For The Love Of Port

Today, one of the importers who receives the newletter saw the Noval offering and has approached me to do a special quick one and I may include this in the July offering although it will be a much smaller one.

This is the first time I've actually been approached by an importer to do this, rather than me doing the pursuing. I hope this becomes a trend.

Awesome! Can't wait to see who it is and what they have.

Me too! I think this is great.

So much for smaller!?!?!?! :wall:

I just got off the phone with the importer. We'll be hammering out an agreement and I am going to move this to August instead of July, giving folks a chance to save up again.

This is one of the top SQVP properties in the Douro. We'll do LBV, Tawnies, maybe some Colheitas, definitely some VPs and 2007 futures too.

There is a lot of work to get pricing in line, ratings, photos, TNs and then to make sure they can deliver in quantity. This importer will need to figure out how to get product to everybody. Otherwise it is a certainty to happen. As this is not a company often seen here ... although truly a top tier SQVP ... this is going to be a fantastic opportunity for me to be able to share with you folks.

The current one is not even done yet, so I am going to stay mum on this for now.


ADDED: We'll also be adding a variety of DOC wines too.

OH NO, only two months to save up!

I can push it back if that is something you'd all prefer. But from reading "what are you buying this week" thread in the Port Forum ... it doesn't look like time will matter. But it is up to you all.

I would like to get another two more offerings in this year, one of which will have to be Madeira related.

From a shipping point of view... well, neither July nor August is going to be good. But at least with an August offer we'll only have to wait a month or two before the Ports can be safely shipped!

Like others mentioned, August would be good for me too. But be sure to check that they can hold shipments until the weather cools. That means around late October or early November for those of us in southern states.
Thanks again

I am sure they would never consider shipping during the heat of the summer and therefore it would make sense that shipments go out no earlier than September. I am sure they would be happy to hold.

This sounds great, Roy, and I, too, hope that the "me, too" mentality becomes a trend. I also hope that these guys will ship to Virginia... Please say that they will! :)

Jonathan,

It is way too early for me to be able to know that. You need to find a good friend in an adjacent "legal" state where you won't have these issues in the future. I'd say that would be a very worthy homework assignment!

That or see if your local wine shop is willing to receive deliveries on your behalf. Consumer direct might be the issue, but I bet they can ship to another retailer in your area without too much issue at all.

Roy Hersh wrote:Jonathan,

It is way too early for me to be able to know that. You need to find a good friend in an adjacent "legal" state where you won't have these issues in the future. I'd say that would be a very worthy homework assignment!

That or see if your local wine shop is willing to receive deliveries on your behalf. Consumer direct might be the issue, but I bet they can ship to another retailer in your area without too much issue at all.

Roy,

Thanks for the advice, kind chap. Also, I apologize for raining on the fantastic parade that the excellent news you announced in this thread represents. It is true that I am frustrated by Virginia's restrictive shipping laws, but, in the spirit of maintaining a positive environment here at FTLOP, I will refrain from mentioning my frustrations in the future.

If you have any leads on prospective friends in MD or DC, let me know. :help: If you could make an introduction or two, I'd appreciate it... Ha, ha. In the interim, I will check with my local wine shop and a local winery owner who also owns a distribution center. I really am looking forward to the day when I can bid these shipping issues goodbye.

Jonathan,

I totally understand. I don't know if you've forgotten, but I moved here from Virginia and had hassles even in the 1990s when shipping from CA (which was a pretty liberal place to be getting wine from at the time ... compared to a couple of other states!).

There was someone here maybe in the offline Forum who was looking to meet others here from DC. Have a look or do a search on DC and you'll probably find the guy. Can't remember off the top of my head.

If I could change "the system" I absolutely would ... I promise. I have long been very outspoken on interstate shipping topics on other wine forums and hate the fact that the neo-Prohibitionists in the USA, funded by certain factions as well as WSWA, have made this such a nightmare into the 21st century.

Whoa! I hope you've all saved some sheckles!

You're such a tease!!!

Will they ship to the UK? We are practically the 53rd state of the Union.

Al B. wrote:Will they ship to the UK? We are practically the 53rd state of the Union.

If they won't and the time frames work out properly, I have 6 bottles of remaining capacity on the Seattle->Maastricht leg of my trip in October and you'd be welcome to fill those up.

All of the slots on the return trip, not too surprisingly, are already spoken for.

Al B.,

As Derek has put it so eloquently, compared to UK pricing these deals probably don't make sense. Although in some cases, we'll have access to wines that never come over to the UK at all. In this case, I see some interesting old Tawnies, a few VPs, an LBV that's not been released elsewhere, 2007 futures again ... before offered anywhere else in the USA, one unique Tawny and some outstanding DOC wines too. Trying to keep the list to a manageable 10-12 items. Won't know the pricing until Monday ... as we're still working through the logistics (this is more complicated than past offers) and decisions on exactly what should be offered.