i believe the word you're looking for is "sommelier," as this is most certainly part of their job -- informing the purchase decision.

seriously, how hard is it to hold the wine list so nobody but the ordering party can see, place a finger conspicuoulsy over the 4-digit number and say somthing like, "begging your pardon, sir / ma'am, but you did mean this lot number, correct?"

no, it's probably not the restaurant's legal fault if / when the "wrong" bottle is served as you describe. but it is the establishments fault, nonetheless, to ensure proper wine service ... including selection. and certainly any place offering screaming eagle, or vertical selections, or vintage bubbly, or anything else damned well ought to know that.

I can't imagine any wine director or server worth their own salt wouldn't confirm an order like that at least once with the customer... Also, you've got the option to check once again once they present the bottle to you. Assuming those things were done, I'd say the restaurant would've done due diligence in making sure it was the wine that the customer actually wanted.

Otherwise, I'd be ordering Ch. Petrus every other night and then complaining once it's drained that it wasn't the wine I actually wanted...!

Wine Dude,

I think you point out precisely the problem that prevents the restaurant from having more than just a sliver of responsibility for this situation. People can (and often do, as any restaurateur will tell you) take advantage of service policies as far as they possibly can get away with it.

After reading all the comments on the original article, I'm amazed at the attitude of "caveat emptor" that seems to pervade the on-line dining public. Obviously, most of these people have no idea of the financial situations of most Americans (not to speak of the rest of the world). For most people, a $2000 hit, or even a $500 if a party of 4 split the tab, is a serious problem. It's ($2000) on the order of most mortgage payments or net monthly paychecks.

And even fine dining establishments (2 and 3 star) don't sell these bottles every day. And it isn't like most purchases, the prices are only listed on the wine list, and they can be misread (usually by not lining up the proper bottle/price). Showing the bottle to the customer only assures the wine steward brought what was ordered, not that the customer read it properly. There's no price on the bottle.

No one has to imply that the diner doesn't look like he can "afford" the wine. Just be straightforward. Something like: "That is a truely exceptional bottle of wine. With such wines we have a policy of specifically confirming the order (show the wine list, maybe indicating the price with a finger) to avoid mistakes."

Bottom line is that restaurants are service establishments. Good ones should do everything necessary to give the customer a good experience. It isn't their "responsibility" to try to avoid expensive mistakes on the customer's part; it's their job.

Maybe I'm naive, cheap or just plain overly cautious, but when I order wine in a restaurant and the server asks a clarifying question (which means that there is going to be a difference in the price) I always ask for the wine list to make it clear to me and the server what exactly I am asking for.

I can understand that some customers feel intimidated by their lack of wine knowledge. I also understand that an establishment may not want to appear haughty or in some way offend the customer. As far as I'm concerned, there is no reason to get huffy and awkward when not checking could cost you far more than you expect. That goes for diners and restaurants.

One thing to point out: the article states that they were at "a very fine" NYC restaurant. That tells me that the wines on the list are already going to be expensive. Why should the sommelier assume that the diners didn't know what they were ordering?? I don't think the restaurant is in any way at fault. They probably get big spenders all the time and wouldn't think twice if someone ordered Screaming Eagle.

If it was a "very fine" restaurant, the waiter presumably presented the bottle before opening it (thus giving the patron anothe chance to fix a potential problem). If they said "yes, that's the bottle I ordered, then they're pretty well screwed".

Further, many wine lists have the really high-end gear sorted in a separate part of the list, making it really stand out that you're ordering the pricy stuff. Maybe not in this case, but I find it hard to find potential fault for the restaurant here...

I can't help it but considering the following obscure hipotesis of what happened at the "very fine" NY restaurant where this person drank the unwanted Screaming Eagle by mistake: He or she got to order the wine, saw the SE on the menu and thought: "it's now or never, i get to taste this wine and we all share the bill, then I claim it was all a big mistake, we pay the bill, my dining companions -friends?- will resent me forever, but who cares, that's a dream-come-true. I will always claim it was a mistake and the restaurant's fault. I will even write a (very mild) letter to the NYT to reinforce how all this was an accident". Sorry for the twisted version but given the pieces of the story we know I can't think of this as a simple mistake.

I read this and my first thought was: Oh. Great. This person, instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he whined instead. He dramatized an issue in the NYT that had the potential to dissuade people from playing the wine game. Regular folks don't realize this is a unique situation, they see evidence that even in a restaurant, no one will guide them, that wine is scary and not knowing could cost you - big time - more evidence that wine should be left to the sophisticated and the rich.
Of course, we would not be in this mess if some greedy bastard were not charging $2K a bottle. No recent wines should sell for that amount. It is. Not. Worth it. I do not care who picked the fruit, fondled the bottle or blessed the mailing list; Screaming Eagle will not ensure eternal life, bestow a sense of humor or grant you a good palate. Cheers!

My family had a somewhat similar experience at the Four Seasons while celebrating my brothers graduation. My father had ordered two bottles of red, both around a hundred dollars. My father accepted both bottles when our waiter presented them but noticed after they had both been opened that one was a proprietary red as opposed to some zin he had ordered. My father had been presented with the wrong bottle and accepted it because he he wasn't paying attention. I guess he assumed that such issues didn't exist in such a fine restaurant. At that point, I felt that it was mostly my father's fault for accepting the wrong bottle. We all agreed it was no big deal and would just enjoy the wine he hadn't ordered until my father asked our waiter how much this bottle cost. It was about 500 dollars. We all felt intensely uncomfortable as we drank this phenomenal mistake, until our waiter returned to the table with the wine list in his hand. He laughed as he pointed out an interesting discovery he had just made. The wines were accessed by the waitstaff by a designated number and not the name. The wine list contained a typo and both bottles had the same number. Blame for the mistake fell on the person who was responsible for the printing or proofing of the wine list and we got a stunning bottle of wine for 100 bucks.