Trustworthy Wine Salesman?

Seems like almost every time I go in to my local wine store, I end up seeing the same salesperson. Because I'm still a beginner, I always ask for help choosing wine. He's pretty good - friendly, ready to help and always happy to make recommendations and chat about the wines you're buying. However, he's also got something of the pushy salesman about him, and a few things have happened recently to make me wonder if he's either not as knowledgeable as he makes out, or possibly even that he's using my ignorance to fob off bad bottles on me.

* On asking for a Loire Cabernet Franc he instead suggested I buy a 2002 Friuli CF which they had at a discount. According to Robin, 2002 isn't a great year for Friuli and indeed, it isn't much of a wine.
* On asking for a Beaujolais, specifically to drink on its own, without a meal, he suggested I try an Anjou Gamay and said it had been produced specifically to drink on its own. I have at least one wine book (by Jancis Robinson) which says Gamay from anywhere but Beaujolais isn't worth drinking. I also have good enough high school French to know that the bottle he sold me suggests it be drunk with cold buffets on the back label.
* We were chatting about a Muscat de Beaune de Venise dessert wine and he told me that it, and all the dessert wines in the store, were made from Botrytised grapes. I thought at the time, and have now had the chance to confirm that Muscat de Beaune de Venise is made by adding spirit to stop fermentation and retain the sugar.
* He keeps picking up quite cheap bottles for me and recommending them as "starting points" to learn about a particular varietal/region. At first this seemed like fairly sound advice but with everything else that's happened I'm starting t wonder if he isn't just trying to shift bottles that more discerning consumers might pass over.

The shop in question is the only "proper" wine shop in the area. Does it sound like this guy is playing fair with me or not? If not, what should I do about it?

Think I would get a different salesman. If you still end up with him you should stick to your guns. I am not a Cab Franc fan but the best are definitley from the Loire. Gamay is from Beaujolais and no excuse for bad info on the sweeties. As a beginnner the best thing is a good wine shop to help you explore but that assumes they know what they are talking about.
Walt

Knowing the shop, it really does seem to be the most credble option in the area.

Maybe a better option is to ask what they've got on tasting (when we went there there were 20-30 bottles on the side or in the fridge). They had their reds too warm when we went in late spring, but it should be a little cooler now.

I made some prep when we were over in Bath and these were the wine shops I had down as possible visits (comments in brackets from memory)
Bottoms Up 20 Westgate St, Bath (Generally I avoid them due to the cynical 3for2 marketing with inflated standard prices - some good wines in the range, but pretty thin on the ground)
Tasting Room, 4 St. Saviours Rd, Bath (Not very impressive - a bit touristy)
Forge Wines, 23 Marksbury, Bath (This ones a little out of town from memory and we didn't go - sounded interesting though)
Barrique, 6 George St, Bath (again not impressed)
Drinks Cabinet 41 Upper Bloomfield Rd Odd Down, Bath (didn't go there)
Great Western Wine Wells Rd, Bath (the wine shop in question - good range, but perhaps the owner/manager needs to respect your original request a little more - if you ask for Beaujoais, I'd expect to be offered a Beaujolais or two, with maybe the alternative offered as an afterthought)
... also an Italian deli 'Chandos' which was quite a disappointment in both food and wine.

There's also the Majestic, which can be a happy hunting ground, even if the regular 'offers' are starting to seem a little cynical.

regards

Ian

Try the bottles and see if you like them. Go back and talk to the sales person about what you did or did not like with the wines. Give him a chance to match palates.

Tasting is much more important than reading.

For me, drinking wine without food is a waste.

While I'm deep into Loire Cabernet Franc, they do produce good examples elsewhere (as much as I hate to admit.) I'd love a Friuli Cab Franc option in my market, if even just for kicks. Gamay can be lovely in the Loire even if Beaujolais may be the greatest expression of the grape. Muscat de Beaumes des Venise? I never much cared for it. The only way to buy dessert wine IMHO, is to drop a few bucks (or quid as it were.) I don't know if your salesman is getting paid for his recco's (an ugly and not totally uncommon practice in the USA), but he may very well believe in his choices. Christ, some wine salesman don't know what Friuli or Cabernet Franc is. If he steers you wrong enough, you'll move on.

Sounds like he could also be limited by his available selection. I guess you know best what other options are available to you, but a different store would be my first strategy.

If you do have to return, you might specify why you didn't like the wines he selected, and then encourage him to help you find wines that you do like. Giving this guy the benefit of the doubt (which may or may not be warranted), some customers may be perfectly happy with those low level wines and until you demonstrate that you have specific requests he may be less inclined to make recommendations.

I agree that it can be difficult in the beginning, and I've been lucky enough to shop in markets where I had plenty of options. But, from my understanding the UK has a pretty vibrant mail-order wine market..

Good luck.

I think Dan's advice on this is quite sound. As a consumer, one needs recommendations not only that certain wines are good, but how and why they are good. If your salesperson says a wine is good, and you buy it and come back and say it is not, you don't have much to go on. But if your salesperson says it is good for reasons A, B, C and D and you come back and say you liked A and B, disliked C, and had no idea what he was talking about with D, you have something to build on--you will better understand what elements of your salesperson's recommendations are useful to you and your salesperson will better understand your palate.

And remember that generalizations (bad vintages, bad regions) are useful for characterizing generalities but are not perfect in pigeonholing every single wine. Bad vintages still see good wines by some producers (and can be better deals as they face less demand, at least in high profile areas). And I will guarantee that Jancis Robinson has not tasted every Gamay made outside of Beaujolais. Certainly ESJ California Gamays seem to have met with great acclaim among participants here. Specific wine recommendations one can trust are far more useful to a consumer picking up a bottle than the generalizations--too much variation in the world of wine. If picking good wines were simply a matter of applying rules, boards such as this probably would not exist.

As a general principle I think the best way to buy wine is to find a good salesman and stick to him (or her).

I love Friuli CF (which is usually made of Carmenere, actually) but I'm not sure I'd talk you out of Chinon to try it, nor would I talk you out of Beaujolais to go to Anjou Gamay (although there are some very good examples). But at least he's not up-selling you. Stick to your guns, tell him you want good classic examples of the classic types.