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Subject: Retailer Report - The Wine Club (Santa Ana, CA)

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Randy Wigginton User is Offline

Wine Connoisseur
Posts:5427

11/18/2007 1:15 PM
Here's an update on TWC Santa Clara. Ever since Alex left, the place has deteriorated. Additionally, there lack of inventory controls and tracking has me extremely concerned. There are several wines that I ordered 3 years ago (Kracher's in particular) that they have not delivered yet. I have inquired, they say the manager "will get back to me". That was a couple months ago. Additionally, I bought wines on pre-arrivals on September 19 that was supposed to arrive in 3-6 weeks as well as an order on September 13 that was to arrive in 3-4 weeks. Basically, if a wine is on pre-arrival from Wine Club, make sure to track it. Unfortunately, I just assumed they would track what wines have been ordered and what has been delivered. They have a paper system; to track down a missing order requires hours of manual labor. So if they did not deliver me some wine that I ordered, and I did not keep track of it, it is money down the toilet. I think they delivered most of the wine I ordered... but I could easily be missing quite a few bottles and never know. :-(

ChillyWino User is Offline

Barrel Racker
Posts:1671

11/18/2007 2:06 PM
Bummer. I know all to well about having to keep track of things and possibly missing out on some orders. Hopefully they come through for you. I found out this past week that the following orders from 3 different retailers didn't go through for various reasons(Distributor, wrong inventory, double sold inventory). 2005 Clos des Papes @ $52, 2005 Vieux Donjon @ $45, 2001 Bressler @ $45

Winetex

Austin, Texas

Master of Wine
Posts:10572

11/18/2007 5:51 PM
I've still had good luck with the Wine Club in Santa Ana. Their inventory system is pretty primitive though. I did receive this email from them: *********************** WCSA - 1996 Krug Brut From: SA Shipping - The Wine Club (wcsashipping@thewineclub.com) Add contact Sent:Fri 11/16/07 2:49 PM To:� We would like to inform you that the following wine(s) have arrived and is/are ready to be shipped or picked up: 1996 Krug Brut Please contact us to make arrangements to ship or pick-up the wine. Please note that this is a general notification to everyone that purchased the wine. Shipping instructions can be relayed with a reply to this email or by calling the Shipping Department directly at 800-966-5432. Please remember that the sooner you respond, the quicker we will be able to meet your needs. If you are coming to pick up at the store. Please call at least 60 mins. before your arrival.� ***************** The funny part about this was that I received the wine a couple of weeks ago. Wonder if they would have shipped me more?�� They did thank me for my honesty.

Daniel Bailey User is Offline

Grape Fermenter
Posts:657

11/18/2007 6:04 PM
Posted By ChillyWino on 11/18/2007 2:06 PM Bummer. I know all to well about having to keep track of things and possibly missing out on some orders. Hopefully they come through for you. I found out this past week that the following orders from 3 different retailers didn't go through for various reasons(Distributor, wrong inventory, double sold inventory). 2005 Clos des Papes @ $52, 2005 Vieux Donjon @ $45, 2001 Bressler @ $45 Your experience is one of the reasons why if possible it pays to concentrate one's funds with just a few retailers (basically other than a few random cases I buy wines at retail only from Vinfolio (www.vinfolio.com) and San Francisco Wine Trading Company (SFWTC reps Kermit Lynch products in San Francisco) (www.sfwtc.com) plus, reluctantly, from Premier Cru). For an example why this makes sense, in the case of 2005 Clos des Papes after Wine Spectator made it the wine of the year Vinfolio went out in the marketplace (probably from Switzerland) and bought a couple of cases of magnums and offered the wine to their best customers at the price Vinfolio was selling the wine BEFORE the Wine Spectator gave it wine of the year.

Winetex

Austin, Texas

Master of Wine
Posts:10572

11/18/2007 6:17 PM
Wine Spectator made it the wine of the year Vinfolio went out in the marketplace (probably from Switzerland) Just curious - why Switzerland? Glad you like Vinfolio. The strategy makes sense if your vendors can source a wide variety of wines. Otherwise I find that different vendors specialize in certain regions. That said I have a few favorites.

