For what it is worth, I just came from a wonderful biking trip in Burgundy last week. Stayed at the Abbaye Bussiere and got a tour from one of the employees. Took us through an old building that was used by the monks as living quarters and there were several barrels of wine there in storage. I asked if the barrels in question were MI and he stated that indeed some of them were. Even got to sniff a barrel of Chambertin that was quite lovely. He asked if I had seen Ray Walker recently as he was not coming around much lately. I got the distinct impression that perhaps someone was looking for him. So if anyone has questions about the actual existence of the wine at MI, here is some visual evidence.
The Abbaye itself is a luxury hotel and is well worth the detour if you happen to be in the area. A fantastic place to stay, along a canal and in a gorgeous setting.
Richard Walker stated on his Faith Winery FB page earlier:
Social media is a powerful tool. It has the power to do good for a business. Unfortunately it’s being used to damage my brothers business. There was a brief discourse between my brother and another individual which led to an illegal action by the authorities spurned by misinformation. That has since been rectified and there is no issue currently between my brother, said individual and the authorities in Burgundy. I hope this answers your question.
There are a few possible ways of looking at it. I thought if it as that initially, “hell have no fury” and all that. It could quite possibly be or will be the case. Richard’s response talks of a third party, a reference was made to the Douane on the Wine Pages forum - a definite “authority”. Phillip here has talked about unpaid bills. The Douane wouldn’t be involved in this matter as it is a civil one, to be decided by a court and their decision enforced by a bailiff.
Jonathan has stated (he would know better than anyone), the Douane would be involved in VAT and fraud cases. Now I believe even though the Douane have abandoned the green seal for exported wines, there is still a fair amount of paperwork to complete when exporting wine. What’s the bet, there are discrepancies there. Also I have seen a few of the 2009 bottles which would have had the green seal. Never saw one. Then of course there is the shortfalls in deliveries. Did he oversell vintages and then cover the shortfall from wine that wasn’t deserving of the Premier Cru or Grand Cru label. These are both issues to involve the Douane. But Richard Walker has stated that the issue “illegally” brought by the individual, is no longer there. Do you believe him though, that is the question.
If the Douane are involved he is right and royally fooked!! His track record for record keeping and running a business and the Douane is not a happy marriage.
Well, Ray certainly seemed to have only modest knowledge of the system when he started. As far as I could tell, his 09 and 10 prices were all hors tax - no French tax paid. But those that badgered enough to eventually get their wines in full - always easier if you live locally - paid the original price, even when collecting in France. So somewhere along the line, there was a tax bill building up that he was going to have to attend to.
Saw some of his '10’s & '12’s last week at the SAQ store in Quebec. Unreal high prices vs. other pedigreed producers. Imagine they will sit on shelves for a while.
A bunch of MI wines failed to sell in K&L auctions recently. It looks like the store may have purchased them from the seller, as most of the same wines are listed at retail now. Prices are similar to release.
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