DR Stephens is one winery that hated their wine in retail, now not even retail will buy it.
I have Rivers Marie and Merry Edwards in the store, not allowed to put it on wine searcher.
when you say can’t post it on wine searcher does that mean it’s not on your online inventory?
Just got the email from Garagiste advertising Staglin at $125ish…seems the cult cab industry is starting to suffer…
Yes.
Max/Dan: when you receive my PM, can you list all the other non-printable goodies in your reply? such as screaming eagle for $200?
Seaway,
We only have the 1992 at $200. The 1997 will cost you $350.
Haven’t had the '97 yet, but the '92 is a great bottle of wine.
The dangers of posting a private email…
This was sent to the CH Montelena wholesaler in NY by the marketing company for Montelena…Vintus wines…
Scott,
Thank you for passing along the info of the retailer offering a
ridiculous deal on Montelena Estate Cab. Two things. First, please
forward along to your retailers that this account acknowledged they made
a huge mistake. A very junior member of the staff created the email and
sent it out - without the consent of the owner of the store. In fact,
the owner of Youngs, Vern Underwood called the account directly to have
this pulled off the web - which it subsequently has been. Secondly, this
account did not receive any product to fill any orders it may have
received. So while it has created a stir, no wine has actually hit
consumers at this price.
Dan,
In response to my forwarding the WHWC email regarding the Montelena offer to a good friend, she told me Premier Cru offered the same wine to her at $59.95.
It’s amazing that these practices are not illegal!
I happen to think that the Montelena Estate Cab is one of the most consistent and reasonably priced wines around. It’s sad to me that they can’t sell out on futures at $80 when many wines of equal or lesser quality sell for so much more.
But the general attitude in California that you can never drop the price on your wine is just ridiculous.
100% Spot on.
Kent
I have no problem with WHWC or PC selling it for $60 or whatever. I know the current cost on it and it is very low.
This is Montelena’s fault. They have an ego. Always have.
They were backlogged on the 2004 vintage and will be on 2005, so they lowered the cost, but they have an ego, so they need to keep the price high to consumers. Why not just take a permanent price reduction on the wine and move forward?
I was told of the new price in July, but have been reluctant to make a move on it because of these stipulations on how to sell the wine. Nevertheless, I will make the purchase and try to make as much money as possible…in keeping in the Montelena spirit.
It is impossible to price control on 10,000 cases.
I haven’t tried the 05 yet, but I tried the 04 on release (totally blind) and thought it was great!
2004 Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
Massive nose of super-concentrated cassis liqueur. Intense, extracted, and complex, with great length. Silky, balanced, terrific wine. An amazingly delicious wine! 97 points.
Are there secret deep discounts available on the 04 as well? Any on big bottles?
Lots of deep discounts from list. But is there anything you would buy Ted? The Talbot Chard may tempt me, but that’s it.
I thought the Staglin cab was terrific back when it was $60-$70 a bottle. Now $125 is a deep discount. … 
Yes
I was going to go to Paris. I was set to spend $3,000 on a business class ticket. But they dropped the price to $1800 and I decided not to buy it, because this suddenly made Paris less good.
I love this shit. They want price support @ $100+ but nobody wants it at that price. It is the stupidest way to do business and I just don’t get it. I personally don’t give a crap if they never sell me another bottle. They give a good price but they stick it up to everyone to support a $100 that nobody wants to pay. People discount to move it and they get pissed. The reality is that I won’t buy Montelena at $85-90 wholesale in any vintage and if they want to sell it at a reasonable price and let us do whatever we want with a decent 20-25% markup, great. Otherwise, they can go f— themselves. Simple as that, won’t lose any sleep over it.
I mean what the f—, they lowered the price because the wine doesn’t sell but everyone else has to get stuck with it charging $100+?? Does that make any sense at all?
I know but I’m so sick of this crap. I may even post the price here and let them have a cow…don’t care. They won’t sell me any more wine? Oh boy, how am I ever going to survive.
Guess what idiots (Montelena people), it’s a shitty market and $100 CA cabs don’t sell. Be big boys, show some intelligence, lower the price and let everyone do what they feel is right for their business and the market we’re in. You want brand support at a $100? Then sell it yourself directly and show us how it’s done. Can you do it? NO, and neither can we. Give it up already!
I get so friggin pissed about this shit. When times were good and they’re blessed with a great vintage, we could never get more than 5 six packs. Had to beg Scott Gerber who would perform his magic and grace us with that. Today, nobody cares, they need retailers help to move goods (and I should have told them to shove it right there and then), give a decent price (finally) with good allocations (finally, although it would not have happened with a 95+ rating) and they come up with all these strings attached. Ridiculous.
Seriously, I agree.
This is Montelena’s fault.
They have a following to cover about 4000 cases, probably. The other 6000 cases need to be sold by a high rating from Parker/Tanzer.