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Thursday, December 8, 2005
Trader Joe’s Responds
The folks at Trader Joe’s have responded to the 12-2-05 Uncorked posting on “A Trader Joe’s Wine-Buying Experience,” an entry that triggered more than four dozen spirited comments and replies.
You’ll recall that the upshot of the original posting was that a Trader Joe’s spokeswoman in California was telling me that two wines on the TJ’s shelf here in Dayton, Ohio, were the same color, and that any difference in hue that I perceived must be from the tint of the bottle.
A photo we included in the 12-2 posting of the two wines side-by-side in identical stemware (see below) seemed to suggest otherwise.
“We kind of goofed,” said Audrey Dumper, Boston-based vice president of marketing for Trader Joe’s east coast and midwest stores.
Trader Joe’s has investigated the two versions of identically labeled 2003 Chiaro del Bastardo Italian white wine and concluded that …
… yes, they seem to be two different blends, Dumper said. And they’ve pulled all of the Bastardo whites off the shelves of all of the Trader Joe’s stores in Ohio while they try to figure out what caused the inconsistency.
All wines that go into TJ’s stores have to go through a tasting panel, Dumper said. “When we approved it, we only approved one” version, she said. “We’re dismayed that we had two different blends on our shelves, but now, everything’s pulled.”
Trader Joe’s folks had taken the word of a supplier when they passed along the “It-must-be-the-tinted-bottle” explanation.
“We weren’t trying to dupe you or anything,” the TJ’s VP said.
So sayeth Trader Joe’s.
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
Upon further review, Trader Joe’s has determined that these two wines are indeed different. (Photo by Jim Witmer)
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