Agreed.
This
He should have also sent some bat guano to Mr. P.
Shipping for a case struck me as a little expensive recently ($44 to the midwest)?
But really, duh, Chambers Street is a class act. They set the standard. I bought a case of geeky but not super pricey Beaujolais and Loire reds from them a bit ago and had included a request they ship on a certain date. Got a very nice email and then had a little email exchange about drinking windows and the wines. Even for my cheap stuff . . . and after they’d already made the sale! 
Bought a birthyear Barolo for a buddy that was quite obviously stomped on with something not barolo somewhere along the way. I sent them a note saying “Not sure what those are, but those are not Barolo.” I got an email back telling me we didn’t know what we were talking about.
No more business from me!
There you have it.
They are not responsible “for a buddy that was quite obviously stomped on with something not barolo” …
Hahahaha, touche!
A couple things:
(1) I was actually charged $42 to ship from New York to St. Louis. My mistake.
(2) I received a very nice email from John at CSW this morning stating that he’d seen my post here (…they’re watching…) and that they typically charge $30 from NYC to the midwest. I’ve been given a store credit for the other $12.
Ditto.
I gotta say, I’m so envious of you folks in NY with boutiques like Chambers and Crush. I’m a small potatoes buyer, but they treat every order, even the cheapies, on a first-class basis. I even had a multiple email communication with one of the guys at Chambers over a $12.99 bottle of Domaine Guion - a true geek’s wine, and us geeks were all geeked out over it. If I lived in NY, I’d be hanging out every weekend at these two stores. Lucky bastards!
Reminds me, I need to put in my order for the new release of Guion . . . .
and then today they hit me with Armagnac.
Time to talk to HRH about jamming the credit card a bit.
When my friend was sold the wine, he was told that it came from a great cellar, and if there was a problem to talk to them. There was, he did, and they came through. And yes, that Armagnac is tempting- I will be strong.
Well I have a contrary view of Chambers Street.
Every time I’ve been in to sell them wine, I end up buying wine from them. Which is NOT how it is suppoed to work. And which causes all kind of havoc with my boss. What kind of business model is THAT??
And then they send me these offers for really interesting wines at really fair prices, which I can’t help but order.
Which causes more havoc with my boss*.
I hate these guys.
*until I open the wines at which point she says “wow, this is great”, and I have to remind her that this stuff dosn’t grow in the cellar like mushrooms, you have to buy them. But this is a fine point, and soon forgotten.
Oh you guys. I kid, I kid. Don’t you know me?
John, we consider it a failure if a rep visits here and doesn’t buy something. Especially Cali guys who are like “What are all these frigging GRAPES I’ve never heard of?”…
Thank you very much for your kind and heartening comments. Our shop is very much a work in progress which we are always trying to improve in every regard. From time to time it’s great to have a reality check from the real world, and I’d like to ask you all for one now:
M Kelly posted in this thread:
"Bought a birthyear Barolo for a buddy that was quite obviously stomped on with something not barolo somewhere along the way. I sent them a note saying “Not sure what those are, but those are not Barolo.” I got an email back telling me we didn’t know what we were talking about.
No more business from me!
There you have it."
We looked back at our emails, and this is what he originally sent:
Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2011 2:14 PM
To: Chambers Street Wines (Sales)
Subject: RE: Thank You for Your Order (22632)
Christopher,
Just wanted to drop you a note, having opened the '74 Fratelli last night. Not sure if you’ve had any, or any complaints from other customers, but this wine was pretty obviously topped off with something else somewhere along the way. We were with Marc Lazar (From Cellar Advisors) who equated it to a Barolet burg - a producer pretty notorious for throwing brandy, or whatever else he can find! in to top off the wine. It was definitely not corked (an issue I do not complain about) nor cooked (again, tough luck with an older wine), but it was certainly not 100% barolo!
