Deidre Costello

Thanks to Evan and Pol who both answered the SLO question for me. They are both correct that you can place a SLO order either at your local store or by contacting the SLO department directly at 1-800-332-7522 option 4. Calling the SLO department directly is especially helpful if you are looking for a product that is not currently on the list of Special Liquor order products. They will act on your behalf and contact the winery or importer to see if they will make the product available by special order and obtain a price quote. They would also have information on wineries that we have tried to obtain their products in the past but for some reason or anotherthe winery or importer can’t or won’t ship into Pa. -Deidre

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This was originally posted on the Pa Wine Bargains thread by Capaneus (Capaneus, I hope you don’t mind I copied it here!) I thought that you may find this useful if you see the list here too. I will say the two newest favorites of mine in this round are Talbott Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow and the Arrowood Syrah Le Beau Melange 2001 both just came in. By the way if you want to receive this advance notice yourself check in with your local specialty store manager and ask to get you name on the e-mail notification list. http://t.lt05.net/c.asp?mNRoSpTT4UVCaTnnFC...zViJMN2TogHeA0g http://t.lt05.net/c.asp?JgkSVd9VeNhHkevqLm...zViJMN2TogHeA0g http://t.lt05.net/c.asp?ZULPQBdWn2X0tnFmQK...zViJMN2TogHeA0g As Capaneaus put it in his post on another thread: ”Happy Hunting.” -Deidre By the way Katie, loved meeting you at the Philly Festival!

Having re-read the e-mail, I think the information may only be available through these Updates, not on the website. If I recalled how I got on mailing the list in the first place, I'd tell you... Ms. Costello? Anyway, Happy Hunting. ←

Tom, I am assuming that you are referring to the Devon store because of all the glass windows. I will have someone check on this. The PLCB will take returns on any product sold through their stores if it is defective, cooked or otherwise undrinkable. You can return any product to any wine and spirits shop with a receipt as long as there are contents remaining in the bottle (its hard to justify a return on an empty bottle). I usually tell people that if they discover a bottle that turns out to be defective after you poured a glass, to pour the remaining glass contents back into the bottle and return it.

Hello all, thought I would give you my tasting notes from the other day of some of the newest Chairman’s Selections. Now these are just some of my own favorites and slightly biased since right now I am really into Syrah (I go through phases) but I really enjoyed the Arrowood, d’Arenburg, and the Mount Langi. There were also a couple of Zinfandels that I thought really stood out Mariah’s 2000 and 2001. The Columbia Crest Merlot and The Sonoma Cutrer Les Pierres Chardonnay and the Talbotts Sleepy Hollow 2001 pretty much rounded out my favorites of this tasting! Let me know if you agree when these come into to the stores in the near future… Arrowood Syrah Le Beau Melange ’01 Lots of fruit on the nose, the wine has an almost creamy texture, dried fruits of blackberry and plums it’s a big full-bodied wine. D’Arenberg Laughing Magpie ’01 Hints of flowers mixed with dark fruits on the nose, blackberry, blueberry and spice flavors on the palate. Beautiful Mount Langi Shiraz Cliff Edge ’01 Bing cherry, plums and blueberries wrapped around a core of black pepper and spice. Mariah Zinfandel 2000 Good black-raspberry cherry and raspberry fruit and spice silky mouth-feel low tannins. Mariah Zinfandel 2001 More Jammy riper fruit than the 2000 Cherries, and black raspberry fruit soft tannins. Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay Les Pierres ’01 Burgundian style good crisp fruit with pear and mineral flavors. Long lingering finish Talbotts Chardonnay Sleep Hollow ’01 Rich full blown Cali Chard. Pear, pineapple and apple round out the flavors, the wine has a rich creamy texture. Columbia Crest Merlot Reserve ’01 Soft silky fruit flavors of cherry and plum mixed with spice lingering finish.

Philadining, I know that renovations are really tough to get through not only for customers but employees alike constantly moving product around (and sometimes dirt too) Just think in a couple of weeks the store will look brand spanking new and larger too. The real reason I am responding to this is you reminded me of a story when I worked my first summer in one of our stores. A gentleman came in browsing our glass case of vintage ports, he decided on an older vintage port, I went into the back room found a dirty crusty bottle…being the ‘good’ clerk that I though I was, promptly took a dust rag to it and cleaned the bottle up as best I could. I presented the cleaned and shined bottle to the gentleman where he just about cried. Thank goodness that we had several other dirty crusty bottles left! Of course, lesson learned over the years, beauty is in the eye of the beholder…(and knowing what bottles to dust off) thanks for reminding me of this story!

