From Blast Vintners, a retailer in the UK with whom I’ve done a little business with in the past. The offer was for 2005 white burgs mainly from Jonathan, Marc Colin and Marc Morey, and after a summary of premox troubles in the recent past, the offer continues:
“The wines below are all sold entirely on a ‘no-win, no fee’ basis – if you take a case and they’re all screwed, I’ll send your entire money back (minus delivery) If half are good, I’ll send you a refund for the affected 6 bottles. Etc. Just be honest.
There’s no expiry on the offer, in the sense that you don’t need to open them straight away – just let me know the tally when you’re done…”
I thought this was commendable, and it’s something I haven’t seen much elsewhere (with the large exception of Chambers Street, which I think will refund for any defect upon request). If everyone did this, I’d still buy white burgs.
Is premox still ( as of 2005 vintage) an issue? I thought it got better in the early 2000s.
And of course the guarantee is contingent on Blast remaining in business for the next decade or more.
But, on its face, an example to be followed.
Suspect they got this parcel for pennies on the dollar, figure many people won’t go through the trouble of keeping track and returning, and will be happy with whatever they get. Not a bad idea for old stock, but can’t imagine it being a model for new releases.
Still a big issue unfortunately. For some houses there has been great improvement by this point, but for others things were just ramping up. In fact, 2005 is the first (and only) vintage where I have observed multiple pre-mox TNs for DRC Montrachet, some of them from experts.
As for the offer- pretty bold and not something that would be a viable thing in normal circumstances. I am with David on this one- smells like they got a screaming deal and are also counting on the likelihood most people will not return bottles as time passes.
I’ve had great success with '05s excepting Grand Crus. Particularly the 1ers are in a great spot right now. I don’t think I’ve had a premoxed one out of about 30-40 bottles in the last couple of years. Of course, producer plays a massive part and I have no idea how Marcs Colin and Morey fared…
I thought The Marc Morey wines didn’t suffer so bad from the Pox. That’s what I gatherd from the limited notes here, mainly those from The white burgundy retrospective tastings. I thought Don categorized the estate as better than average. Of course 2005could still be a problem.