Jonathan Newman

Dear Friends: It has been most heartwarming to hear all your kind words and well wishes. This has obviously been a challenging month for me. I have resigned from a job that I loved where I felt like I was making a difference as a consumer advocate. I was asked by the Administration to do something that I felt was highly inappropriate because it was bad government and would have compromised my ideals. It would have meant "rubber stamping" a bad decision which has given the word "politics" such a bad name. I decided to leave the PLCB now because the discussion needs to be about the integrity of the political process and transparency in government. I am hopeful that public outrage and indignation over these recent events will not diminsh as I know the Adminstration certainly wants this issue to fade away as time passes. And it should not be about me and my job but about the political process and future direction of government in this state. I know that the PLCB needs to make a lot more progress and there are still many frustrations about government control of alcohol beverages in our Commonwealth. Nevertheless, I attempted to modernize the system and make it the very best it could be and empower our employees to take pride in their jobs. Over the last several years, there have been almost one thousand egullet posts about these modernization efforts and I am so appreciative of all the words of encouragement and this made me work harder to achieve many of your suggestions and remedy some of your frustrations in the system. And consumers voted with their pocketbooks and we have posted record profits over the last 4 years. In the past fiscal year alone our sales were up over a hundred million dollars and our total revenues provided to the Commonwealth increased by $46 million. Expenses as a percent of gross sales have remained consistent and this fiscal year is on target for record numbers. Our gross sales are up 25% in the last three years in part because many people who shopped out of state came back to our stores because we did a better job with better product selection, beautiful Premium Collection stores, more knowledgeable staff and hot pricing like the Chairman Selection wines. I have agreed to participate in the Philadelphia Inquirer's Q&A Forum at philly.com over the next several days and look forward to continuing the discussion we have had over the years. With Warm Regards.

Hi Jonathan, Thanks once again for your regular presence here on eGullet. I can't tell you how great it is to have you around. I do have a quick question for you: In this month's Philadelphia Magazine they mention the Il Colombaio di Cencio Il Futuro Super Tuscan 2000 as one of the particularly hot Chairman's Selection wines. Just to be clear, this is a different wine from the one you mention above, correct? And to that end, is it still possible to get a couple of bottles of the Super Tuscan at all? I dropped by our local premium store, and they said that the two times they've gotten the Il Colombaio it's been gone within a couple of hours, but they suggested checking on the PLCB site. I did, and the only Colombaio I could find was the Chianti Classico you mentioned, but even that isn't yet available for ordering. Any light you might be able to shed on this would be much appreciated. Thanks! ← The new one is a Chianti Classico from the same producer, which is a really beautiful wine. We sold 1,000 cases of the Il Colombaio De Cencio Il Futuro hours after it arrived in stores. It joins the elite grop of Chairman Selection wines like the Fisher Coach Insignia, Cakebread Benchland Select, and the Sette Ponti Oreno which sold out immediately upon arrival. It's just the nature of the program that some of the insane deals are hunted down as it creates a treasure hunt atmosphere. It's probably a good idea to check the list of upcoming selections and pre-order at the store as quite a few of the upcoming deals will move really quickly in the busy month of December. The .375s of Sena arrived on Friday with the remainder coming this Monday and Tuesday. Two other really nice selections just arrived: the 1999 Kenwood Cabernet and the 03 Kenwood Reserve Zinfandel. Two other products which should arrive soon that have really rocking juice are the 01 Sequoia Reserve Cab (the first drop sold out really quickly) and the 03 Byron Santa Maria Pinot Noir. Keep an eye out on the website at www.pawineandspirits.com which gets a good allocation of Chairman Selections and has free shipping through the end of the year. Thanks again for the positive feedback and all your support!