Hello Jonathan, Thanks for the note of confidence in an earlier post. I thought that it might be beneficial to people viewing this forum if you could share some numbers on the amount of monies generated by the PLCB that is turned over to the general fund. You mentioned the 18% earlier but I think it is important for consumers to know the total revenue turned over, and that all revenue generated through the PLCB stays in Pa and benefit Pennsylvanians. Dee

If a product is carried in our Specialty stores we are buying directly from the winery thus a less expensive price especially since we are buying large amounts of products that becomes part of our inventory. Merchandise purchased by Special Liquor Order is not considered our inventory; we do not have any ‘rights’ to that merchandise, that merchandise is owned by the vendor (distributor). When you place a Special Liquor Order you are actually ordering from a third party (vendor). If a product is available in our stores and by Special Order it is almost always less expensive to purchase the inventory in our stores for the reason mentioned above. As for the Cakebread ’02, I’m waiting to hear if we are getting more. I would pretty much betting that we are but want to make sure before I say definitively yes. I’ll let you know Deidre

The shipment of Chapoutier Ermitage Le pavillon 99 as a Charirman's selection was an error so at least in Ardmore they were not even put out for showing. They even sent half back to booze central. I had to ask for mine. I see West Chester has 30 bottles. If you are so inclined, ask for them and they are probably in the back. Perhaps they are not "advertising" the greater then expected deal. Dunno. I would like to know if that means the 2001 ermitage is not going to make it to the stores now. Deidre? U There? Evan ← I’m back from a quick West Coast trip. I have family living in of all places Napa, so when I received an invitation to celebrate a 50th wedding Anniversary I jumped at the chance! Now that I’m back, to answer your question concerning the 2001 Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon, no it doesn’t look like we will be getting any, at least from what I was able to gather so far. (perhaps a question for the Chairman’s Q and A session I see starting on April 24th) I do see that another 250 six packs of the 1993 Burgess Cab should be coming. By the way I will be attending a workshop on Monday where we get the opportunity to taste and learn about the next round of Chairman’s Selection, I’ll report some of my tasting notes sometime next week. –Boy I love my job! -Deidre

Mike I believe the cost difference has more to do with the venues selected for the wine festivals, Philly’s is in the Ballroom at the Convention Center (new location), Harrisburg is at the Harrisburg Hilton and Pittsburgh remains at Heinz Field. Evidently the move to the Convention Center in Philly was to allow for both more space and people but that came at a cost.

Mike, I don't know why the Kim Crawford is still showing I sent an email to see what is up with it. It might be because the Crawford was in our stores prior to the new site launch...Im just not sure exactly yet. You could nominate the Collegeville store to get more Chairman's products, perhaps when the Chairman joins us in our discussions here...

To Andrew and Evan and anyone interested in the Two Hands relationship with the PLCB, I was at the grand opening of our Flourtown location when Michael Twelftree and Richard Mintz presented wines for the tasting. Michael Twelftree talked about the relationship with the PLCB. When he was first starting in the wine making business he presented his then unheard of wines to the PLCB and other US markets. Two Hands wines met several criteria that we were looking for most importantly quality, we purchased everything we could get our hands on and still do. Now of course Two Hands wines are well known with everybody trying to get their hands on as much product as they can. They are one of the most sought after wines from Australia and we purchase as much as the allocation will allow, I will say that Two Hands gives us as fair an allocation that they can based on our buying their wines when they were first starting out. Now if only other wineries will follow, think of where we could go! -Deidre

Just some background on why New York wineries are not well represented in Pa. A few years back we had a vendor, Paul Geist, who distributed wines from the small New York Finger Lake wineries. Evidently New York changed their shipping laws that prevented the direct shipment into Pennsylvania effectively putting the vendor for these small wineries out of business. This has caused serious issues in our ability to obtain wines from New York’s Finger Lake region. Most of these wineries would have to ship their wines through a third party New York licensed company to go through a licensed common carrier. It ended up being too costly for these small wineries to do business. I believe this is part of the law before the Supreme Court concerning direct shipping. In addition I heard of a possible amendment to New York’s Alcohol Beverage Control law that would ease direct shipments for these wineries if it passes. As for the soft opening at Delaware Ave. hopefully the selections will increase as more product are brought into this location. As for the Media location, evidently we’re still working on finding a new location since we lost the lease at our prior location hopefully staffed with more knowledgeable employees. I hear a Super Store is coming to Springfield sometime this summer.

