Maison Ilan deliveries

[ToddFrench]

@Ray Walker

Todd, you and I both know that we are not on good terms. Please don’t attempt to compare my situation with Premier Cru and the Hospice wines. It is clear that your intention in doing so is not unbiased or even fair.

I find the comparison accurate:

Customer X is waiting to hear about product Y by merchant Z.

[Ray_Walker]

@Todd F r e n c h

@Ray Walker

Todd, you and I both know that we are not on good terms. Please don’t attempt to compare my situation with Premier Cru and the Hospice wines. It is clear that your intention in doing so is not unbiased or even fair.

I find the comparison accurate:

Customer X is waiting to hear about product Y by merchant Z.

Hey Todd… Thank you.

Have a great weekend.

[PaulMills]

Suzanne: I would be happy to buy your 2011’s from you so you do not have to wait on them any longer. Just let me know.

Being somewhat new to buying this level of wine, I did not even ask Ray what the delivery time would be. I don’t expect to open my 2012’s for probably ten years so I am not concerned with delivery time.

[Carl_Jensen]

@Todd F r e n c h

@Ray Walker

Todd, you and I both know that we are not on good terms. Please don’t attempt to compare my situation with Premier Cru and the Hospice wines. It is clear that your intention in doing so is not unbiased or even fair.

I find the comparison accurate:

Customer X is waiting to hear about product Y by merchant Z.

Really Todd? When does the producer of product y ever talk directly with the customer affected in the PC horror stories that have been well documented here?

[Howard_Cooper]

@Ray Walker

Hey Suzanne,
great speaking with you just now. I’ve always tried to be quick with emails but this time of year it can be a bit difficult. I have been flooded with emails and honestly have not been feeling too well. I have also been trying to spend more time with my family since during harvest I don’t see much of them. I understand that with my participation here it may seem like I should always be on the quick with responding but it is difficult at times.

For those awaiting 2011s, as I have mentioned on emails as well as on my blog, we have decided to hold our wines for a longer time in barrel. This is partially due to my thoughts on how our wines evolve though also something which was launched with consideration of this year’s weather. In short, the weather was dramatic. Times when I wanted to bottle arrived with rainy or snowy weather. If not for the cold, it was too hot. When tasting the wines and reflecting on releasing within a certain period of time I arrived at the thought that I was hurrying the wines just to make room in my tiny cave. A new vintage was coming so I needed to make room. Folks were rushing to have their wines so I moved quicker.

But here is the thing. At the end of the day, once a wine is taken from barrel and sent off to folks, it is the result of the vintage, the vineyard and my choices. I can’t help but think that rushing the wines out for the benefit of early drinking (or clients physically holding the bottles or making room) is doing a disservice to everyone’s wines. Some folks are in a rush, some don’t care when they arrive and some folks would prefer if I delivered at 10 years time.

The situation is further complicated due to my selling as futures. Folks have paid earlier and are more prone to want their wines as soon as possible…and rightly so, to some degree. I believe that if folks are paying for wines that are being taken care of, the timing of the bottling should be taken seriously.

It is with this thought that I have made the decision to lease more space (at the Abbaye de la Bussiere) to hold wines for a longer period of time. I do this not to keep wines away from my clients but to ensure that I am acting with the best intentions for my wines, their wines.

It is my belief, my understanding that wines of this level respond dramatically differently with more time to mature in barrel. It is of benefit to allow them this time. No one is necessarily rushing for their wines but I hope that my expressing this will help in explaining my point of view.

The 2011s will indeed be bottled shortly and shipped out to the US before the end of November. I make it a point to not speak about my views on my own wines but I can say that I believe they are what they should be and that the time has treated them well.

If anyone has further questions please don’t hesitate to contact me. I don’t have staff to answer emails, never have, so I thank you for your patience in my time responding.

Thank you

Ray Walker

Ray,

Thanks for the explanation. I for one would rather have the wines be as good as you can make them rather than have them quicker. Please continue to make decisions that are the best for the wine, as you have done so far.

[Howard_Cooper]

@Ray Walker

@Bud Carey

Ray… how about the ones who are still awaiting our 2010s? I haven’t heard anything yet.

Hey Bud
for folks that haven’t heard on 2010s, they should email me directly or call Crush (they would in this situation forward you to the warehouse).
Rest assured, everyone will be getting their wines soon. It is best to have communication from those expecting wines that have not received word such as yourself as soon as possible. Things happen, folks move, change email addresses, spam folders catch emails or things simply break loose. In any event, the wines will get to you shortly. It is my goal, my priority to make sure that folks aren’t stressed about it and that the wines will be placed into your hands and cellars as quickly as possible.