Dear Friends, I wanted to say hello and give you an update on some positive developments at the PLCB and the Chairman's Selection wine program. I really enjoyed our dinner at RX and listened to many of your suggestions and we have been working hard to institute these changes. First, we have implemented free shipping on our e-commerce website through the end of the year and we have loaded the website with a ton of Chairman Selections. The response has been overwhelming and the website has seen unprecedented traffic. Second, we have upgraded details on both the store inventory and information on the upcoming Chairman's Selections on our website at www.lcb.state.pa.us. Third, we are in the process of implementing a system of allowing for pre-ordering of Chairman Selections. Finally, I believe you will be impressed by the magnitude and quality of Chairman's Selections that will be hitting stores in the next couple of weeks. Sales have been on fire during the last week and many of the recent Chairman Selections have been well depleted including the Newtown Epic and Le Puzzle, the Bernardus Cornelia Pinot Noir, the Rizzi Barbaresco and the Burgess 01 and 94 Cab Library selection. The good news is that there are over 40 selections that will arrive shortly that are gourgeous wines at hot, usually unbeatable prices. Some of my favorites include: Byron IO Syrah from the magnificent 02 vintage Margaux Second growth Chateau Lascombes from the exciting 03 vintage Chateau Bastor Lamotagne Sauterne from the highly regarded 01 vintage Chateau La grange Neuve from the stellar 2000 vintage Achaval-Ferrer Quimera from Mendoza, Argentina that is stunning Arrowood Sarahlee Syrah 01 which received a 93 rating from Parker Inniskillin Riesling icewine which Spectator gave a 93 rating Sena (.375's) from the Aconcagua Valley with a 91 from the Spectator Il Colombaio di cencio Chianti Classico Ruffino Modus 00 which is just beautiful and has strong press Teruzzi & Pethod, Terre di Tufany from Tuscany-one of the very best Italian whites And some re-orders of Chairman selections that have been very popular: Sequoia Grove 01 reserve Cab, a 93 Enthusiast Cellar Collection Freemark Abbey 00 Sycamore and Bosche Burgess 1993 library selection .750's and magnums I know we have a lot of work to do at the PLCB, but we're making great strides and I thank you for your positive feedback which has been most productive. Enjoy the Holidays!!!

I wanted to say hello to everyone and thank you again for your support of all the new PLCB innovations and in particular the Chairman's Selection program. It is certainly worth all the hard work putting these deals together when I see such positive feedback and true appreciation. As a wine lover and value shopper, I will continue to fight for the consumer and use Pa's economies of scale and purchasing power effectively. I would like to invite everyone to a Grand opening of a spectacular Premium Collection store on Wed. August 17th at 5:30 at 149 Baltimore Pike in Springfield, Delaware County which is next to the Block Jewelers and there is a ton of parking. I will be attending with the talented winemaker of Chateau St. Jean, Margo Van Staaveren. We are pouring the Belle Terre and Robert Young chards, and the Cinq Cepages. Some of my favorite Chairman Selections are now in wide distribution in our Premium Collection stores like the Artesa Pinot Noir, Freemark Abbey-Sycamore and Bosche. The Edmeades zin is a great bottle bottle, but is in limited distribution because of the quantity of the buy. There is also the spectacular Montes Alpha Syrah which just received a 91 rating in the most recent issue of Wine Spectator. The Montes Leyda Sauv Blanc is also a nice summer wine at a great price. In the next couple of weeks some of the hottest deals will be in stores including, the Foxen Foothills Reserve, Mondavi Stag's Leap District Cab (more on the elegant side than big), and the 03 Swanson Cygnet Merlot(even Miles would like this one) . In late september, the Columbiao de Cencio 00 Super Tuscan Il Futuro will arrive. It has an 88 Wine Spectator rating, sugg. retail of $85 and will have a retail price point of $17.99. The Montes 03 Alpha Cab should also arrive then-it just received a 90 rating and Wine Spectator smart buy with a sugg. retail of $23 and it will hit our shelves for $11.99. I saw a few posts about a Chairman's Selection dinner and would be glad to attend with a couple months advance notice. Perhaps, Katie can work on some of the logistics, and we can pick a date at a really fun restaurant in the philadelphia area. Enjoy the rest of the Summer! Jonathan Newman

