[www.washingtonpost.com]

A restaurant manager mistakenly served a $5,000 bottle of wine. The owner took to Twitter to forgive her.

Restaurant work is demanding and intense, and the industry is not known for kindness and understanding. So when one steak house in Manchester, England, tweeted a “chin up” message to an employee who made a very costly mistake, social media responded in a big way.

A manager at Hawksmoor Manchester steakhouse and cocktail bar mistakenly grabbed a customer a bottle of Chateau le Pin Pomerol 2001 worth more than $5,000, when the customer had ordered a bottle that cost about $290, according to the tweet. The manager gave the bottle to the server, who poured it for the table. The two bottles had a similar look, if you kind of squint.

Restaurant co-owner Will Beckett tweeted from the restaurant’s account:

“To the customer who accidentally got given a bottle of Chateau le Pin Pomerol 2001, which is £4500 on our menu, last night — hope you enjoyed your evening! To the member of staff who accidentally gave it away, chin up! One-off mistakes happen and we love you anyway.”

Considering the markup restaurants put on alcohol, the actual loss was probably something like £28.

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It is what it is.

A class act!

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[www.zeemaps.com]

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N-OS X-tasy!
Considering the markup restaurants put on alcohol, the actual loss was probably something like £28.

That looks to be a $5000 bottle of wine, restaurant or not.

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C(-)ris
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Stunning that people will spend that much on wine. The “cheap” bottle seems insane to me, at almost $300.

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My life goes smoothly and in regular intervals

I almost had dinner at the Hawksmoor in London... Sadly, they were full up and didn't have a table that evening.

"To the member of staff who accidentally gave it away, chin up! One-off mistakes happen and we love you anyway.”

Sounds a little like "All is forgiven this time, but let's make sure it's a one time thing, 'kay?"

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
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Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
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Eureka, CA

I have a friend who frequently enjoys $60 bottles of wine. I’m not a big wine drinker but I decided to experiment. I discovered my palette ends around $18 bottle. Anything beyond that is wasted on me. I did attend a party where someone ordered a $500 bottle of wine but I was unaware and did not partake. It might have been interesting but again it probably would have been wasted on me.

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Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]

A few years ago, I read an interesting article (probably WSJ) that interviewed a couple of highly respected sommoliers (not that I'd know the difference). One said that when he's dining out, he tries not to spend more than $50 for a bottle…because he knows the markup. It makes little sense to pay more, and the value in that price range is hard to beat. I think he also said that if you are trying to keep costs down, don't be afraid to order the cheapest bottle of your favorite variety. Often, the second cheapest is the poorest value because nobody wants to order the cheapest.

Now, this is probably just interesting because it's the kind of stuff we all like to hear (I'm not sure the cheaper wines by-the-glass follow the same value logic), but it is reassuring to cheapskates like me. We eat drink that @#$%& up.

One-off mistakes

It is plural. Maybe they can forgive a second mistake, long after the first one, and of different nature.

Still very classy. Almost too good to be true. Makes you wonder if it was staged.

I like a nice Bordeaux. I’ve never had anything like a $5000 bottle but $200 - $250 retail for a bottle of chateauneuf du pape is appropriate. I can’t imagine buying it in a restaurant, though.

I’d spend $5000 on a bottle of wine before I’d spend that kind of money on fancy rims for a car, or a watch, or at a poker table. To each his own.

I opened a regular bottle of wine that happened to be a vintage that was 28 years old. Words escape me. It was sublime. This was from my own meager selection of bottles, but I could see someone paying a couple grand to experience that.

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The sun will sink, and we'll get out the door
It's no good for man to work in cages
Hits the town, he drinks his wages
You're frettin', you're sweatin'
But did you notice you ain't gettin'?

Maybe they can forgive a second mistake,

No, it means lots of one-off mistakes are made all the time.

By definition it means it's the type of mistake you only make once, and know better than to do it again.

And yes, I'd say that it was a gracious act, and a gracious way of saying 'Let's not have that happen again, yeah?'

I am curious as to whether or not the dining patron thought that bottle to be especially delightful, or thought 'For £226, this evening better end the way I want...'