MK
So I responded:
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 9:13 AM
Subject: RE: Thank You for Your Order (22632)
Dear Mike,
I think you are referring to 1974 Barale Barolo? I have not tasted the wine (now sold-out here) but we did have another customer come back for a second bottle because he enjoyed the first one so much…
It’s widely acknowledged that a lot of producers - not just in Burgundy or Piedmont - used to ‘fortify’ their wine; in France such a wine was sometimes refered to as “Hermitagee”, because some Syrah would be added to the Pinot Noir, or to the Bordeaux blend. In Italy the same trick was performed using wine from the South - something powerful, like Aglianico or Primitivo, that would add color, fruit, and alcohol to a thin wine. The only Barolo I’ve tasted that I’m pretty sure was boosted like this is the 1964 Francesco Rinaldi, which over a few samples from different cellars showed the same unlikely deep color and richness of structure not typical of other 1964s I’ve tried. The Rinaldi 1964 is actually a delicious wine, even if perhaps it’s not entirely genuine. This practice of adding outside wine to make a blend was apparently very common in other Nebbiolo zones like Gattinara, Ghemme, the Valtellina, etc. For example I’ve tasted a number of old bottles of Vallana Spanna (Spanna being the local name for Nebbiolo) that certainly seem to include something other than the permitted varieties - again, delicious wines in their own right.
Even today I have heard rumor of tanker trucks in the night in various locales. I think it a very unlikely practice in prosperous zones like Barolo or the Cote d’Or where you’d assume they have more to lose than to gain - but I’m not of a criminal disposition, and I don’t live in a culture like that of Italy’s that virtually celebrates cheating authority.
In any case, I’m glad you found the wine drinkable, even if not exactly by the book. Thanks for taking the time to write. We have some 1971 Barale, so we’ll keep an eye on them - maybe take a sample.
Best regards,
Jamie
Now please, Berserkers, a reality check: Did I tell the gentleman that “we didn’t know what we were talking about.”?
It was my intention to share some thoughts and to open a dialogue. It’s true that I didn’t grovel, but grovelling didn’t seem called for, and I certainly wasn’t trying to be patronizing. If MK had asked for a credit we almost certainly would have given him one, but we never heard from him. But, as I suggest above, we live in a bubble here, and I’d love to have any suggestion on where we went wrong, as we genuinely don’t like to hear about any unhappy customers. Thanks again!
Looks good to me Jamie! ![[thumbs-up.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f84c5acc11486ee4baba6dee6cf61dbd133abb18.gif "[thumbs-up.gif]"){kind=small}
You wine some, you lose some, and sometimes, there’s a dbag tripping people in the race. ![[berserker.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/8600bbd4810d342b8fbd4ffb62b4f0026275fd37.gif "berserker"){kind=small}
Jamie - you were supposed to magically know exactly the step by step activities involved in the making of that wine, as well as the wine’s provenance and life history of any owners of the bottle.
Not to mention an ability to read between all of the lines of any customer e-mail.
Only have experience visiting the store in person, but it is always on the short list of visitees when in NYC, excellent service and love the concentrated selection.
Sorry - came off as entirely patronizing, when you have clipped the part of the message that says “Not sure what to do with this guy” referring to me. If you are going to cut and paste, please cut and paste entirely. I do not think you ever replied to my reply to you, noting that the wine was entirely undrinkable.
I do not return corked wines. It’s part of the game, imo. Doctored wines are for another thread!
Aside from this, I have edited my post. No sense in slinging opinions back and forth. A PM to me could have clarified things. You obviously do things very very well. Good luck.
MK
Is that what I asked? When you buy old wines from your merchants, do you rely on them for some assurance of provenance? Maybe you do not. I am well aware that many stores buy at auction. For this reason, I deal with only a small number of merchants when buying older wines, because I trust them. I want some assurance that the wine will be within some reasonable likelihood of drinkable. Having some idea of the provenance is why I buy from these guys - and I bought from Chambers because everyone here raves!
I have never posted a ridiculous complaint about a retailer and I won’t. It’s only wine. We all have much bigger things to worry about. The fact that you are making snide comments from a portion of a dialogue is absurd, however.