Picked up a half-case at 1218 Chestnut Friday, on Corey's recommendation. *Tried* to drink it tonight, but I live in Philadelphia. 9pm is apparently past closing time for *four* different local restaurants with posted 9:30 or 10pm closing times. I'm a hungry, bitter man. But at least I own six bottles of a nice wine. ← I had a bottle of this last night myself. I'd seen it at 12th & Chestnut Saturday afterrnoon and also picked it up on Corey's recommendation. I'm in agreement with shacke and Capaneus. This is very tasty wine with a lot going on. Very BIG fruit and flavor. ← This is one of my favorite deals. It is hard to find a bottle of this quality for $20. I tried a sample when it won the Starwine Gold Medal. I spoke with many of the tasters at the competition and while this was one of the most competitive categories, it was uniformly one of the most memorable wines tasted in the Starwine competition which included 50 sommeliers from 20 different countries. Mitch Cosentino called me and offered it to the PLCB at $39.99, which would have been $23 off a bottle. He told me that it was the one of the very best Poet's he ever made and that they don't release it until the next vintage to give the entire line a halo effect. He admitted that with this vintage coming late on the heels of the 01 that it was a tricky sell at full price and he agreed it was a much cleaner deal having the PLCB buy most of the inventory and we finally settled on the $19.99 retail price.The PLCB ended up purchasing over two-thirds of the entire production and our consumer is getting a tremendous buy. The diversity and magnitude of the Chairman Selection wines that we now have in Premium Collection stores will make it very hard for any retailer to offer so many great deals on a price-quality basis. The D'Arenberg Laughing Magpie, Ch. St. Jean Robert Young Vineyard Chard, Ridge Home Ranch and so many other great deals makes it a fun time for our customers to enjoy amazing wine at hot prices. Thanks again for all your support, kind words and confidence in me.

I have really enjoyed this forum. I would like to thank Katie and everyone who participated. The questions were very intelligent and interesting. The participants were all very positive and some of the suggestions are quite helpful. I believe that the PLCB has made a lot of progress in the last few years and I am proud of everyone in our organization. There is still much work to be done to make the PLCB even more consumer friendly, but I genuinely believe that the changes have been making a real difference from the way things used to be. I appreciate all your positive feedback and kind words.

My recommendation is that after the Supreme Court hands down its decision, the Legislature schedule hearings to decide how to comply with the Court's opinion that serves the best interests of the residents of the Commonwealth. This should include a diverse cross section of all the interested parties and should be done in a thoughtful manner. The PLCB does have access to over 11,000 wineries through our SLO system. We cannot realistically stock wine from all wineries. Each store has the SLO list and can tell you if the winery makes its products available and whether it must be the purchase of a full case. Get to know the folks in the stores and I think you'll find that they really do want to help you.

This, I assume, includes the infamous Johnstown Flood (1937) Relief Tax. Since I assume that Johnstown's gotten enough revenue from this tax to repair the damage caused not only by the 1937 flood, but by the 1889 disaster and any floods that have occurred in between or since these, we may expect to see it repealed soon? Seriously: What are the prospects for the elimination of this tax? (And whose pockets will the General Assembly reach into to replace the lost revenue, which I imagine now goes into the general fund?) ← The Johnstown flood tax is certainly a good part of the PLCB revenue stream. I do not see the Flood tax being reversed which is why we have to use our purchasing power to deliver competitive pricing. If the revenues disappeared, taxes would probably go up because the funds go to the general fund and educate children and build roads. The lesson of the Johnstown flood tax is that there is no such thing as a temporary tax.

Hi Dee, This year the PLCB will have gross sales of $1.45 billion dollars and we expect total contributions to the Commonwealth of more than $363 million including taxes collected, profit transfers, funding of the State Police-LCE and Dept. of Health drug and alcohol programs. We are projecting sales of $1.54 billion in FY 05-06 and generating more than $407 million in revenue for the Commonwealth.

