This was before my time, but I’m curious, what did the “working glass” bottles look like? Were they crown caps?
For anyone who is looking for sparkling now, Casemates occasionally offers it. They had an N.V. (but predominately 2018) Michel-Schlumberger brut sparkling this weekend for $144/case. I wouldn’t be surprised if they let people in late to an offer, they’re a pretty small operation with good customer service, and the offer did not sell out.
I just had to dispose of a bunch of shipping boxes. It made me wonder - how are folks like Cam or Last Bottle able to offer free shipping when many wineries say it costs them $80 to ship a 12 bottle case?
stay tuned…we have built a “shipping release” form and doing some back-end testing…you’ll recall the first wave of shipping for dN was a shit show and I do not want a repeat of that. Slow rolling the shipping, especially with the heat. Hoping to have an email with form to you today.
Cameron
It does cost that much or thereabouts…especially if shipping two-day…even more expensive for a small producer. I anticipate my average cost to ship across the US will be $50/case all-in. For now, I am eating it but that will have to change and we’ll have to split it in the future. I should add that cost is very low but I have the volume and relationships to do it…most small wineries are paying to store at 3PL, pick and pack fees, redirects, adult signature fees and then the 3PL marks up their rate card based on volume. So the $80 is probably about right.
Additional edit: my average shipping cost nationally was about $33/case for 2020/2021…prices have skyrocketed for the shipping, adult signature fee (now $8!), packaging and then pic n pak.
Thank you Cam!
So back in the day when you were clearing out the warehouse for $99/case delivered you (or whoever was running the sale at the time) were paying at least $50 a case for delivery? Ouch!
(Bc of those case sales, I have a new appreciation for Australian Syrah…yellow tail ruined for me 20 yrs ago and I never went back to try other Syrah…those 340-60 lots are really fun right now)
it was probably about $38-$40 then…
Cam, is FedEx a shipping option yet? Staying tuned … thanks!
Agreed, Rohit’s tasting notes are among the most/best detailed reviews.
I only occasionally post on WB and I took some board time off this summer because of life and because I don’t have space after 35-40 cases of dN (starting with 49 and largely ending in the low 300’s except for 400, 401 and 420) that I’m still filtering through. I bought Lot 1 (because it’s lot 1) and then today I go back and catch up on reading and…BOOM BOOM…I now own a case of 27 too.
Really? You need should be having a serious conversation with your UPS and FedEx reps. I would expect one of them should be giving you list minus 70 at worst. I guess that price is good for ground coast to coast, but it should be a lot less for those of us west of the Mississippi. Either way it’s a real number and much appreciated to be included for the time being.
Huge thanks for getting the shipping under control. Under the old system I was facing either two weeks in separate bedrooms if the wine showed up at my door. Or having it refused by Walgreens which is my local FedEx pickup. The store manager told me he’d never allow someone to ship so much to him in one day as I did two years ago.
Just UPS for now 3PL is negotiating rate card with FEDEX but we’ll see where that goes down the road.
I have huge respect for anyone able to say, I have so much dN that I’m going to pass on these CamX offers no matter how good. I am just not wired that way. I’ve talked myself into believing that these are all five years or so behind the rest of my wines aging wise, so I will eventually have need for them.
In lieu of FedEx (which is very nice, and holds packages for free if you ship to their store address), any chance you can get the site set up to work with UPS Access Points like the current De Negoce is? My local UPS store won’t hold onto packages unless they are shipped via the “official” access point system.
I hope your 3PL is fighting like hell for you. As a former 3PL owner I can tell you we lived and died by the rates we were able to offer and sometimes had to do trans at a loss because all of our other fees were rounding error next to shipping costs.
@Cameron_Hughes, when is your trip up to Washington wine country scheduled?
Asking the real questions 
That’s why I bought Lot’s 1 and 27. Cam’s last sentence sold it: Be sure to give this wine a good couple of years before opening! I’m just back stocking more slowly than I stocked.
That is a great question. I feel like I’ve been reasonably restrained so far (only 14 cases) but then I realized we’re only on lot 27!?! I barely had anything at this point in the dN journey.
the shopping in CA has been amazing I have to say. Haven’t had much reason to go up there…the last time was purely driven by the 2020 fires…but i’ll poke around a bit and see what’s available…sure there is plenty. Having said that, the team is buried with current production schedule to get everything in the bottle before harvest so nothing on the immediate horizon.
Just giving you a poke and having some fun. And I thought that may be your answer. Yes, these California offers seem truly amazing, and we appreciate them. Just looking for a little diversification in the early Cabernet heavy lineup. But we all still hit that buy button! 