Fair enough. He lost your trust. Some others have criticized the concept, and that is what I was responding to. I will be interested to see how it plays out with the only case of wine he has sent to me.
Scared to ask, but any thoughts on today’s Mystery 2010 Brunello?
First, I admit to buying a case of the 2010 Barolo Mystery at $20. Figured if it’s only Langhe quality, I’m still OK at $20.
However, the $39 price and quoting Suckling’s inflated scores (IMO) made me delete the email.
Suckling’s score could be, and was by me, taken as a negative. The “Please order in multiples of three” sealed the offer’s doom.
There do seem to be a huge number of sharply reduced prices on Italian wine lately.
P Hickner
At least 97 pts. Nice.
With Garagiste’s track record, JS could be Jorge Soto or Juanita Simpson. So some entry level Brunello has been closed out at a distributor for whatever reason. Garagiste wants all of it & doesn’t want to release the name so other retailers can’t get it at close out price. Therefore mystery.
I wonder which members of the “Global wine press” were outraged by his take on 2010 Brunello? Parker? Suckling? Galloni? Robinson? Feiring?
Or maybe just backpedaling after making comments about the vintage & then trying to sell wine.
Fell for the Pitch Dark chocolate offer. 3 bars for $19.90 Didn’t consider the shipping would be over $15! Was figuring could be sent USPS for @ $5 Better be other worldly chocolate for $12 a bar (whatever size bar it may be since the offer didn’t indicate)!
Wow - I just checked and the last time I ordered from Garagiste was over 16 months ago!! After the German fiasco I decided I was done with Garagiste. I ordered a couple more bottles to get to a case and then stopped buying. Too gimmicky for me.
Always worthy of a repost ! The Garagiste Return Halfway down.
As much as I am annoyed by this fact, most of the wines I’ve gotten from Garagiste have been at least good, some exceptional, and rarely worth less than what I’ve paid for them. Some mediocre daily drinkers have disappointed but for every one of those, there’s a Souhaut (at a blind Syrah tasting at least six people thought it was Gonon), a Porta de Vertine, a nice lean Anjou for $15.
I will never be an apologist for his infuriating bullshit prose, I still delete most emails after I skip to the bottom, and I remain jilted by the $250 mystery case and the blowzy purple drank he tends to sell from Washington before I knew any better. But that’s on me.
I just consider the outlandish promotion stories as comedy, and buy if it sounds like a deal. I would agree that most have been a good deal, and I also bought a half case of the $20 Barolo, for the same reason, if it’s only good basic Langhe, it’s worth $20. I won’t pass up a good deal just because the seller is full of BS.
+1
Jon’s credibility is nonexistent IMHO. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
Well - I’m a sucker for $17 mystery Oregon pinots so jumped for a few… Worst case scenario - can always gift it or open it for non-wino guests…
It’s the garage sale “bigger idiot” principle.
I’ll say it again, “Caveat emptor.”
I’m not sure why it is necessary to insult everyone who buys from this vendor. You have chosen not to buy from Garagiste. That’s fine, and for you, I’m sure that’s a perfectly reasonable decision. But it doesn’t rule out the possibility that the opposite decision may be perfectly reasonable for someone else.
I’ve never understood this kind of post. I probably never will.
I could quote PT Barnum on this and include myself as one. Most retailers are in the business to sell. We like to buy. I still have some that are good values and fortunately stopped when ahead and never bought any crap that has ticked off many, though I find that I give more of them away than I drink.
Once in a while we have to buy a new car, that does not mean we enjoy the experience.
I’ve bought a fair amount from Garagiste and my experience has been very good. They’ve proven to me to be a source of a wide range of wines that are hard or impossible to find locally, at decent prices and with good provenance. The one or two times there have been issues they handled them perfectly. I usually only buy if I’m familiar with the wine - I’m not looking for Rimmerman to guide me to new wines. On occasion I’ve bought a mystery wine and been pleased (ie; Ramey), but I usually stay away from them. Though I did bite on six of the OR Pinots…I can’t imagine I won’t get $16 worth of value out of them.
Just opened a bottle of this offering: 2013 La Cave du Vin Blanc de Morgex Vini Estremi and must say it is a profound wine - not in terms of complexity, but in characteristics I like and was expecting from this high elevation wine. Loads of minerality, citrus and saline. Like drinking liquified rocks. Wish I bought more than 3!
It takes a bit of imagination to come up with way a $40 Willamette Pinot Noir marked down to $17 can be a bad deal. Or else it takes experience with the mystery Coelho wine that was described as matching the Paciencia, right down to the professional and user reviews, but by the testimony of the wine maker was not. Per someone in the WV wine industry scene it was heavily worked over reject wine. Jon never explained or apologized, but he did refund me in full. I confess that I bit on a few of the new OR mystery anyway. Even if it is terrible I’m not bringing back this time. I’ll consider the fault to be mine.
P Hickner
Yeah, I think I had maybe 3 of that Coelho wine IIRC. One of the few disappointments I’ve had and like you I was able to return the bottles.
I understand those that find his hype distasteful, and on occasion he does push the boundaries of truthfulness pretty hard. But I’ve mostly learned how to navigate his offerings and like I said I usually end up happy. As an example, he’s my sole source for Galardi Terra di Lavoro, a wine I’ve come to adore.