Your information is incorrect. Allocations are done based on the demographics of the market and historical sales at stores. The two stores that receive the highest allocation because of their sales history are Ardmore in Montgomery County and the Waterworks near Pittsburgh. The store at 333 Market in Harrisburg probably recieves the lowest allocation of any Premium Collection/Specialty store in the Commonwealth. The new store on the east shore in Harrisburg is not one of the top 25 stores in terms of allocated wine.

Diann, Thank you so much for your nice comments. In the last couple months, I have done dinners at Le Bec Fin, Savona ,Panorama and other restaurants throughout the Commonwealth. As these events come along I will forward them to katie so she can post them.

Thank you for your support and encouragement. We are trying to stock our stores with more unique offerings. Our listed wines are pretty extensive and compared to the average retail store in the private sector, I believe we have more selections than most. The product selection at our 55 Premium Collection stores is pretty amazing. If you visit stores like Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, West Goshen, Cedar Crest Plaza in Allentown or the Waterworks in Pittsburgh the choices are overwhelming. When winemakers visit our Premium Collection stores they often comment that they are some of the most impressive and well stocked stores they have seen anywhere in the Country. The Chairman Selection program has expanded and there are now well over 20 hot deals of amazing wines in our stores at any given time. I understand that we have a lot of work to do, but I am proud of the turn-around we've made and our numbers show that we are doing something right.

Percy, We have now opened 8 one stop shops and plan to open many more. This has been one of the most exciting PLCB innovations and it has been warmly received by our customers. We are paying $84,00 rent at the Clemens in Blue Bell and the store will do over $4 million in sales this year. The supermarket has also reported that their sales are up dramatically. I read an interesting article in Decanter magazine that most of the 00 Bordeauxs are now selling below their release prices. There was a run on the 00s as soon as they hit stores because of all the publicity. I also hear mixed reports on the 03s and wonder whether most futures will pan out. It is certainly something we can take a close look out as a courtesy to our consumers who may have interest. I appreciate your confidence in me. Thanks

I have a lot of work to do at the PLCB and I'm planning on sticking around. We have some great folks at the LCB like our Director of Marketing, Jim Short; Dee Costello does a great job on the www.pawineandspitis.com website and the wine club, and Liza Galia, is one of the top wine buyers in the United States. Ultimately, when I do leave one day, I hope the Governor will appoint and the Senate must then confirm a quality individual who is looking out for the consumer and has business saavy.

how about that--i thought y'all controlled the whole shebang. you learn something new every day! you sure are. a followup question, which is kind of related to your whole plan to further educate your employees about wine: have you considered going beyond tastings and offering wine education 'classes' of sorts for the public? it would seem that if you're developing a curriculum to give your employees a broad range of knowledge about these sorts of things, that the public could probably benefit from a similar program. and it would seem from the sheer size of the lcb, the economies of scale might make it feasible to do it for a reasonable price. i know, for instance, that if i had had the opportunity to learn more about these things when i was younger, i wouldn't be in the situation that i am, playing catchup in my 30s. ← This is a good suggestion. Next week's wine festivals are great events to educate consumers. At the Phila. Convention center, we will have many selections from 150 of the most prominent wineries in the world. We are also getting reknown winemakers to do grand opening events at all the new stores we are opening. At lcb.state.pa.us, we now have a detailed list of all the in-store samplings with the products, store locations and dates. We should be doing more and I will continue to think of creative ways of making wine education for our employees AND customers a top priority. Thank You.

