The 2002 and 2003 Corison Napa Cabs are up as a pair for $60 + $7 shipping at http://wine.woot.com. You should be able to use the code SERENDIPITY for an additional $5 off. I figure that’s about half-off retail for current vintages.
This is a Woot-Off (rapid fire sale like WTSO), but they must have a decent quantity since they haven’t sold out yet. I’d figure this will be gone by mid or late afternoon, though.
Will they hold over the summer? Worthless to me unless they will.
Chris
Nope, and that’s the problem.
No holding, though they do some refrigerated shipping cross country. If I wasn’t on the west coast where it’s relatively cool, though, I’d pass as well. It’s the often UPS delivery truck that’s the killer.
thought I heard they ship in refrigerated trucks?
They do for the cross country part, but if you live in a hot area the final delivery truck is a huge risk as a wine oven.
Anyway, it’s a good deal, but I agree with the others that the shipping is a risk.
Hmmm. I already placed an order since I’ve been wanting to try Corison. I didn’t realize they wouldn’t hold orders. I sent them an email asking if they would do that, and if they reply that they won’t then I guess I’ll ask to cancel the order.
Well, thanks for the heads up regardless. I should ignore that site until shipping conditions return here in December.
Chris
Sorry for not warning about the shipping system. They just kind of find a mutually acceptable window for specific regions and it all goes out at once. It’s definitely the trade off for the low shipping price.
As it is, I will cross my fingers and hope they don’t mistime the west coast shipments.
Sure enough, they replied that they don’t hold orders. I replied that I’d like to cancel, and they did so a short time later. I have to give them credit for their responsiveness. I’ll check them out again when the weather cools off. Too bad though, I was already looking forward to trying Corison, and that was really a nice deal.
They are good in terms of reacting to situations with the customer service. Even when some wine got cooked–they idiotically shipped on a Friday into a weekend heatwave–they replaced it, no questions asked. But shipping is not something they handle directly.
Most of their offers are pretty mundane, to be honest. Maybe once every month or two a really interesting potentially ageworthy wine pops up.
I don’t understand businesses who try to sell high-end wine, but refuse to avoid shipping during a heatwave. It would be like selling stained glass windows, but refusing to use protective packaging.
I don’t quite understand it, either, though Woot generally seems to sell lower to mid end wines to a less persnickety crowd. They do hold in my experience through high heat (except when they make a mistake and don’t), but they also aren’t super careful. 80 degrees is not something they seem to worry about, whereas 80 is the danger zone in my mind. I guess they figure most wine is consumed near term, and minor heat degradation is not important in this scenario. (If you read the forums, it’s amazing how many people drink the wine the day it arrives.) For aging, though, it’s a different story.
If I passed on the Cornerstone earlier this month due to the shipping thing, we need another word for pass now. (I actually enjoy Cornerstone) 
There’s a pair of 03’s right now up on woot for $60+5 shipping. It’s a woot off day as well, fyi