Just wonderin.
Yep, love 'em.
Positive
Same here.
All good here
I’ll pile on
A good merchant. Are you asking because you have an issue, or just doing due diligence before buying?
Thanks all, good to hear! I am asking somewhat after the fact. I bought some stuff from them on pre-arrival, but have never dealt with them or really heard much about them. No complaints, but I figured I’d ask.
I have purchased from them.
Pros and Cons
Con – higher than normal issues with flawed wines and unfortunately they do not reimburse flawed wines (being a reseller of purchased collections). I’ve had corked, brett, over the hill, and bottles with known closure issues (think Behrens synthetic cork pre-2004).
Pro – amazing selection of hard to find and aged wines for very good prices (usually), especially during their “bin sales” (sign-up on their mailing list or watch their Facebook page for notification).
Overall I still purchase from them but am careful what I buy, sticking to more reputable producers without a reputation for flawed wines – CellarTracker is a good place to check to see if a particular bottle has issues.
Jeff – I hear you on the bad bottles, but my view is that you either go with higher end retailers who will reimburse for bad bottles (like Wally’s in LA) but you pay for it, or you accept the risk and go with a lower-price merchant. They buy and sell older wines, so they can’t deal with a 40 year old corked wine … since they don’t have recourse to the person they bought it from (the lawyers will likely say they could sue and in theory each person could sue for faulty product back to the producer 
)
Any old wines you buy – from auction or merchant – come with some risks.
The wines I got were relatively new release - 2006 Brunello. But obviously from black market or private sellers.
My view (but your mileage may vary) is that the risk – from any source – of young wines like that is low
Bought multiple cases over a period of years. Never a bad bottle. Only problem was when I visited napa and wanted to pick up some wine they couldn’t find one bottle. No problem. They said they would find it and would fedex overnight to my office. They did. Top notch operation. Prices are not as low as they used to be, but I buy from them every month.
Never had a flawed bottle and I’ve bought as far back as '93’s. I know it’s a crap shoot on old stuff, but I like Benchmark.
They were even better when Mike Sai worked there. because you had a Berserker in house as a contact point. Haven’t found a replacement for Mike there yet, but don’t have any trouble getting information and assistance. Have referred a number of people to them for specific items and they were all happy with the service and wines.
I’m not sure why the merchant or age of the wine would affect its chances if being corked. In any event, I’ve been happy purchasing from Benchmark.
+1, I know many people are happy but I stopped buying due to too high of flaw experience
My response was based on my number of transactions and longevity of cellar time without a flaw.
All good experiences for me after many purchases.