I will admit I did not expect...

…to see Sandy Weill and MTP in the same article in the NYT today:

Also: “His” Weill a Way? Hmmmm.

In 2011, Mr. Weill sold his 10-room apartment at 15 Central Park West for $88 million. In 2012, he sold a 200-foot yacht for about $50 million. He has held on to a 12-room mansion in Greenwich, Conn., plus spreads in the Adirondacks and Bahamas. But nowadays, friends say, when he spends the night in Manhattan, he usually stays at a hotel.

Sonoma, population 11,000 and situated 40 miles north of San Francisco, stands apart from Silicon Valley to the south, which teems with venture capital investors, start-ups and technology juggernauts like Apple and Facebook. The Weill estate is a few miles to the west of town, reachable via roads dotted with rusting pickup trucks, a Jack in the Box fast-food franchise and a furniture consignment store.

Mr. Weill has not lost the thirst for success that helped build Citigroup and its predecessors, with a stock performance that more than doubled the broad market when he was chief executive. His 2012 Weill a Way Exposition 3 Syrah, which retails for about $79, got a 99 score from the wine critic Robert Parker in 2015. Morgan Twain-Peterson, the owner of Bedrock Wine, which produces Weill a Way, said Mr. Weill has suggested increasing margins by raising the price. “He often says, ‘I don’t understand your business model at all.’ He always wants the wine to be priced higher.”

I posted jokingly about this a while back. The man’s horrific business ethics shouldn’t necessarily get in the way of a good man’s effort to make the best wines possible:

http://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=117535&start=50&hilit=Sandy+weill

Short term profit vs long term relationship building. It figures that he doesn’t understand that business model. I suspect that most/all of this wine was sold before the rating came out, and besides, it’s a Parker rating. Isn’t getting a 99 from Parker a bad thing?

Yeah, I’d hate to make a wine and have Parker taint it with a 99 or 100pt score.

“12-room mansion?” Must be some huge multi-purpose rooms

I stopped reading the article after the first few lines. Seemed like a waste of time to go further.

A-hole probably made millions charging poor people overdraft fees.

One made a shitty bank, the other makes a pretty blanc

Not sure about this, but my recollection is that in one of his e-mail letters on his philosophy Morgan Twain-Peterson concluded with “It’s called ‘agriculture,’ not ‘agribusiness.’”

I may have the wrong person, but I can’t think of too many winemakers from whom I receive detailed essays.

I’d never made the connection to the Weill vineyard. I have, maybe 8-9 various bottles in my inventory. I had a “Mixed Blacks” a couple weeks ago, and it was terrific. I hope that Bedrock keeps these in in this Social Security pensioner’s budget.

The Weill estate is a few miles to the west of town, reachable via roads dotted with rusting pickup trucks, a Jack in the Box fast-food franchise and a furniture consignment store.

I’d love an explanation (besides just trying to justify living anywhere east of Lake Tahoe), why Jack in the Box was mentioned and not the tortilleria directly across the street which makes fresh tortillas six days a week that can be purchased by the pound. Or the locally owned market just down the street. Or the plaza a little farther up the street which is loaded with locally owned shops and restaurants.

Less than 48 hours ago I was sitting in the park which plays host to our weekly town party (Farmer’s Market), enjoying the perfect 80 degree weather, pulling corks and bullsh!tting with other ITB friends.

But, Jack in the Box was absolutely the first stop I made on the way back home.

It’s the Times. NY thinks a tortilla is an unleavened bagel without the hole.
That Jack in the Box is so out of place in that part of town. And where are the rusty trucks?

If the estate is west of town, I assume they either drove (or more likely) used Google Earth to go down Napa Street to Petaluma Road, and then took one of the side streets off Arnold to get there. There are plenty of cool old trucks to be seen in that part of the countryside. Also lots of Ferrari’s to see as they cruise into town after a day at the track…

I think it was Mr Tegan Passalacqua, but the “Colonel” would definitely be of the same school of thought (I’d imagine).

Pretty much anything over 94 points is a pass for me.

Since you state that with such conviction, Drew, I’m sure that you are right. Too many brain cells have died.

Thanks.

Don’t confuse my fondness for bold script with accuracy of information.