It looks like they are in the process of relaunching the store. I haven’t been there since latr spring. Anyone know what’s up?
paging Tim O’Rourke…
I think the store was not entirely successful just selling Weygandt’s wines. Hence they are adding normal liquor and beer and will probably carry wines of other producers. I think, Todd had some disagreement with Peter Weygandt and he decided to move on, but this is my guess based on the fact that he has moved on. I don’t know how that fits with what their future plans are. Tim O’Rourke sometimes frequents this board and perhaps he can fill out my gossip and guessing here.
We last saw Todd in Fall, 2010, I think. He was wondering how long his last store was going to last due to the new management and thought out loud about buying it once it failed.
I can see the DC store having issues as most of the wines are pretty obscure with no cute animals on the labels. For us it was a geek’s paradise but a long drive from home.
Will be interesting to see what happens this time around.
FWIW, this guy changed wholesalers in the NY/NJ metro area so many times, it was getting like hot potato. He’s currently not even selling in NJ. Real shame, wines are real good too, and a lot of tremendous values in his portfolio.
Hey everyone -
Weygandt Wines is going through a rebirth of sorts. Tim O’Rourke has stepped in as the new General Manager and is in the process of updating the stock. If any of you have been in the store lately, you will have noticed the empty shelves…well, that’s about to change with a couple hundred cases being delivered in the middle of next week. New vintages of old favorites, and new wines all together will be coming in. Definitely worth stopping in.
Regarding beer and spirits, we will be ordering in small amounts of artisan products and are excited about expanding the range of products offered to our customers.
Lastly, we’re going try being more active in online wine communities, so expect to hear from either Tim or myself often!
It is a very welcoming store, I will say that.
We’ll be looking forward to it. I’ve been wondering why I have not received any emails for tastings lately.
Love that ITB in your sig line Matt ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
- congrats my friend!! “Business Trip” out to Tucson in December 
???
ok. What do I have to do to get a few bottles of Truchot ? Yes. Everything is on the table.
First, you have to find them.
That is easy. Break into your cellar
Failing that, break into yours.
I will have a few Truchot - Can I bring some to D.C. ?
Yes!!! And bring yourself also.
still haven’t visited this retailer. Does anyone know where Todd Ross has relocated? I bought a fair amount of wine from him at Mills over the years-a very nice guy, IMO.
I agree on Todd. Great guy and his palates matches mine almost perfectly.
Dunno about Weygandt in DC but I did drink a delicious bottle of 08 Morey from Cecile Tremblay last night that had been imported to the States by Weygandt. With the strong Aussie dollar I decided to buy a case of wine from Premier Cru (can’t believe you guys left 8 bottles of this fabulous wine from Tremblay sitting there at 49 bucks for an Aussie raider to sneak in and grab). Perhaps I could set up a Weygandt outpost in Tanunda?
Tim and Todd have both been pretty hospitable when I’ve been by, and the business has a good product line. It’s not unusual for folks to move around in their career path as they gain experience, in any event. Peter Weygandt himself is quite personable, by the way, if you catch him in.
I stopped by yesterday, and as Matt says, they are about to stock back up. If you are on their email newsletter list, you’ll have received an update to that effect.
Todd’s a great guy with a terrific palate and a wealth of knowledge. He will be missed–I thought I’d be working for and learning from him for many more years, but sometimes things don’t work out like you think they will. I owe him much for taking an old has-been chef in and teaching me a ton about the business. Todd had an offer on the table from a retailer about 30 mins from his home on the Eastern Shore but as of a couple of days ago, I don’t think that’s been shored up yet. As soon as I hear anything, I’ll let you know.
To be honest, I wasn’t exactly looking for this position at this point in my life, but again, things happen, opportunities present themselves and decisions have to be made. After speaking with Peter at length, we drew up a new approach to his flagship store and my reluctance turned to excitement and now we’re underway. Matt Latuchie touched on some general ideas about our “re-launch” but I’ll add to what he said.
First off, we’re going to get really aggressive with pricing. So as not to piss off any of his distributors and/or heavy buying retailers, we can’t set the prices as the lowest on wine-searcher, but we’ll be right there, a smidge above the lowest guys.
Secondly, I think more people may know of Peter’s big guns and collectable selections, but as Ian Dorin remarked, Peter has “a lot of tremendous values in his portfolio”. We’re going to focus a lot more on these in the shop. I think one of the issues we had upon our initial opening and the subsequent 2 years, was that we were not effectively reading the current market. Yes, equal parts ignorance and arrogance, I think the initial plan was that we would be driven by the more moderate and higher priced items as opposed to moving a ton of lower priced, high value wines with the cherries creating additional buzz and maybe adding to our bottom line. The latter is what I think is more applicable to our country’s current economic condition. This is, in my opinion, where there was a great divide between Todd and Peter, and what ultimately began the downfall of their business relationship. To be frank, it was sad to see and experience on a day to day basis and I only wish we would have reacted and adjusted before it was too late for those two.
Thirdly, as Matt reported, we’re going to start carrying a limited selection of beer and spirits. I don’t know other markets very well, but I know around DC, craft beers and locally produced spirits are of great interest. This will be a gradual process as our experience does not really lie with these products, but eventually we’ll get up to speed. And after many a 10:30 am artisan spirit tasting (Tooch enjoyed(?) one of these), we’ll get to where we need to be.
Also, Peter will continue to have some of his best and brightest winemakers in the shop. In the 2 years we’ve been open, Thiery Brouin (Domaine des Lambrays), Lucas Pichler (FX Pichler), Cecile Tremblay, Pierre-Marie Chermette (Domaine du Vissoux), Sara Perez (Mas Martinet), Uwe Schiefer and Maurice Barthelme (Albert Mann) have all poured wines in the shop. It’s a tough thing to coordinate, but we plan on hosting many more in the upcoming years.
Finally, we’ll start offering Weygandt Wines Exclusives. Whether they are wines that he has imported in such small numbers (25 or so cases) that it doesn’t make sense to offer them across the country to all of his distributors or special cuvees that he has not previously brought into the country from his current winemakers, we’ll sell these only at the store (online as well). Keep in mind, this does not include extremely limited wines such as Vatan, Tremblay, Pichler, etc. Those will still be available (if you can get to them in time), through all of your favorite retailers. This is more for $15-$35 wines most of us have not seen before in the states.
So there you have our current business model in a nutshell. Of course, this is a fluid plan and much will probably change. But in the meantime, I’m lucky to have guys like Matt, Tom DeLorme and other friends/wine enthusiasts/drinking buddies, helping me try to make this work. And of course, working with Peter’s wines is a good starting point. So stop by sometime or drop a line. Mention Wine Berserkers and I’ll happily offer a friendly discount. We’ll always have something open to taste at our bar and Matt is working on our first (monthly, hopefully) Wine Berserkers tasting at Weygandt Wines.
Ian, good to see you the other day. Re: the Cuvee Traditionnelle Vieilles Vignes, the truth, as per usual, lies somewhere in the middle–35-85 year old vines. The Coeur de Vendanges–85 year old vines.