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

One would also expect that the pricey bottles in the cellar now sport tags announcing the price. The £4500 bottles have hubcaps attached to them, like the bathroom key at sketchy truck stops.

Cheap wine, expensive wine, grape juice tainted with gasoline - it all tastes the same to me.

Never got the appeal of wine. Most of it tastes horrible to me, and the ones I like are usually pretty cheap. My wife made us join one of those wine clubs years ago... you go to a meeting every other month or so, and they have you taste several wines and try to sell you a caseload. I think the most I was ever willing to pay was maybe $40/bottle or so for a wine we both liked. We quit the club years ago, but probably still have about 50 bottles of different stuff. At the rate we drink wine, we'll plow through that in about 50 years...

In New Orleans, we'd say it was lagniappe.

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S. Pupp
Cheap wine, expensive wine, grape juice tainted with gasoline - it all tastes the same to me.

They should just refill the bottle with two-buck Chuck and put it back on the shelf. It will continue to sit there for years because nobody is going to pay $5K for a bottle of wine.

I would not spend $5000 on any consumable; I wouldn't spend more than $100 on a consumable, and that would have to include drinks and desert, for two.

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Ed (modelamac)

Trying to figure out some people is like trying to smell the number 9.

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GGD

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S. Pupp
Cheap wine, expensive wine, grape juice tainted with gasoline - it all tastes the same to me.

They should just refill the bottle with two-buck Chuck and put it back on the shelf. It will continue to sit there for years because nobody is going to pay $5K for a bottle of wine.

I disagree. There are many, MANY idiots out there with more money than brains. 5 grand is pocket change for them, and it's good enough to show off by ordering wine or other expensive items to prove just how much cash they have.

Me? I personally hate the taste of wine. If I do happen to drink it, it's a friend's homemade stuff that we have around the campfire.

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Ricky: Hehe. And you can teach how to get drunk, get fired from the police force, become a... lousy trailer park supervisor that sucks, hangs around with a @#$%&' idiot that doesn't wear a shirt, and looks like a dick but thinks he looks good... 101.

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Mike Johnson
I like a nice Bordeaux. I’ve never had anything like a $5000 bottle but $200 - $250 retail for a bottle of chateauneuf du pape is appropriate.

Ceci n'est pas un Bordeaux.

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modelamac
I would not spend $5000 on any consumable; I wouldn't spend more than $100 on a consumable, and that would have to include drinks and desert, for two.

Especially since it's all going to be flushed down the toilet the next day.

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mrbigstuff
I opened a regular bottle of wine that happened to be a vintage that was 28 years old. Words escape me. It was sublime. This was from my own meager selection of bottles, but I could see someone paying a couple grand to experience that.

I have a couple of bottles in my "collection" (such that it is) that are approaching that age. Perhaps I should take one out for a spin.

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It is what it is.

As a gift, I received a bottle of pretty nice Champagne--maybe $80-$120. For me, for that bottle, it didn't taste better than a $40 bottle. I've had some wine worth maybe $500/bottle at a party, and it was really good, but I wouldn't spend $500 on it. Maybe $100 on a special occasion. And I've had an exceptional bottle of $25 wine that was nearly as good.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2019 07:55PM by anonymouse1.

Perhaps I should take one out for a spin.

LOL, I see what you did there.


Some people have the money, brains, and palette to partake in the finer things in life.

Good on 'em.

And good on the manager who, I'm assuming, 'fessed up to the error.

It was the ethical, professional, and honest thing to do. A real mensch.

Likewise to the owner of that bottle for being so decent about it. A lot of people would not been as considerate.

Love the hubcap idea. Or at least remove the really pricey, privately owned stuff from genpop.

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I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

My palette ends at "Coke or Pepsi."

Peeps that are into wine, have a society among themselves.
Heartwarming story.
Betcha the bump in the restaurant's business from the publicity (s-t unt?) is gonna offset the "loss" on the bottle, by a good measure.
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Lux Interior

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Mike Johnson
I like a nice Bordeaux. I’ve never had anything like a $5000 bottle but $200 - $250 retail for a bottle of chateauneuf du pape is appropriate.

Ceci n'est pas un Bordeaux.

Good of you to say that in French.

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Be seeing you.