of the bottle that resembled a submerged Cheerio with flecks of the said “Cheerio” floating around the bottom of the bottle. I took the unfinished bottle back inside and asked if that was part of the cork or what was it. I was told rudely by the woman behind the counter that it was tartaric acid and that it does not hurt the wine or the person drinking it. I then asked her what it was in there for (as I have never seen that before) and she raised her voice even further and stated the same again which didn’t answer my question. I have taken many wine classes from some of the best solemner in the country. I have gone to many festivals and tasted wines worldwide. I have heard of tartaric acid but never witnessed it. I now have two bottles at my home that I don’t want to drink and will not be able to serve to guests nor give it away as a gift due to its aesthetically displeasing nature. Part of wine is the presentation and I’m sorry but a partially disintigrated foreign object at the bottom of your wine bottle is not an appropriate presentation. What’s more, if there is something in your wine that I can see that makes me question what has happened during the process, what about the things that I can’t see. You really need to reevaluate what your customer base sees before you put it on the shelf. In the future, I will no longer be purchasing your wine and neither will my family. I was not ashamed to tell people that I had a bad experience with your winery

I know this is a long email but a point needed to be made. . . customer service is lacking in all points! I say band together and boycott this winery!