I have no definite date yet on when the Premium Collection store in Quakertown is set to open. My best guess is not until late summer. I will keep you posted when I hear a target date.

About 2 - 3 weeks out for the Burgess '93. About 4 weeks for the Flora Spring.... as for the opening of the Outlet store in South Philly...Is Monday soon enough? Actually the soft opening will be Monday the 28th. With a Grand Opening to follow at a later date.

Hello everyone, I figured this was as good a place as any to post this one. Yesterday I made a ham with Cajun spice and brown sugar rub with some pineapple juice to keep it moist. I then made a simple Pineapple sauce with fresh raspberries to pour over the ham slices. To complement the ham I found the Crios de Susana Baldo Rose’ 2004. The Rose worked really well with the ham, strawberry and cherry flavors nice acidity crisp maybe it was all the fruit flavors that came together but I liked this Rose’ and at $9 a treat.

Hello Evan, these are scheduled to start coming in during the month of April. -Deidre

By the way, when Jonathan joins us again for the Q & A next month I think I may need to suggest an employee discount , of course I would share it with my fellow board members ! The one thing I know about these values besides the obvious $$ saving is my collection is getting bigger my wallet smaller not that I’m complaining about either!

Hello, Now that I finished writing my newsletters for April’s wine club, I thought it was time for my weekly snooping! Here is advance notice on upcoming Chairman’s Selection wines, The Chapoutier wines are going to be extremely limited under 55 cases were ordered of each so only the following stores will have it Waterworks in Pittsburgh, Lemoyne in Central Pa, in the Philly area West Chester Outlet store, Devon, Ardmore Bryn Mawr and on Pawineandspirits.com. I’ll do some more snooping and let you know what else is coming in. Happy Hunting! - D. Arrowood Syrah le Beau Melange, 200192 points The Wine Advocate $17.99…save $21.01 Byron Chardonnay Nielson Vineyards 2001 89 points The Wine Advocate, Now $12.99…save $17.01 Byron Pinot Noir Nielson Vineyard, 2001 92 points Wine Enthusiast, and Wine Spectator, Now $19.99…save $20.01 Chapoutier Ermitage Le Méal Blanc 2001 92-95 points Wine Advocate 94 in Wine Spectator, Now $94.99…save $174.01 Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon 2001 93-95 points The Wine Advocate, 94 in Wine Spectator Now $99.99…save $153.01 Chapoutier St. Joseph Les Granits Rouge 1999 91 points Wine Advocate, April 2002 Now $29.99…save $66.01 Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay Robert Young Vineyard 2001 92 points in Wine Enthusiast, Now $16.49…save $16.50 Columbia Crest Merlot Reserve, 2001 90 points in Wine Spectator Now $17.99…save $12.01 Cosentino “The Poet” Meritage 2000 Now $19.99…save $45.01 D’arenberg Shiraz/Viognier “Laughing Magpie” 2003 91 Wine Spectator 90 The Wine Advocate ,Now $21.99…save $13.01 Domaine Carneros by Taittinger Le Rêve 1998 90 points Wine Spectator, Now $27.99…save $27.01 Drylands Estate Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2004 Quoted at $17.00…Now $11.99…save $5.01 Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet Vide Bourse 2001 90 points in Wine Spectator Now $29.99…save $30.01

First I want to express my condolences as well on the loss of Clancy, I hope your family is recovering from the lost of your beloved pet. They do say out of every tragedy some good will come…I’m glad to see Mr. Newman joined in on our discussions. Get your questions ready for the Q & A he is working on with Katie for April. I’m sure there is going to be a hot topic when it comes around. Linda, I understand that it will be less of a drive for you in the near future, I hear a Premium Collection store is coming to Quakertown later this year! As for the Wine Connection, Pennsylvania's wine club, there are no shipping charges on the monthly (or every other month) packages. There are no sign up fees either and you can cancel at any time. The wines we’ve shipped out in the past year + have been very good! However, I have a bias since the Wine Connection and the selections on our web site are my passion (job).

If you are looking for this one in the product search I think we have it as Las Brisus at $10.99?? Las Brisas sounded like a winner to me at that price.....so I played around in the product search and came up with this I'm not sure its the same wine but will try a bottle at that price.

Evan, About the Cakebread Cab ’02 (not a Chairman’s Selection) arrival I talked to the vendor that reps the product yesterday, they said they were just getting their allocation and the state usually runs a few weeks behind so your estimated of mid to late March should be right on.