So, I hear Weygandt wines opened in Washington, DC a couple of weeks ago.
Peter Weygandt is an importer, and now, like many before him, is a retailer.
He has a very good portfolio of wines. In years past, we have purchased many of his CDPs, but this year, Peter opted to not confirm his allocations until after Robert Parker’s reviews had been published. Conveniently, the allocations were confirmed just 18 hours after the scores were published online.
Take, for example, Charvin CDP…a wine that has been widely available for years, and usually ends up on discount…now I get 60% of what I asked for…then we move onto Clos St. Jean…
The first release of Deux Machina was 2003…as you can see, we have been supporters…
2003 sold in NY for $60/btl, I got 24 btls.
2004 sold in NY for $60/btl, I got 159 btls.
2005 sold in NY for $70/btl, I got 36 btls.
2006 sold in NY for $81.33/btl, I got 12 btls, 6 mags, 1 dbl mag 2007 sold in NY for $167/btl, I got 3 btls!
Everyone knew this was going to get get 100 points from Parker for the past 6 months, presumably even Peter Weygandt.
is this the first time this has happened to you? It’s not just importers doing it but distributors too. We buy in good & bad years and in really good years it’s “Sorry, I might be able to get you a 3 pack”. Absolutely no loyalty for buying previous vintages. I say keep it, there’s too many things available these days.
I could have gotten Charvin in decent quantity I think.
For the Clos St. Jean, in MD at least, if you bought a case of the VV you could get one bottle of either Deus or whatever the other luxury cuvee is. You couldn’t just get the big boys.
I am curious to see their new shop though. I like the portfolio and assume that the store will get some special cuvees that are not distributed around as much.
For example, i got the last 6 bottles of Tribouley Orchis 07 in MD. I know that there wasn’t much to begin with. I wonder if the store would keep that. They, for the time being at least, clear all their wines through the MD wholesaler even though you can direct import in DC.
i manage a wholesaler and can agree that the allocation game is a difficult one to play at best. i want to secure the cases for my customers, it doesn’t do me any good to not try to get the boxes as that’s what i’m in the biz for – to make sales. it amazes me when sometimes i llisten to customers complain about nit being allocated goods when i have battled via phone and email for days jsut to get them whatever i can. i can tell you that i win far more than i lose here but its the ones you do lose that are so frustrating (not to mention the particular customers, the 1% club, who are such a PITA over a very small quantity…
I’m with Dan on this one. We’ve been supporting this importer by purchasing plenty of wine that did NOT receive 100 points. Or 90+ for that matter. We buy regularly with the expectation that loyalty runs both directions. So, when we purchased the 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 Clos St Jean wines (at full mark-up) we expected two things to remain relatively stable: price and allocation.
Of course, given the vagaries of this business, high ratings will cause prices to rise and allocations to fall over the course of time. Look at Clos des Papes. I’m totally cool with that! I get it! I understand. It’s capitalism. However, what pissed off Dan (and probably everyone else who bought CSJ wines in the past) is the double whammy of a ONE HUNDRED PERCENT PRICE INCREASE with the halving or quartering of allocations.
Now I have to tell my customers (that’s you, the consumer) their price and allocation just took the same hit. And that blows.
Dan’s allocation goes from 159 bottles to 3 in three years and the price nearly triples. He’s got a legit gripe here. He’s been a buyer in good and lean years now gets slapped in the face. Not fair.
slap to the face? get over yourself, entitlement = assumption (and we all know where that gets people). I deal with customers all the time who feel “entitled” to a lot of things, that’s the completely wrong way to go about something IMHO. Sorry to be the voice of discontent here but gotta be honest about it, allocated cherrys go to the people who have supported an overall brand &/or portfolio, not one item. it’s always a judgement call and obviously I can’t speak to what your other business has been with the importer but it will enter into the picture.
i would agree with you however regarding the price increase, that’s just dirty pool.