WineHunter in Chatham, NJ -- notes with no attribution

Happened across a website for WineHunter in Chatham, NJ. Anyone have any experience with these folks? Some real amateurish descriptors for the wines – repetitive, typos, same descriptions for multiple wines, etc. But worse, they’re blatantly ripping off tasting notes from CellarTracker, BurgHound, Tanzer, a blog called Wineitudes’s Blog, and I imagine some others, without any attribution.

Was checking out the descriptors for one of the Maison Ilan wines they’re selling – straight from CT. Then started finding some others. Simple Google search turns 'em up. Eric, you might want to take a closer look. “Mocha and dark ripe fruit on the nose intermingling with earth and spice, a nice nose. Palate on the other hand was throwing off a lot of oak and showing copious amounts of alcohol.” That was for the Maison Ilan Charmes Chambertin, for which they don’t even list the vintage (the note is from the 2009 in CT). In fact, it looks like everything on their site is listed as “NV.” Who are these clowns?

I think you mean Chatham, NJ, not NY.

Check out their listing on Wine Searcher:

http://www.wine-searcher.com/merchant/6109
“Description: Retail
7446 listings now showing for this retailer.
Sometimes does not respond to emails.”

Now pick a store we know to be legit, Wine Library (also in NJ):
http://www.wine-searcher.com/merchant/300

“Description: Retail
2793 listings now showing for this retailer.
Responds to emails within 24 hours.
No stock problems.”

Wow, this store you’ve never heard of has almost 3 times as many wines listed as Wine Library. Must be a great store.

Oops, fixed!

Been there. Right after a CLONYC dinner I wanted some of the Mondavi Reserve I had the night before. (I think it was 2004). The site showed the correct vintage, I confirmed that had it in stock. Unfortunately I was not wearing my reading glasses when I picked it up. Only after lunch did I open the box and lo-and-behold, they were 2003s. Quick ‘Jug Handle’ (it’s Jersey you know) and back I and it went.
Seems like a shabbily run place with not too much care put into it. The guy behind the counter would have been just as comfortable in any other type of retail business, maybe hotdogs and soft drinks…

Thank you for this thread! They had the Willi Schaefer GH#9 which I couldn’t find elsewhere. I assumed it was pre-arrival but it wasn’t listed that way on the website. A further red flag was raised when I saw they listed the GH #9 as GD #9.

Plus their website displays all the SQL to generate it on the bottom of the screen. At this point I’m profoundly skeptical.

lol that website

In an area where you have the Wine Library and Gary’s, I really don’t understand how any other wine store survives.

Hmph! Don’t talk to me about Wine Library. I stopped there yesterday to pick up some wine I’d ordered and just went into the main store for some pesto. By the time I made it back to the pick up area it was the most expensive pesto I’ve ever bought.

I live about 6 miles from Chatham NJ and I never heard of Winehunter.

But it came with a lot of free wine!

Love this little snippet of info from their Wine Education page:

CHIANTI
The Tuscan region between Florence and Siena in north-central Italy known for red wines of unpredictable quality which traditionally come in onion shaped bottles with straw encasements.

Wines by Type

Burgundy Red Blend

LOL! I wonder how many here under say 40 have even seen a fiasco . . . without a candle in it?

LOL, there is that!

The addictive chemicals we put in the Pesto works quite well

Hope all is well Jay!

Pretty good, thanks! Pasta with pesto is on the dinner menu for tonight.

So, what are you pouring with the pesto? (Talk about thread drift!)

Ben

Most likely Navarro Gewurtztraminer Grape Juice. Just got a shipment last week.