ChillyWino User is Offline

Barrel Racker
Posts:1671

11/18/2007 6:27 PM
Dan, I'm usually all over the place in terms of where I buy. Maybe I need to start narrowing down where I go. I had actually bought the Clos des Papes in March. What sucks is I could have bought it from plenty of other places for about $60. Now I wish I would of as I bought it as a wedding year wine. The Vieux Donjon I bought a couple hours before the announcement. They have real time inventory and listed 14 in stock. A subsequent email said they had a inventory error on their web site and offered me a 10% discount on my next purchase. As for the Bressler I jumped as soon as I saw the price. This past week I called to schedule shipment and they said it had been double ordered. They are trying to track down 3 bottles for me. I just can't believe it all happened in the same week. Jeff Posted By Daniel Bailey on 11/18/2007 6:04 PM Posted By ChillyWino on 11/18/2007 2:06 PM Bummer. I know all to well about having to keep track of things and possibly missing out on some orders. Hopefully they come through for you. I found out this past week that the following orders from 3 different retailers didn't go through for various reasons(Distributor, wrong inventory, double sold inventory). 2005 Clos des Papes @ $52, 2005 Vieux Donjon @ $45, 2001 Bressler @ $45 Your experience is one of the reasons why if possible it pays to concentrate one's funds with just a few retailers (basically other than a few random cases I buy wines at retail only from Vinfolio (www.vinfolio.com) and San Francisco Wine Trading Company (SFWTC reps Kermit Lynch products in San Francisco) (www.sfwtc.com) plus, reluctantly, from Premier Cru). For an example why this makes sense, in the case of 2005 Clos des Papes after Wine Spectator made it the wine of the year Vinfolio went out in the marketplace (probably from Switzerland) and bought a couple of cases of magnums and offered the wine to their best customers at the price Vinfolio was selling the wine BEFORE the Wine Spectator gave it wine of the year.

Randy Wigginton User is Offline

Wine Connoisseur
Posts:5427

11/18/2007 7:25 PM
Wow, guess it isn't just TWC. Dan the main thing I've learned is to track my purchases myself. I know that sounds obvious, but when computers are keeping track of everything, it sometimes seems silly. Kind of like balancing your checkbook... when was the last time a bank made a mistake on someone's checking account? (Other than account fees or the occasional really obvious blunder)

Daniel Bailey User is Offline

Grape Fermenter
Posts:657

11/19/2007 9:18 AM
Posted By Winetex on 11/18/2007 6:17 PM Wine Spectator made it the wine of the year Vinfolio went out in the marketplace (probably from Switzerland) Just curious - why Switzerland? Glad you like Vinfolio. The strategy makes sense if your vendors can source a wide variety of wines. Otherwise I find that different vendors specialize in certain regions. That said I have a few favorites. In past vintages I know Vinfolio has sourced Clos des Papes from Switzerland at prices unaffected by a recent market movement in the wine. Hence my assumption they did the same thing again with the 05. In other words, they aren't losing money on the 05 they are offering to their highest level customers. They just aren't making the killing other retailers are doing when they jack prices up on existing stock as a result of a recent market movement in the wine.

Daniel Bailey User is Offline

Grape Fermenter
Posts:657

11/19/2007 9:21 AM
Posted By Randy Wigginton on 11/18/2007 7:25 PM Wow, guess it isn't just TWC. Dan the main thing I've learned is to track my purchases myself. I know that sounds obvious, but when computers are keeping track of everything, it sometimes seems silly. Kind of like balancing your checkbook... when was the last time a bank made a mistake on someone's checking account? (Other than account fees or the occasional really obvious blunder) I agree keeping track of purchases is a must. I'm sure I've forgotten about a number of wines I've purchased over the years. Nowadays, all of my prearrivals are tracked automatically by Vinfolio (they do the data entry on wines I purchase from them. On wines I buy from other retailers or from a mailing list I email them a copy of the invoice and they enter the data for me) so hopefully I'm not losing wines the way I have in the past.

Winetex

Austin, Texas

Master of Wine
Posts:10572

01/19/2008 1:56 PM
Bumping for the new year - I've ordered a lot less from the Wine Club this year more from circumstance than anything else. Their operation still seems more manual than automated.

texaswino

Barrel Sampler
Posts:2184

01/20/2008 9:17 PM
I used to have a good friend who worked at TWC Santa Ana and bought lots of really good wine thru him at some great prices. He tasted a lot of wines and I trusted his palate and he would let me know when something exciting came in. Since he left, I have rarely bought from them. They still offer some good wines at good prices but they don't seem to have as good a handle on inventory and futures can be pretty iffy at times.

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