Bud, I’ll make a call over to Crush right now and see if I can get some answers. Thank you for letting me know about the break in communication.

Cheers

Ray

Ray, I have gotten all my 2010s other than the Corbeaux, which I understand you deemed not yet ready (which is fine). Could you give us an update on why you did not feel the Corbeaux is ready and what you are waiting for. One of the great things about buying your wines is in addition to getting great wines we get some of your thinking process, which hopefully will make the wines even better to taste when we get them and age them.

[Howard_Cooper]

@Jerry Hey

If you like seeing Ray’s new basement cellar, you should check out Abbaye de la Bussiere. A beautiful spot to stay albeit a half an hour from Beaune, the abbaye is quite spectacular with a one star Michelin restaurant.

⇒ Abbaye de la Bussière · Relais & Châteaux Bourgogne, Hôtel 4 étoiles Côte d'Or

Well, now I am nervous. A bunch of wine berserkers staying that close to my wine? Ray, I hope that you have a good lock.

[Ray_Walker]

@Howard Cooper

@Ray Walker

Hey Suzanne,
great speaking with you just now. I’ve always tried to be quick with emails but this time of year it can be a bit difficult. I have been flooded with emails and honestly have not been feeling too well. I have also been trying to spend more time with my family since during harvest I don’t see much of them. I understand that with my participation here it may seem like I should always be on the quick with responding but it is difficult at times.

For those awaiting 2011s, as I have mentioned on emails as well as on my blog, we have decided to hold our wines for a longer time in barrel. This is partially due to my thoughts on how our wines evolve though also something which was launched with consideration of this year’s weather. In short, the weather was dramatic. Times when I wanted to bottle arrived with rainy or snowy weather. If not for the cold, it was too hot. When tasting the wines and reflecting on releasing within a certain period of time I arrived at the thought that I was hurrying the wines just to make room in my tiny cave. A new vintage was coming so I needed to make room. Folks were rushing to have their wines so I moved quicker.

But here is the thing. At the end of the day, once a wine is taken from barrel and sent off to folks, it is the result of the vintage, the vineyard and my choices. I can’t help but think that rushing the wines out for the benefit of early drinking (or clients physically holding the bottles or making room) is doing a disservice to everyone’s wines. Some folks are in a rush, some don’t care when they arrive and some folks would prefer if I delivered at 10 years time.

The situation is further complicated due to my selling as futures. Folks have paid earlier and are more prone to want their wines as soon as possible…and rightly so, to some degree. I believe that if folks are paying for wines that are being taken care of, the timing of the bottling should be taken seriously.

It is with this thought that I have made the decision to lease more space (at the Abbaye de la Bussiere) to hold wines for a longer period of time. I do this not to keep wines away from my clients but to ensure that I am acting with the best intentions for my wines, their wines.

It is my belief, my understanding that wines of this level respond dramatically differently with more time to mature in barrel. It is of benefit to allow them this time. No one is necessarily rushing for their wines but I hope that my expressing this will help in explaining my point of view.

The 2011s will indeed be bottled shortly and shipped out to the US before the end of November. I make it a point to not speak about my views on my own wines but I can say that I believe they are what they should be and that the time has treated them well.

If anyone has further questions please don’t hesitate to contact me. I don’t have staff to answer emails, never have, so I thank you for your patience in my time responding.

Thank you

Ray Walker

Ray,

Thanks for the explanation. I for one would rather have the wines be as good as you can make them rather than have them quicker. Please continue to make decisions that are the best for the wine, as you have done so far.

Thanks Howard!

[Peter_Tryba]

No dog blah blah blah. I don’t even know Ray.

Ray, keep doing what you’re doing.
Everyone else, re-freaking-LAX!

Don’t chase off one of the few (only?) Burgundy producers from the BB.

[Ray_Walker]

@Howard Cooper

@Ray Walker

@Bud Carey

Ray… how about the ones who are still awaiting our 2010s? I haven’t heard anything yet.

Hey Bud
for folks that haven’t heard on 2010s, they should email me directly or call Crush (they would in this situation forward you to the warehouse).
Rest assured, everyone will be getting their wines soon. It is best to have communication from those expecting wines that have not received word such as yourself as soon as possible. Things happen, folks move, change email addresses, spam folders catch emails or things simply break loose. In any event, the wines will get to you shortly. It is my goal, my priority to make sure that folks aren’t stressed about it and that the wines will be placed into your hands and cellars as quickly as possible.

Bud, I’ll make a call over to Crush right now and see if I can get some answers. Thank you for letting me know about the break in communication.

