Interesting Blog Post by Kevin McKenna (Louis/Dressner)

[SteveC]

@Tim Heaton

Not getting the whining thing, though I suppose I can see where some might. Not how they might, but where they might. Kind of like is your glass half full or, well, you get it.

These people needed to be called out. This is not a limited incident within the industry, not even close. And, if calling people out is considered to be whining, then I’m afraid things are worse than I’d imagined.

The paradox is worth a chuckle, though: People complaining about what they perceive to be one person’s whining.

If some people (those ‘called out’) made some mistakes, honest or otherwise, it would be nice to see them own up to it.

I am just a wine enthusiast, not an industry participant. Since your linkedin profile states “Principal, Wine Strategies-consultant to 3 tiers of wine industry; creating relationships for profit,retention & growth … consultant to the trade: importers, distributors, retailers & career education and assistance,”, you should have ITB after your signature and should acknowledge your potential conflicts of interest.

I do buy from Selector L, Louis Dressner and many others. That is my only potential conflict of interest.

[Brent_C_l_a_y_t_o_n]

@Walter Nissen

The person who is being complained about is Lyle Fass, who has a relatively new import company.

Ya think?

[Tim_Heaton]

I do buy from Selector L, Louis Dressner and many others. That is my only potential conflict of interest.

well then it appears I have less (possible) conflict of interest - all I do is drink and enjoy the wines of L/D as I have for years. If I actually had (possible) conflicts, I’m pretty sure I’d have acknowledged that up front; though I see your point and may update my sig. Thanks.

[NoahR]

A truly bitchy blog. Business is business and Lyle and Rimmerman and everyone else make their money starting out on the coattails of institutions like Dressner and the finding ways to undercut, swipe accounts and create portfolios. Crappy it is. But part of the evolution of markets. One can think some aspects of these practices are unsavory but the only thing that I lament is that I find it hard to get a straight evaluation of whether I’ll like a wine or not from the repetitive, redundant and purple prose coming from the sales offers I receive every day.

Thank god I like most wine I drink.

[Lee_Short]

So the ‘crime’ that Lyle is being charged with is importing a wine, and writing ad copy for it?

That is in no way crappy or anything remotely like it. Jules Dressner must pine for those antiquated liquor laws where once an importer/distributor represented an estate, they had the estate over the barrel, and had a legal monopoly. At least it wasn’t in perpetuity. Change happens. Deal with it.

The last one was pretty crappy, sure. But tarring them all with the same brush is pretty crappy, too.

Further, if crappy importer behavior were cause for me not to buy the wines, I’d have really been forced to stop buying the Dressner wines years ago.

[Thomas_Keim]

I see most of what Lyle offers, and I think he is doing a terrific job of ferreting out some pretty unique wines and producers. Not fond of the “greatest wine X I’ve ever tasted” notes - but most of his producers are new entries in the country and from some pretty engaging appellations - so kudos to Fass for building a pretty serious little catalog.

And frankly - there are a ton of producers in France and Italy selling to multiple suppliers/importers - usually with special cuvees. I’m guessing the wine in question was purchased honestly, and more than likely told it was a special cuvee NOT imported by Dressner - so what would be the harm?

The only issue for Lyle would be to have a different domaine name on the label (most French estates have 4-5 dormant names laying around) -

[GregT]

Maybe it’s just me but I thought it was a complete bullshit rant. Back in the day, say the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the wine business was pretty much part of the liquor business. It was before the Paris tasting and before the 60 Minutes story on the French Paradox. And back then, most guys, and it was definitely guys, in the liquor business were and still are sensitive souls who spend their free time gardening and visiting craft fairs.

There were far fewer producers, far fewer importers, far fewer retailers, and far fewer customers. According to the author, the British invented wine commerce, so in the US, importers acted like gentlemen? Whatever that could possibly mean. I guess it means that Joe Dressner himself was a kind, gentle and humble soul who treated his competitors warmly and generously.

