Paul B going after Ray Walker would have been a lot of fun.
Bingo.
Carrie and Randy Bowman told me lots of stories about Ray about how he would come into their store and ask them all kinds of questions about wine, the wine business, winemakers, who to talk to, what to read. This was a long time ago. They told me they didnāt trust him back then. Here on WB people were buying into the story and the winery left and right. Even when Ray wasnāt delivering people were making excuses for him and drinking the KoolAid.
What does that have to do with Rickās question?
I was offered 2009 but never tempted to buy. Not saying that I knew anything at all, but the entire story was way too good to be true.
This is exactly the point Iām making: They and many others shared information freely, but privately (and they had good reasons for not making things public). They shared it with me once I asked. I donāt blame people for not making the info public; Iām just saying (1) donāt assume that most people had this info when buying 2009-2012 and (2) if someone wants to take credit for blowing the whistle on Ray, they should point to where they did it in an unambiguous way. Go read the old (pre-2013) threads. All you can take away is that some people supported Ray and some people opposed him. There is nothing concrete about domestic violence, losing jobs and licenses, crooked deals for car parts, etc. There is stuff like the Chambertin isnāt what it claims to be.
People should do their due dilligence before investing in someone who appears out of nowhere with a too good to be true story. If they wanted to find dirt on Ray they could have. They made choices. Some chose wisely, others not so.
I bought 2012ās based on the stories I found here on WB. I admit I didnāt do any more background research on Ray than I have done on any other winemaker. I check the website, read a few reviews (here and other sites) and decide to buy or not. I bought six bottles, three of which were to be birth year wines for our twin niece and nephew.
After he could not deliver on time and word started to leak out about various issues, I decided not to order 2013ās. When my bottles were finally delivered, two bottles were not what I ordered and he was tardy in responding to my inquiries regarding the incorrect bottles.
Had I read negative reviews or had an inkling of warning prior to ordering, I would avoided him like the plague he is.
Do I blame anyone here? No, I am and adult and responsible for my decisions. Had I paid someone for advice on what wine to buy I would be upset, but advice here is free. So far the advice has served me well, with only one truly bad purchase.
The old saying, Google is your friend. Much info was available if you knew what word(s) to attach to his name. Many people work hard to remain anonymous online, but those who seek publicity or step on the toes of others are always available on line. Add to that public records and there are plenty of resources.
One thing about Ray, he hasnāt tried to hide himself to avoid any backlash or escape obligations.
Could he disappear? You betcha. Unless his ego gets the better of him. We are still trying to find a former partner at Amadeo who ādied of cancerā a year and a half ago. Since his investors wonāt go to police, we donāt have the extra resources to locate and take appropriate action. That man has always been stealthy on line. The only thing Google was good for was finding out he wasnāt exactly who he said he was.
thatās the thing, some of the BMW threads were hard to find unless you dug through pages of google results or had the magic combo of terms to search. Domestic violence court records are much more difficult to find for Ray and I tried. Revocation of real estate license was easy to find in the CA database, but only after someone said āRay lost his licenseā.
I only got the basic dirt after I PMāed a member after all the innuendo bothered me.
I bought 2011s only thankfully, and mostly because itās my daughterās birth year.
Where I wasnāt willing to come out and give my opinion based on my cop gut feeling with some limited background knowledge, I chose to see if it would turn out as I thought. Tex didnāt. He felt it, saw it, accessed supporting data and delivered his opinion with a warning. Many didnāt take his word for it and the data was posted to bolster it, but instead of follow up, some attacked Tex. I searched deeper and dug through those pages to find the data Tex already had.
Well guess what? Tex was right. He warned everybody as soon as he could. History is still in the making. I expect this thread to go another 20 pages, minimum. Actually, I expect Todd will start a new Forum dedicated to Ray and his endeavors. Imagine the topic spread.
Ray Walker
Wine Maker
Vendage
Wine critic
Foodie
Food Critic
Ray Walker Show
Rat Walker Reality Show
Just thinking out loud.
Imagine the ego boost for Ray. Thatās the last thing youād want to give a narcissist.
If people are losing money, it speeds up the process of prosecution.
He asked me via email to delete that thread.
He didnāt appear out of nowhere. He had been on the wine forums for a few years. He wasnāt faking a genuine interest in wine. He was a long time regular poster when he got his internship. It sure did seem ballsy when he decided to go off to Burgundy, but he backed that up with the claim the he had a host of winemakers to call on if he needed to trouble shoot something.
Weāve seen many forumites get into the wine business. Some through help from other forumites. Fellow forumites support them by blindly buying their first releases. A certain level of support, some small percentage on oneās disposable income that makes up oneās wine budget, doesnāt seem unreasonable at all. Sure, some people invested and it seems some people went crazy with their order size. Someone making a significant-to-them investment shouldāve done some research. Making a huge futures order seems pretty dumb for several reasons that donāt require due diligence to figure out.
Maybe someone should interview him and let him explain all of this stuff. I am sure it is just a misunderstanding.
I was deeply dubious of Ray right from the start, before any of the stuff about wife-beating or the BMW stuff came out. I could tell that the guy didnāt really understand the basics of winemaking and yet was making videos about how great he was. I was suspicious that the wines people tasted in his cellar or that he took to dinners were described as fabulous and yet there were tasting notes appearing here and on CT that were more in line with what Iād expect a guy with little experience producing in a foreign country.
My first warnings and arguments were met with abuse and scorn from certain members of this forum. I was accused of trying to sabotage his business and attack him and his family because of an undisclosed reason (i.e. that Iām a racist).
The reason we couldnāt make it blatantly obvious was that a lot of the evidence was circumstantial and debatable. Ray was phoning me up threatening me with slander. He still had some powerful support from his gang of mates on here and a lot of his early customers were being very stubborn about accepting that they had fallen for a con. People holding stocks of his wine still donāt want to admit that they have been sold a dud. The BMW and that court-case didnāt mean he couldnāt make great wine or deliver it to them.
Ray is obviously very good at charming people, mainly older men who want to see a bit of themselves in him. He appealed to that āIf he can make Chambertin, then so could Iā dream that many winelovers harbour. He says all the right things when heās well prepared. Heās also got the ability to get his story published by the big names and to form links with celebrities.
His story isnāt over by a long way. His āYoung Prince of Burgundyā chapter may have finished but his ambition for fame and money are not dead.
People seem to be afraid of Ray. Numerous wine critics have admitted that they were fooled by him but none have written articles that refute their original praise or warn customers. His ex-partners and his customers only want to share information by private messages or emails. Iām sure that guy Zack knows a lot more that he would be willing to tell. This is how people like Ray get away with it.
If people have solid evidence that they have been cheated or defrauded over the Maison Ilan saga they should go public about it. Otherwise a new set of gullible customers will get wound up in his next web.
Has this been objectively verified?
Spin it to suit your needs. He came out of nowhere to be a winemaker in Burgundy. What was his winemaking background? Hanging out in the forums? Iāve been here a while. Iāve even helped out at harvest time. That must make me a winemaker as well, hell I must be a Master Somm too because Iāve done a few blind tastings. Iām not selling KoolAid though.