I must say, Mr Newman, that the online inventory on the ecommerce site was an explosive step forward for the system and is a great tool that I use almost daily. Hooray! I also want to say that the Star Wine idea is very exciting - it would be nice to have some trusted options beyond Parker (and perhaps Wine Spectator) ratings, although I appreciate both of these entities as useful guides. Are there other ideas or upcoming changes in the works that you can clue us into now? BTW, Special thanks for your thoughts on my question above! Evan ← I really do appreciate all the positive feedback. Thank You. We do have many exciting changes in store for the next couple of years. There are many more one stop shops in grocery stores to be opened, including a Clemens in New Britain, Lionville and Malvern, Fresh grocer in west Philly, Fox's supermarket in Hershey, and Giant Eagle in Cranberry,... Many more Premium Collection stores, including: Sewickley, Robinson Town Center and the Bill Green shopping center in the Pittsburgh area, expanded outlet stores at West Goshen and Franklin Mills, a beautiful store in Quakertown, and Whitehall in Lehigh County, to name a few. The Chairman Selection Program is expanding and I believe you will be favorably impressed by the deals coming this Spring and Summer. Next year you will be able to check all the inventory at your local store on-line, purchase it on your credit card and have your order waiting for easy pick-up at the store. Our upcoming wine festivals and on site stores in Philly, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh will be even better this year. The winemaker dinners on Monday night in Philly can be accessed at the phillymag website. More samplings at premium Collection stores, better product selection, more diverse accessory offerings, and a priority on even better customer service. We also have a few other surprises.

That is good constructive criticism. We have to do a better job with point of sale materials to help our consumer. In a few stores like Bryn Mawr and 12th and Chestnut, we have computer kiosks with informational wine links. Our e-commerce website at www.pawineandspirits.com is also a valuable resource. There is a wine of the month club, of which I am a member, that offers great selections from boutique wineries with detailed information on all of the wines. At www.lcb.state.pa.us, you can now check real-time inventory of all products at individual stores. Later this spring, we will have Star Wine racks in our Premium Collection stores to highlight wines selected by the best sommeliers in the World in a top tasting competition conducted in Philly this winter. I will pass your comments on to our marketing team and stress the importance of employee training and point of sale information to allow the consumer to make a more informed decision. Thank you for all your kind words and thoughts.

The American dollar is getting pounded and most of the deals are in the United States. I remember when the Euro was at 83 cents and it has actually gone over $1.30 recently. I did get a beautiful Chassagne montrachet from Dom. F&L pillot, and hot deals from Chapoutier on their Ermitage Blanc Le Meal and St. Joseph St. Granits. The Italian, Spanish, Chilean and even Australian producers have been much more aggressive in the Chairman Selection program than the French. Many french producers have been withdrawing from the marketplace because of the exchange rate and some ill feelings towards the french government. French wine sales were down double digits last year and this year in both Pa. and most American markets. Instead of marketing their products more aggressively, most producers are cutting back marketing dollars and their wine industry is in a state of turmoil.

Sandy, Great question. There are some saavy retailers who use very effective marketing to reach out to Pa. consumers and I recognize and understand the border bleed problem. Our outlet stores and great wine deals in our Premium Collection stores are helping to win consumers back but we must be even more aggressive to keep this revenue in the Commonwealth. There are some impressive out of state retailers. However, for many it is a game to get the customer in the store and then sell them on more profitable merchandise. Look carefully at the ads our competitors take out. You have to clip coupons, there are expiration dates, bottle limits, and sometimes it is even cash only. They may advertise a product like KJ VR Chard at $9.99 and the product is buried in the store and they sample you and stack out obscure private labels where they have higher margins. Our outlet stores have all the major spirits discounted year long with no bottle limits, you don't have to clip coupons and it is cash or credit. In fact, these stores discount many more spirits than almost all of our competitors. The spirits are liters that have a one-third higher pour than a 750 ml. and are typically only about a dollar higher than the 750ml. We also have the most popular wines that are co-packed with significant savings. The Franklin Mills store did 4 million before it was an outlet store and it will do over $12 million in sales this year and we are in the process of expanding the store. The store on Columbus and Snyder in South Philly is a beautiful Premium Collection outlet store and there is a similar concept store in West Goshen, Chester County. Unfortunately, given our legislative paramaters we cannot even have a small universe of loss leaders-we have uniform pricing. State Representative Ron Raymond, from Delaware County, is offering flexible pricing legislation later this Spring. I support this initiative because it would allow us to be more competitive.

