You ever get free wine?

WINE TALK
21

I don’t catalogue the cellar, so I sometimes get free wine.

I also lose wine.

22

Recently purchased 3 Magnums from an Auction house I rarely buy from, and followed up the next week to request shipping before it got too cold. Got the FedEx tracking info and noticed it indicated a shipping weight of 42 pounds. 42# for 3 Mags? Went back through email and saw no other pending orders from them, so figured they had screwed something up or maybe the auction listing was wrong. Went to my locker on Sunday, and found 6 Mags in the box. The three I had recently won, and 3 Mags of '02 Pax Pangea I had won over a year ago and completely forgotten about and had never entered into CT as Pending. Chalked it up to CRS, but it was like finding a $100 bill in a jacket you hadn’t worn since last winter.

23

Don’t hate me because in ITB. Between contract obligations and gifts from customers I probably get 6-10 cases annually. Maybe more. I usually write in my contacts with smaller producers that the grower will receive one case of finished wine per year. 17 customers do the math. Customers like KJ and others not so generous.

24

There is a New York attorney named John Kane. He and I both took separate trips to Torii Mor in Oregon around the same time (though never met or anything). He signed up for their wine club, and I signed up for a mailer or something non-committal. They shipped him a six pack of wine to me. I called and asked them if I owed them or needed to return the wine and they told me to just keep it. Very kind.

I later received a couple bottles of nice Italian wine from a retailer that clearly lost said NY John Kane’s info, googled John Kane lawyer, and sent it to me. Retailer demanded the wine back, which was a bummer but it wasn’t mine so oh well.

I bought some 1998 Pol Roger Winston Churchill for an absurdly good price from an online mom and pop shop. It was sold out from under me. They apologized and sent me a pristine 1988 Pol Roger Winston Churchill for the same price, which is perhaps the best champagne I’ve had yet.

25

I can remember being shipped some wrong wine and being told to keep them after I inquired. One was recent, like last year but sometimes there are gray areas between friends and dealing with someone ‘ITB’. There are some similar incidents from long ago with non-friend wine shipments. It’s probably not always worth the hassle to have things shipped back if it’s not in quantity.

Is that really subtext? I thought it was text. newhere

26

When Jay writes this same post next year I have it bookmarked to link for him. Good thing posts here are free, but I’m wondering about how many free things are coming from Nigeria? Should we call his family…

27

every fall I pick up a few cases of wine from the local FedEx store and they don’t charge me anything at all. I’m not sure how their wine department makes any money.

28

Perhaps only because you haven’t had the 1998. I served a bottle of the 1998 at my son’s 10-person wedding. May have been the best champagne I ever had.

29

I helped Sojourn at a tasting in NYC, and managed a bottle or 2 as a gift for helping.

30

I have a $180,288.00 bank cashier’s check sitting on my desk right now that came from Nigeria. Best counterfeit I have ever seen. Would make Rudy proud.

31

champagne.gif A man who truly understands!

32

Never [whistle.gif]

33

CRS . . .
Catholic Relief Services?
Congressional Research Service?
Center for Rural Studies?
Center for Resource Solutions?
Controlled Release Society?
Congenital Rubella Syndrome?
Cardiorenal Syndrome?

34

T, I told you this just last week:
Can’t Remember Shit.

Now go take your pills before you forget that too.
[cheers.gif]

35

As I get older, I think any wine I forget preordering to be free when it arrives.

36

Walking in my office most people would be envious of what they need to climb over but I pay for it with copious hours of midnight oil.

37

Yes but knowing them they signed you up for their 94 point wine club

38

I bought and paid for a bottle of 1964 Monte Real Gran Reserva for a close friend’s 50th a few years back from Rare Wine. They shipped me the Reserva inadvertently. When I pointed it out, they generously offered several good options. I chose to buy the Reserva they had already shipped to me, and they shipped me the Gran Reserva overnight without charge. Practically “free” - they did give me a very good discount to standard retail on the Reserva and eat the second shipping fee.

Both bottles were excellent.

39

A few years ago, about this time of year, I received two bottles at my office delivered by a courier - a 2014 Leflaive Puligny Montrachet and a NV Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve. There was no card or receipt, and the courier did not identify himself. The bottles were in single bottle brown paper bags inside a bigger brown paper bag with my name written on the outside. No identifying information whatsoever. I called around to a couple of couple of stores to see if they had delivered it, but no luck. I never did find out who sent them to me. Thank you Secret Santa, whoever you were!

40

Probably told this story before but it has an update (12 years in the making)
About 12-13 years ago I hosted a tasting for a then new winery MollyDooker . 50 or so wine lovers on 2nd floor of MAC’s steakhouse on Long Island. After the tasting was done Sparky treated me and a few of my friends and family to a nice meal with the full line up of his wines. After dinner be gave me a bottle of every wine in their line up including the velvet glove (only one not under screw cap at the time) Someone who attended the tasting (and a friend of a board poster) liberated the velvet glove Sparky gifted to me. Sparky without missing a beat gave me another bottle like the gentlemen he was. A month or so later I received a shipment of more molly dooker including a boxed magnum set of carnival of love and enchanted path with poster and autographed.
Fast forward 12 years I am invited to taste the current release by Sarah (post divorce and she is now owner of winery). During that tasting I was given another bottle of Velvet Glove (they did this thing where everyone placed name on a card in a decanter and they pulled names for a free bottle). My name was pulled for the Velvet glove.
Have also gotten free bottles from LWS. distributors, importers and others over the year.
Also have received free port tongs via Kobrand.
ON a few occasions I was given wines where all the labels had fallen off and there was no way of knowing what was inside the bottle. These have been some of my favorite bottles as the conversations and tasting notes on these unknown bottles were varied and diverse within my blind tasting club.
Lastly via my blind tasting club I have written/emailed/called importers/distributor/wineries about wanting to have their wines in our blind tasting and if they had any marketing materials or older wines to contribute to the tastings. The amount of wines given to me this was is countless.