griffiti

griffiti

11p

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11 years ago @ The Wellesley Wine Press - Poll: Which of these w... · 0 replies · +1 points

Chris Lianos runs Ball Square Wines in Somerville.

13 years ago @ The Wellesley Wine Press - Top 10 Most Frequently... · 1 reply · +1 points

Don't even get me started on Burgundy producers, I'll assume we're just talking about US wineries for now. Over at Bevmedia one of the hardest for us to tease apart is Pelligrini Family Vineyards (Sonoma) and Pelligrini Vineyards (North Fork of Long Island). Naturally if you are familiar with just one you refer to it as Pelligrini Vineyards, well they are both called Pelligrini VIneyards.

13 years ago @ The Wellesley Wine Press - A sign of the times in... · 1 reply · +1 points

Robert, can you share the market where this happened? Certainly in the price posting states it is illegal for a distributor to offer a price that is not available to all accounts. The first line of recourse for a store is not an expensive legal action but a complaint to the state ABC with supporting documentation to insist they enforce their laws.

His $36k day was probably an anomaly unless he was posting over $10M/yr, in which case it doesn't make sense the wholesaler would turn his back, and he certainly wasn't a "tiny one man operation". Also, it sounds like he was totally dependent on a single wholesaler for the deals he offered in his business, which is not sustainable as is now obvious. I don't mean to sound cold-hearted but I read self-pity into this message and suspect he had already decided to close shop when this message was released.

Call me a skeptic, but I suspect there is more to this story than this email reveals. Knowing the state would clarify if any laws were broken, and if not why was he unable to change his business model once the incredible deals he relied on dried up.

13 years ago @ Catavino - A Minor Dream Fulfille... · 0 replies · +1 points

Lovely post about your visit with the Quadys. I met Andrew early in my wine journey and could barely appreciate his fascination with sweet wine. At that time I thought I was fairly esoteric being obsessed into wine, but then here's a guy who is deep into making bizarre remixes of old world fortifieds. Over the years I have always been interested to explore his wines with an open mind, my willingness shaped largely by the memories of the generous and playful spirit behind this venture.

13 years ago @ The Wellesley Wine Press - Winery Direct Shipment... · 0 replies · +1 points

Sorry not a market cap, the volume cap where MA was trying to limit direct shipping to wineries under 30k gallons. These conflicting judgements are about winery shipping laws. MassPack appears to be hoping this volume cap will return to MA thereby keeping most wineries out of the state. As far as I can see, the only argument they see that makes it legitimate for retailers to ship out is if all wineries can ship in. However retailer shipping is not popular with the large wholesalers and I suspect this is MassPack's way of picking their battles.

13 years ago @ The Wellesley Wine Press - Winery Direct Shipment... · 1 reply · +1 points

It looks like retailers are getting left behind. MassPack, the retailer association, has backed away from lobbying the state for a relaxing of the rules that bar a retailer from shipping out of MA. Their rationale is that the 9th Circuit ruled in favor of a market cap in AZ similar to the ruling that the 1st Circuit ruled against for MA. They think the Supreme Court will need to determine whether the MA ruling is upheld and until that happens they will wait it out.

14 years ago @ The Wellesley Wine Press - Steakhouse Cab Blind T... · 1 reply · +1 points

This sounds like a fun tasting and night out. I'm curious if you suspect you marked down the Demuth having recognized its neck. The mind plays all kinds of tricks once we think we know something we shouldn't know. Were your impressions of the other wines in line with your tasting partners?