I wasn’t clear - my point wasn’t that Dan wasn’t getting screwed, it was an objection to the word entitled. I’m just more cynical than most but having been screwed enough in business I don’t have the illusion that I’m entitled to anything - people will go make other deals if they feel it’s in their interests and often their view of ‘in their interests’ is very short term. If Weygandt felt they could make more money for the company selling that wine through their new retail outlet, they will (and apparently did?). In a tough economy, taking short term profits might seem like the smart thing to do. The question is, what will Dan and others how got allocations cut do next year and the year after? If you go back to buying everything they allocate to you, guess what - they were right. They made more money now and didn’t lose future business. Messed up? yes, but this is business, not friendship.
too often I see a sense of entitlement that just shouldn’t exist - this is one of those cases. Consider the next tier down… you have a dozen good customers who’ve bought a wine for years, year in and year out. You have a new customer who’s been buying a bunch from you, but not this wine - he’s new to your shop since the last release. The new release comes out, it’s a phenomenal vintage, quantities are limited. He asks if he can get a few bottles. Doing that would mean cutting the regulars back. You might do it to incent this new, good customer to keep shopping with you… yet I can see the older customers screaming they were entitled to more. The new guy might feel that his purchases over the past year ‘entitle’ him to a couple of bottles. Guess what? No one is entitled to jack. The merchant should do what they feel is best for their business and most fair - but it’s business. .
Would you like to see my depletion report of Weygandt products I purchase? Not that it is any of your business here, but I buy a lot of his wines, or used to. Will you then get your head out of your ass?
You sound like the best reason to hate the three tiers. Thank you for your input.
Fuck Dan Posner. [middle-finger.gif] He is just trying to take down poor Weygandt because he doesn’t like him. Pretty soon, he will be doing ashitty tasting of all of his wines, and then posting on them.
Entitled sounds whiny. I don’t like whiny, or the synonyms. The question is, you talk big here - what will you do next year on this wine? Cliched, but… talk’s cheap. Want to show them? Don’t order as much next time. IF you do, this was nothing but hot air.
Look at my portfolio online, tell me how many Kermit Lynch wines you see. After he cut my Coche Dury allocation, I stopped buying any and all wines with his import label on the back.
Just one example.
Please, never accuse me of blowing hot air.
And, entitled may have been the wrong word. Either way, you caught my drift on this subject.
General questions, but where do the wines go? Do they no longer make it to the state? Are they going to bigger competitors? And I’m assuming they go to someone that is willing to buy a whole lot of plonk that you can’t/won’t due to the size/type of business you run. Is that right?
I do not represent Weygandt wines, nor does my company. I’m not concerned with your purchase history with the portfolio, i would agree it’s none of my business. You can cry all you want about the three tiers, good or bad it’s what you make of it but I’m quite glad I can be inspirational.
I generally stay neutral in these issues, but in this case, I have to back Dan all the way. This year is a good example of how the “middle man” and the “importers” are looking at $$$$$$$$$$, not loyalty. Caveat: Carrie does the wine buying and I am an observer and ex-cop. In previous years, loyalty equated to blackmail. “Support the brand if you want so-and-so wine.” This year, we’re being offered a lot of the cherrys we couldn’t get before. Both distributors and importers we dealt with offered us our usual allocations, some at inflated prices early on. Later we’re offered stuff we couldn’t get before with the “promise” we will get an allocation next vintage too. Next thing we see is the wines on line for less than we paid for them. Call the distributor/importer and its “oh, yeah we did a special on those wines. Weren’t you notified along with Costco, Cost Plus, Bev-Mo and the State of New Jersey??” The word “loyalty” is notimg more than a self-serving phrase used by the distributors/importers to make their money. We’re not the only victims at the retail level. Our representatives from the distributors/importers have been placed in a precarious position by their companys this year. I’ll bet the promises made to sell their wine this year will be forgotten next vintage, particularly on the highly touted 07 Napa Cabs.
What does all mean? That’s the cost of doing business; That’s the way the cookie crumbles; We all want to make money. I would not want to be a rep caught in this year’s BS and hung out to dry next year by company.
Thank you, Randy and Brent. Maybe Steve will listen to retailers more, as to how they wish to operate, as opposed to his current style of “I do not give a shit about you.”
Most local distributors are making a point of being completely open about this. They’re smart and bending over backwards to move the large quantity of unsold wine through the channels. In turn, we retailers slash our prices to move the wines faster. Only by working together will all the unsold wine be move from winery through to consumer. Plus, the distributor will have both the capital and space for next year’s vintage.
Spin it how you want, but going for the jugular right now puts a distributor in a very difficult position even a week from now, never mind next year. This business is all about relationships. Screw the pooch and you’re in the doghouse for a very, very long time.
Wow…there’s a shocker right there! So what’s new? it’s the same old bullshit, all the time. There will be another vintage that nobody wants so you’ll get your revenge when they come looking for you. The shortsightedness of these morons never fails to amaze. They think it’s Christmas all the time and they can only see a few inches in front of their noses. I’ve had a wonderful time this year refusing allocations of all sorts of wines that now, miraculously, seem to be available. When we could sell them, couldn’t get them. Now that no one is buying them, we can have as much as we want. The tide is always changing and Mr. Weygandt should remember that. Look at Bordeaux…they laughed all the way to the bank with 2005 but who’s laughing now?
What I want to is know how Weygandt can open a retail shop and sell the wines he imports. I hought that an importer/distributor was not permitted to be a retailer.
![[berserker.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/8600bbd4810d342b8fbd4ffb62b4f0026275fd37.gif "berserker"){kind=small}
