Venue pays price of cheap fizz on big day

IT WAS supposed to add sparkle to a special day, but instead left a bride and her family fizzing. Understandably anxious on her wedding day, little did Sheonagh Taylor suspect that the main upset would be a choice of beverage.

She and her father, Peter McLaren, had arranged with the venue to lay on glasses of sparkling wine for their party of 90 at 3.60 per head.

But on arrival, few of her friends and family partook of what was on offer – Lambrini, a medium-sweet perry that is the aperitif for many a girls' night out.

So incensed was the father of the bride, he decided to take legal action against the venue, Mains Castle in Caird Park – resulting in the unusual sight of Sheriff George Way poring over the label of the bottle from his bench.

The sheriff found in Mr McLaren's favour, ruling that Lambrini was inferior to what had been agreed.

The case yesterday at Dundee Sheriff Court saw Mrs Taylor recall how the shine was taken off her wedding to Andy Taylor, 33, a RAF engineer. The 34-year-old mother of two said she felt "upset and cheated" by the drinks substitution.

"It was embarrassing serving something cheap," she said.

"The whole thing left a sour taste in the mouth."

Mr McLaren said he paid Mains Castle 500 to provide sparkling wine at the start of the function on 18 July last year.

But he said few guests had showed a taste for the Lambrini. "Guests at a wedding are never going to complain, but my wife saw there were a lot of glasses left undrunk," he said.

Mr McLaren, from Broughty Ferry, gave Mr Way a bottle of the drink, whose label states it is a "slightly sparkling perry", with a 7.5 per cent ABV.

"We were given a cheap substitute instead of wine," Mr McLaren added. His wife Sharon, mother of the bride, denied that all of the guests had drunk the Lambrini, let alone asked for more.

Defending the claims, Mains Castle proprietors Eva and Victor Peterson maintained that Lambrini, available in supermarkets for as little as 1.27 a bottle, was a type of wine. They said it was a popular "celebratory drink" and often chosen as a first drink because it had a lower alcohol content. On this occasion, it also came within the budget.

Mr Peterson said the Lambrini had been bought from the wine section of a cash and carry.

Mr Way ruled there was a contract in place for the venue to provide sparkling wine and Lambrini was "frankly an inferior product". Mr McLaren was awarded 324 compensation, plus 50 for a "general sense of disappointment".

A spokeswoman for Lambrini's PR firm BJL said last night it was unable to comment on the case.