CSGK: Wild Coyote Wines

You, my reliable and wonderful readers, all know about the CSBK (Customer Service Bad Karma) that seems to follow me around everywhere that I go... no, no need to dig up the past. You can find a billion examples if you just scroll through the blog (no, Pizza Hut never delivered that pizza).

Today I come to you with a story about CSGK (Customer Service Good Karma) that an amazing family vintner, Gianni Manucci of Wild Coyote Estate Winery, gave to me today.

My friends and I take an annual wine trip back to Paso Robles, CA, an area that we know well because several of us studied at Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo, which is right down the road. For the first few years of our trip, we had the same cool, fantastic, fun limo driver... a gentleman named D-U-G, Dug, yes Dug. Because he drove the area frequently, he always knew the up and coming wineries which is a huge plus because so many of them have sprouted up in the past 5-7 years.

Dug said, "You guys have got to go to Wild Coyote. Gianni is making some incredible wines in a beautiful winery."

"Lead the way!" was likely our response.

Well, I became a Wild Coyote wine club member from the first visit and have taken every opportunity to stop in to grab more or call Gianni & family to replace empty soldiers. Many of my wine group are members of this wonderful little winery that concocts wine for the spirit, literally, on this incredibly beautiful piece of land with a California vineyard view. The Manucci's put their heart and soul into every single bottle that they produce... they care that much.

So last week when @tessk, Steve and I opened a bottle of 2006 Zin, which I wouldn't typically be drinking so young--I had to leave a lot of bottles prior to my move to some very lucky friends--it was carbonated! Carbonated? Yes, carbonated!

Strange.

I decided to check to see if one of my other 2006 Zins from Wild Coyote was carbonated tonight and, sure enough, it was. Hmmmmm.

Here is where CSGK kicks in. I emailed Gianni and got a very quick reply where he offered to replace all 3 bottles that were sent in that shipment. Gianni is definitely the man.

But, instead of just replying to his email to say, "Send 'em on out!" I decided to give him a call and add to the order... heck, if you're going to ship me free replacement bottles, I might as well buy a few to fill up a box and then everyone feels good about it, eh?

Gianni explained to me that he knew that the timing on when to bottle the '06 Zin was questionable, but he took a chance because he thought it would be an out-of-this-world wine... which is what we members look for from him. He didn't want to filtrate it before bottling because he didn't want to take from the flavor--the high standard of work that he has created for himself--in hindsight he wishes he would have done just a bit of filtration.

A large winery would never take this chance. Never.

But, in a wonderful gesture, Gianni made up for it in spades. Here's to Gianni, his family and Wild Coyote Wine. I urge you to visit their site or give them a call and order a few bottles for he told me that they are nearly out of their '06 vintage!

Wild Coyote Estate Winery
805-610-1311