Cheers

Ray

Ray, I have gotten all my 2010s other than the Corbeaux, which I understand you deemed not yet ready (which is fine). Could you give us an update on why you did not feel the Corbeaux is ready and what you are waiting for. One of the great things about buying your wines is in addition to getting great wines we get some of your thinking process, which hopefully will make the wines even better to taste when we get them and age them.

Hey Howard,
basically, the Corbeaux didn’t start malo until over a year after the other 2010s were finished with malo. Just one of those things. I could have coaxed it along but I thought it would be better if things moved at their own pace instead of altering the wine to fit my schedule or what I thought the wine should do relative to its peers.

The other 2010s stayed in barrel a decent amount of time after they finished malo so I wanted to afford the 2010 with this same treatment. The logic is flawed, but somewhat solid if you tilt your head, hop on one leg and cover one eye.

[CWun]

@Ray Walker

…

Hello,
just to provide some factual info, here is a post I made on my public blog on September 11th:
http://blog.maison-ilan.com/2013/09/11/2011s-update/

Ray[/i]

Fair enough.
I don’t think that info was sent out in email format in September though. I did a quick search of my email archive.
Didn’t know you had a blog. Probably information like that should be pushed out instead of relying on people to visit a blog. Just MHO.

cheers

[Ray_Walker]

@CWun

@Ray Walker

…

Hello,
just to provide some factual info, here is a post I made on my public blog on September 11th:
http://blog.maison-ilan.com/2013/09/11/2011s-update/

Ray[/i]

Fair enough.
I don’t think that info was sent out in email format in September though. I did a quick search of my email archive.
Didn’t know you had a blog. Probably information like that should be pushed out instead of relying on people to visit a blog. Just MHO.

cheers

You have an excellent point. Ideally, the info would have gone out to the mailing list and then the blog. The blog is not as important. Somehow, I dropped the ball as I believed that I had also copied the mailing list. My error clearly. For those that did not see this post and for those not given the ability to see it through the mailing list channel I apologize.

I have sent out an update just 5 minutes ago to the list as well as through the twitter/facebook paths.

Thank you again for supporting our wines!

Ray

[ToddFrench]

@Carl Jensen

@Todd F r e n c h

@Ray Walker

Todd, you and I both know that we are not on good terms. Please don’t attempt to compare my situation with Premier Cru and the Hospice wines. It is clear that your intention in doing so is not unbiased or even fair.

I find the comparison accurate:

Customer X is waiting to hear about product Y by merchant Z.

Really Todd? When does the producer of product y ever talk directly with the customer affected in the PC horror stories that have been well documented here?

I said ‘merchant’, not ‘producer’. In some cases, they could be the same person. In others cases, not.

[Paul_McCourt]

Customers…what a bitch they can be. Kinda hard to run a business without them, so I would recommend dropping the story about how hard it is to have them and just smile and wave.

[Ray_Walker]

@Paul McCourt

Customers…what a bitch they can be. Kinda hard to run a business without them, so I would recommend dropping the story about how hard it is to have them and just smile and wave.

…hi Paul. Where did I mention how hard it was to have clients? What I recall posting is that while I am placing wines in barrel, I just might be a tad busy. Also, having so many points of contact spread out increases the odds that I might miss something. It really isn’t more complicated than that, though some folks clearly would like it to seem otherwise.
So while I think your above comment is a catchy one, and actually pretty funny, I can’t see myself relating to it one bit.

[Paul_McCourt]

Ray, you miss my point. Your whole story about how busy you are and what more can I do, etc. is, in my opinion, nothing more than a complaint about customer expectations. That’s how I read it. Right or wrong, the best course (again, in my opinion) is to not go there. It’s a no win scenario, in my experience.

[Carl_Jensen]

Todd

Comparing Ray to PC as both ‘merchants’ with anything in common is a gross misrepresentation of the reality of the situation.

[Ray_Walker]

If anyone has any questions regarding shipments, our wines in general or Burgundy, please don’t hesitate in contacting me through my email address: ray@maison-ilan.com .

[Craig_G]

I just want to point out that Ray responded by phone and post within a few hours of the original posting, so comparisons to the other cases mentioned are totally bizarre.

[Jonathan_Grunzweig]

@Ray Walker

I believe that the solution is to be far less active on this website and to focus communication in less places. It sure would make things easier to know that most communication leads are coming in through one or two paths instead of six (this site being one).

Likely true, but a loss for this admirer nonetheless. I’ll surely respect your choice – or perhaps it’s more fairly characterized as a necessity – but hope your tweets, etc. do justice to the past participation here that I’ve been enjoying (or at least disprove Sainthood ).

Best wishes,
Jonathan