Then the guy bitches about someone who says he’s going to cut out the middle man, i.e. the Louis Dressners of the world. Well, as we know, the three-tier system was handed down from on high, so that’s clearly heresy.

I have nothing against importers. They offer a valuable service and are disparaged by the naive and ignorant for the most part. However, things change. Life goes on. So if the internet has now empowered people to start with very little, it’s also why LD is as big as it is.

In an ideal world they’d figure out a way to compete. Or better yet, lobby your friendly legislator to have the new model outlawed. In other words, make new rules. Marquess of Queensbury and all.

But my favorite was this complete load of BS:

The reason we don’t bring this in is simple; this is a tiny cuvée that Eric de la Vigerie, who took over from his father-in-law Jean Raffault in the 00’s, makes for a niche French clientele who are in fact searching for the more modern, extracted and oaked versions of Chinon found in some of the bigger, venerated commercial estates in the region. We were certainly always aware of this cuvée, and have tasted it every year with the same wan smiles. It’s just not for us or for our clients.

So he passed on it. Then someone else said it was the best wine of all. How dare someone have a different opinion! The LD people have spoken. The producer is to make what LD wants and LD only shall they serve.

The temerity to think that a wine LD didn’t like might be good!

I can’t tell if he’s offended by the fact that someone disagreed or by the fact that someone decided to bring in a wine that LD had repeatedly passed on. How is picking up a wine that LD passed on unethical?

I love a lot of wines from the Loire, a lot of Cab Franc, and even a lot of the LD portfolio. And I always thought some of the Raffault wines were crap. So I’m actually interested in tasting this wine. Even if the godlike LD buyers passed on it.

Same for the rest of the rant. It’s just whining.

[Carlos_Delpin]

I think the heart of the rant is against someone trying to profit from his work of the past 20 years. That is a fair complaint. Over the past 6 years my company has been single handedly investing and building the craft beer category in Puerto Rico. Now that it is a viable category everyone and their mothers are writing to our current breweries asking for representation. Really? They can’t write to the other 2000 USA breweries without representation? These people are looking for the easy way in and profit from someone else’s work, risk, and investment.

DO THE WORK.

[Paul_Jaouen]

[quote=“Thomas Keim”]I see most of what Lyle offers, and I think he is doing a terrific job of ferreting out some pretty unique wines and producers. Not fond of the “greatest wine X I’ve ever tasted” notes - but most of his producers are new entries in the country and from some pretty engaging appellations - so kudos to Fass for building a pretty serious little catalog. /quote]

Agreed. And don’t think for one second that other big importers aren’t trying to muscle in on Lyle’s discoveries and taking away his business. It goes both ways.

LD’s rant was BS but I would expect as much from them.

[J_Henson]

Kevin McKenna’s blog post does provide one valuable service for wine consumers: he gave us his candid assessment of a particular wine: it is made in a “modern, extracted and oaked” style typical of “bigger, venerated commercial estates in the region.” It is not his style, nor the style, he believes, of his clients. Lyle Fass describes the same wine as: “classic Chinon yet with a bit of heft and density.” We drink and decide who is right (for ourselves). We should all encourage more of this candor in the promoting of wines, rather than trying to differentiate between 93 points and 92.75 points.

[Ian_Dorin]

@Carlos Delpin

I think the heart of the rant is against someone trying to profit from his work of the past 20 years. That is a fair complaint. Over the past 6 years my company has been single handedly investing and building the craft beer category in Puerto Rico. Now that it is a viable category everyone and their mothers are writing to our current breweries asking for representation. Really? They can’t write to the other 2000 USA breweries without representation? These people are looking for the easy way in and profit from someone else’s work, risk, and investment.

DO THE WORK.

+1.
Again, I’m really shocked that folks view this post as whining.

I don’t think folks understand what Dressner is doing is the hardest kind of work in this business. How many consumers out there buy the kinds of wines they sell? It’s a such a tiny percentage of the wine consuming public. They do tons of events so that people can try the wines prior to buying them too, which I imagine is very costly. I would say 95% of retailers and restaurants can’t sell the wines they have too.

