Total Wine & More

First time coming into a total wine last night and were in awe by the selection and how nice the store was so was taking our time walking through everything. I was specifically looking for interesting non alcoholic beverage options and didnt have a couple brands I was looking for (I.e curious elixirs, kin euphorics) to which the guy made a joke out of and wouldn’t leave after he showed me where they could be and was hovering and had a very weird attitude.. did find a few I was interested in though and did buy one. I felt like we kept getting hounded by workers the same guy commented to my husband “no alcohol yet huh”. A guy pops out of nowhere while I’m trying to focus a couple of times “questions!l Just overwhelming and uncomfortable experience not sure we’d go back in there because of that. Never experienced that anywhere before! At first I thought they were just trying to be helpful but didnt realize my husband pointed out afterwards that they made him seem like he was going to steal or something, he was just waiting for me to pick something out.. not ok.

With a heavy heart, I am very sad to say that this Total Wine location ruined my wedding. In September, my now-husband and I went to the store for a wedding consultation, and the experience was amazing. Our sommelier walked us through different types of wine and helped us select the perfect wines for our wedding in October. My husband is already a member of Total Wine and we got a nice discount from ordering at this location. Things went down at the pickup. There were a few things we ordered: Caliveda Chardonnay, Courtney Benham Cabernet Sauvignon, La Vostra Prosecco, Aperix Peritvio, and Blue Moon Belgian White. We ordered 18 bottles of Caliveda Chardonnay and 18 bottles of Courtney Benham Cabernet Sauvignon. Upon the day of pick up, the staff couldn't find the order. After a long-frustrated 20 minutes, we found out it was based on the day we ordered, not the pickup date. The staff gave us a new case of Caliveda and a new case of Courtney Benham, there were supposed to be 6 bottles of Caliveda Chardonnay and 6 bottles of Courtney Benham Cabernet Sauvignon, however, we only got 5 bottles of red and a few were not Courtney Benham brand. My husband caught that and the staff replaced those other brands of wine bottles with Courtney Benham Cabernet Sauvignon. Surprisingly on the day of the wedding, the guests were surprised that 18 bottles of Caliveda Chardonnay were gone in 30 minutes. We had a small wedding of a total of 45 people, not everyone drank wine, and it was impossible for 18 bottles of Caliveda Chardonnay gone in 30 minutes. The thing is that my husband and I didn't know about the wine issue until the wedding was over. We tried to count the leftover wines and couldn't find any leftover Caliveda Chardonnay. It took me a while (read: multiple phone calls and texts to vendors and friends, and of course, a huge load of frustration) and finally found out that Total Wine gave us the wrong wine—the whole new case of Caliveda was Pinot Noir, not Chardonnay. The case has the brand printed on the box, with a small sticker on the side labeled pinot noir. Well, the mystery was solved and I was so shocked that Total Wine messed this up. Honestly, on the day of the order, the cases should already be set aside and ready to pick up—at least that was what we were told—everything would be ready. So, how could the staff (1) not find our order, (2) mess up the total count of wine bottles we ordered, and (3) mess up the wine we ordered? Total Wine staff, you have one job and you ruined my wedding. Yes, I am a very unhappy graduated bride and I am still very upset after a month of my wedding day. Thanks to California law, now we have 12 bottles of Caliveda Pinot Noir that we didn't even intend to order. Guests were so confused as to why the Chardonnay was not offered as listed on the drink menu. I strongly suggest anyone who would consider ordering bulk wine from Total Wine, DON'T DO IT. They ruined my wedding and they could possibly ruin your important events. I won't be able to re-do my wedding so why let Total Wine have the chance to ruin yours? Just don't.