Perhaps I should say I find him likable. Its not a judgement on his character or his moral compass, but rather a superficial assessment of his personality. I do not know him well enough to consider him a friend, he is an acquaintance. I know you better than I know Ray, and I like you.
My point is proven - your judgment sucks 
Likeable and charming are two different things.
Please ask him how I can sign up for his Brothers winery mailing list.
Again, what old and traditional winemaking techniques did you learn from books, and why do you suppose they were discarded?
Here’s one for you. Ray has always marketed his wines by making a big deal about the fact that all of his wines are made using the same techniques. He used to talk about how all of his wines would be made exactly the same so that the only differences would be the underlying terroir and vintage characteristics.
Even his most recent e-mail for the 2014’s say, “Of note, nothing changed within our winemaking. Each wine was produced using the same exacting levels of consistent interactions within our separate cuvees: no commercial yeasts, no temp control, no pump overs, no blending, no foreign chemicals besides sulphur, no new barrels, and no fancy winemaking. This is purity, simplicty and Burgundy in its most direct form.”
I would like for you to ask Ray how he reconciles this marketing propaganda with the fact that he has begun using wildly varying time frames of exposure to barrel aging from one cuvee to the other and from one vintage to the next. For instance, the 2011’s saw very extended barrel aging, while the 2012’s and 2013’s seem to have seen far less time in barrel.
I find it interesting that he gave the 2011’s greatly extended time in barrel, particularly due to the fact that 2011 was considered a lighter vintage in Burgundy. Most winemakers would be looking to give lighter-styled wines less exposure to oak aging rather than more exposure to oak. This decision (which was communicated before all of the shipping debacles began to be discussed) was the beginning of the end for me with Maison Ilan. It showed that his espoused philosophy was nothing more than marketing propaganda. I also believe that his decision with respect to the 2011’s had FAR more to do with the fact that he did not have the available cashflow to bottle the 2011’s when they should have been bottled. Then he received an infusion of additional cash from a new investor and the 2012’s and 2013’s were shipped at basically the same time, which is absolutely ridiculous.
Ray just called to say he will arrive in about 20 minutes. Let the fun begin.
We all know how accurate RW has been with arrival times 
It’s been 42 minutes. Has he arrived yet?
52…
French bank holiday?
All done. Went ok. Posting date TBD
I think it was brave of you Jay. I hope you managed to give him the opportunity to answer about the mistakes he has made and to answer for the lies he told his customers. I imagine he was difficult to pin down to specifics without seeming interrogational. He’s a polished salesman.
I can’t think of a question I would have liked to ask that he would have answered honestly.
Perhaps I would have asked who helped him make that first vintage, but I doubt he would tell us.
They have no mailing list. They have no wine for sale. The have been “Established Since 2013” though. No link for wine, no link fir mailing list sign-up, just words and a few pictures of what look like a bunch of skin heads policing a picking crew. ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
The thousand words in a picture…
Somebody give me a fork!
That’s a weird claim. (Not sure where you saw that.) 2015 is his first vintage. If he’s claiming 2013, that appears to be the first year he got any experience, helping his brother.
“I took my first visit to France in 2012. By 2013 I had been bitten, and in 2014 I had my first vintage under my belt.” https://www.facebook.com/FaithtoFruition/posts/853215074749386
Guess I was too late. I was going to ask how his new business venture with John Fox is going?
Cheers,
Hal
Oh, I don’t know. Maybe their website and Facebook page? There’s nothing of substance on either. Just a bunch of empty words and random pictures of people standing near vineyards and a couple barrel shots. It’s a bit odd if you ask me.
Any BMWs or Porsches?