Chris, Thank you for all your kind words, they are much appreciated. The PLCB has the infrastructure and resources to create big, beautiful Premium Collection stores that can stock merchandise that a private retailer would never carry. In the last couple months, we have opened spectacular stores that carry thousands of wines and many boutique spirits-including a McCaffery's supermarket in Yardley, a Superfresh in Yardley, an outlet store in South Philly, an expanded outlet store in Washington and West Goshen, Chester county and a beautiful premium Collection store in Hanover, to name a few. We will continue to concentrate on expanding our stores and include a diverse fine wine selection and stocking boutique spirits that most retailers would never carry because of the cost of inventory.

Thank you for very much for your support and confidence in me. I am proud of the many changes we've made in the last 3 years and I believe that you will continue to see even more improvements.

Evan, I appreciate all your kind words. I believe the Supreme Court will decide that you cannot discriminate. If an in-state winery is able to ship directly to homes they will opine that an out of state winery should be able to direct ship to in-state residents. It is possible the Supreme Court could go further and it will effect the very nature of the three tier system across the United States. I do not have a problem with shipping fine wine directly to people's homes. I certainly have concerns that product not get into the hands of minors and insuring the Commonwealth's ability to collect taxes. That is why we must find a way to wean Pa. off of the Johnstown flood tax. I also do not condone people braking the law, but I think it is wrong to arrest people for purchasing across state lines and would hope this could be de-criminalized. I do have concerns with fortified wine and beer being shipped directly to homes because I think there could be abuse. It is my recommendation that the Legislature respond to the Supreme Court's decision in a thoughtful manner and hold hearings and allow a cross-section of various interests to articulate their positions and that a decision be made that best serves the Commonwealth.

Jeff, Thanks for the positive feedback. I've worked very hard with employee training and we now have quarterly tastings with all our Premium Collection wine salespeople. I know we still have a lot of work that needs to be done. Dee Costello frequently posts on this website and if you have specific concerns or products that you need to find she will certainly accomodate you. We also started a new service at our www.lcb.state.pa.us website where you can check for product availability at each store. At one time there was an informal policy that our salespeople not recommend wine so it would keep consumption down. This was ludicrous for so many reasons. I will continue to make employee training a priority and hope to make you feel even better about purchasing in Pa. Thank you for shopping here and your words of encouragement.

Thank You for your kind words. Our 750 ml. wine business is increasing more dramatically than the great majority of retailers in the country. We are using Pa.'s purchasing power to bring some great wine deals to our stores and we are starting to win back many customers who used to buy out of state. We still have a lot of work to do. Wine consumers expect an upbeat store with great product selection and hot prices. The spirit consumer is brand loyal and there is a fairly small universe of spirits that retailers must carry. Wine accounts for the majority of our unit sales, but spirits account for the majority of dollars. Wine does continue to grow at an impressive rate and per capita wine consumption in the U.S. is increasing. We just started advertising, although our budget is small given the fact we will do $1.45 billion in sales this year. Since we have instituted many improvements it is important to get the message out there through advertising. We have accomplished a number of exciting marketing initiatives in the past 3 years, including: Temperature control for fine wine at our warehouses and in shipping Outlet stores One stop shops in grocery markets(8) More premium Collection stores An e-commerce website at www.pawineandspirits.com Enhanced employee training Chairman selection wine program Sales of accessories and gift cards In store samplings Wine Clubs Wine Festivals next week in Philly, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh

There have been dramatic changes in the production of wine and $10-15 should get you a pretty nice bottle of wine. The wine consumer has a diverse palate and they are willing to experiment with different varietals from many countries. I always recommend that consumers rely on their own palate and not just wine ratings. Robert Parker likes Cabernets that are big and bold, this does not mean that a more subtle, elegant Cabernet is not right for your dinner table. I would recommend trying different styles of wine from many producers at a price point you are comfortable with and taking notes. Get to know your retailer and use them as a resource.