retailer check: Duke of Bourbon

WINE TALK
1

Anyone have any info on them one way or the other?: http://www.shop.dukeofbourbon.com/

Thanks in advance. [cheers.gif]

2

Did Phelps Futures with them several years ago with no problems.

3

Great store and no problems. Bought several Montelena mags from them over 4 years with great service.

4

Phuck them, they want $1399 for Pappy 15! I could not see doing any business with them based on that alone

5

LOng time wine merchant in the Valley area of Los Angeles. They have put on wine events for 50 years. Good people. Seems to be on the high side of most wine shops in town. They are to be trusted and they know their stuff, but you will pay top dollar.

6

+1

7

Dealt with them a couple of times on older wines, and both times it was a perfect experience.

8

+2. Gougers.

9

I don’t understand this attitude…if you were a retailer-what price would you sell it for? and to whom?? If the market will pay it-then let them.

-paul

10

Since I am friendly with ownership of the Duke in the unlikely event anyone has any problems, contact them, if you are not able to gain satisfaction let me know, I will call the owner directly.

11

There are PLENTY of bottles of PVW being sold for far less. If the market was $1400 then so be it but it is not and looking to charge (±) 3X the market price is asinine IMHO

12

Sure, sell an item at whatever price you want. But if you gouge people with ridiculous markups people should avoid you and tell others to do the same. Because gouging like that means you are a good, old-fashioned douchebag, and people shouldn’t give you business. You love the free market? This is the free market, dollar votes, telling people off for bad business practices.

13

Michael-I appreciate the response, but there is a simple fact that you and I may disagree on: it is not possible to “gouge” on a luxury/discretionary item. If we were talking about gasoline during a power outage, or water, or bread then I’d agree with you that gouging is disgusting. Let me ask you a simple question-if you owned a wine/liquor store how would you handle it? I don’t own either, but if you could make $1,000 premium on a single btl that would be pretty tough to turn it away.

Personally I’d try to ration it to good existing customers, but I know retailers that get hundreds of phone calls asking for this stuff and it doesn’t make sense.


-paul

14

If the reference as the Duke being “douchebag” when you have never done business with them?..what does that make your statement? Are you going to start calling out every wine store because you don’t like their prices? The OP asked for views on the Duke and since they do post their prices online I would think he/she has already made that decision and is interested more in reputation/customer service.

I bought several years of Montelena futures from them (1997 to 2001), their pricing was exactly the same as everyone else and the customer service was top drawer. I would happily buy from them again, with price being one element of the wine purchasing decision.

15

'…what does that make your statement?"

Technically it makes it an opinion. Which appears to be what the OP was asking for in regards to this particular retailer. My first thought was that his spirits prices always seem very, very high. Then, after seeing Mel’s post I realized it was far more egregious than I had thought. Exorbitantly pricing Pappy and similar items does a disservice to the entire marketplace and all in it. I find the blind belief in free market pricing sometimes espoused around here, that there is no such thing as a wrong price, to be laughable. This type of business practice causes the overall price of these items to increase, the scarcity to increase, the demand to increase to frenzy. I find it disgusting quite frankly. This has been covered elsewhere in a thread about SWE’s Pappy auction. Look, there are good businesses and bad ones. There are people we love to do business with and those we don’t. So when someone asks about a retailer and I have information that one of them engages in unsavory business practices I think that they should be called out for it. Locally I would redirect someone to my preferred brick and mortar store. On this board I simply agree that this retailer should be avoided and encourage the viewers to spend their money at any number of excellent online retailers. Maybe this guy will read this and next time won’t price this way. Maybe he’ll decide to offer this to a loyal customer and count his thousand+ dollar profit in repeat business instead of in one sale. Maybe not. Its his choice to do that, and my choice to say this. If you like overpaying go to Duke of Bourbon and have at it. My $.02, since the question was asked.

16

You don’t understand that we don’t think a retailer deserves to make a HUGE markup on something (many times their cost) while the producer makes far less for much more work? I do work at a retailer, so I can answer your question. We sell it at the standard markup to our customers, just as every other reputable retailer does. It’s pretty simple.

17

It’s easy to turn away when you remember that the ongoing loyalty of one customer is worth more over time than that $1000 is at the moment, especially when the alternative is to probably piss off some of those regular customers and have them likely spread the word.

18

The internet may have made people smarter shoppers, but it has also enabled petty, vindictive behavior.

19

I don’t understand this comment. Without the internet the behavior being discussed never could have happened in the first place. No one would ever be able to charge $1300 for that bottle of Bourbon without a nationally competitive marketplace. So that phenomenon is completely dependent upon the internet, and in that regard it has made some people much more foolish shoppers. It allows others to compare prices on the same items, so it also enables smarter shopping. Lastly, it allows people to share and gather information about the geographically distant retailers from whom they are considering purchasing a product. Why you think that it is petty or vindictive to call out a retailer for a practice that we disagree with is beyond me.

A thought, Amazon didn’t get to be Amazon by charging a huge markup on a few desirable items. Could they? Maybe. But they, and retailers like them, do it by keeping margins low and selling on volume. That’s smart business. Grossly inflating a product for a one time gain is bad business. The only thing that DoB appears to be good at is website optimization, IMO.

20

[thumbs-up.gif]

You sir, are a wiser man than the Duke of Bourbon. Being unfamiliar with the spirits Peerage but I think that must make you some sort of Earl, or perhaps an Archduke.