[Walt_Hoehler]

One man’s “democratization of wine” is another’s “unethical behavior and laziness”. Call it progress, call it innovation, call it cut-throat.

The blog post actually makes me think that LD needs to work on their producer relationships. That, or they need to buy more wine from them. For sure LD has built tremendous brand value for some of these folks, and to that extent they should be sniping at producers where applicable. Have they done enough to make their producers aware of the value of their efforts?

[Frank_Drew]

@David M. Bueker

So to the folks complaining about the column: will you no longer buy Louis/Dressner imports?
.
.
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That’s what I thought.

Well, maybe you thought wrong but don’t let that get in the way of missing the point.

[David_Bu3ker]

Frank,

I totally disagree with the “point” of most folks in this thread. And bear in mind that almost nobody has taken the level of crap I did from the former head of LD.

[Ken_V]

I posted this because I had a very mixed reaction to it. I am seeing many of the thoughts I had both pro and con expressed here. I think it is a good discussion.

BTW does anyone know or think they know who is being referred to after Lyle? [Feel free to PM if you don’t want to say publicly.]

[Ian_Dorin]

@Walt Hoehler

One man’s “democratization of wine” is another’s “unethical behavior and laziness”. Call it progress, call it innovation, call it cut-throat.

The blog post actually makes me think that LD needs to work on their producer relationships. That, or they need to buy more wine from them. For sure LD has built tremendous brand value for some of these folks, and to that extent they should be sniping at producers where applicable. Have they done enough to make their producers aware of the value of their efforts?

I think you should go back and re-read it. Only one of the producers sold wine to another person that LD was already buying. The other cuvees were all wines that LD had passed on.

[Thomas_Keim]

@Walt Hoehler

One man’s “democratization of wine” is another’s “unethical behavior and laziness”. Call it progress, call it innovation, call it cut-throat.

The blog post actually makes me think that LD needs to work on their producer relationships. That, or they need to buy more wine from them. For sure LD has built tremendous brand value for some of these folks, and to that extent they should be sniping at producers where applicable. Have they done enough to make their producers aware of the value of their efforts?

As I stated earlier Walt; the French and the Italians will offer wines to different importers and just put different labels on them. You will find producers in Bobby Kacher’s catalog that are from the same house as wines from Vineyard Brands catalog for example, just a different domaine name at the bottom of the label. This is especially the case in Burgundy. It does happen a lot.

So I am sure that Dressner has a fine relationship with their producers, and the Dressner firm knows full well about different cuvees and wines being sold under different labels into the US market. If I were them, I would demand a different label be used for these future cuvees they don’t sell to protect all their work on the primary domaine name and leave the whining to the Mets and Jets fans.

[Jay_Miller]

@GregT

Maybe it’s just me but I thought it was a complete bullshit rant. Back in the day, say the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the wine business was pretty much part of the liquor business. It was before the Paris tasting and before the 60 Minutes story on the French Paradox. And back then, most guys, and it was definitely guys, in the liquor business were and still are sensitive souls who spend their free time gardening and visiting craft fairs.

There were points of greater or lesser validity. The calling out of someone who stiffed a bunch of growers and left then in bad financial shape is entirely justified. Also, the chutzpah of someone who poached a LDM producer and then asked LDM to help with the importation paperwork is pretty out there as well as well as making a good story.

[Ian_Dorin]

@Ken V

I posted this because I had a very mixed reaction to it. I am seeing many of the thoughts I had both pro and con expressed here. I think it is a good discussion.

BTW does anyone know or think they know who is being referred to after Lyle? [Feel free to PM if you don’t want to say publicly.]

I’d like to figure out who the Bay Area guy is that got stunted with the paperwork.

[Gary_York]

I certainly find it a little bitchy/whiny. But I will not stop buying wine from them. I put it in the glass and let the wine speak for itself. What is the use of having free speech if you can’t use it?