Jonathan H. Newman Wines

[Mano]

Does anyone buy his wines, and if so, what are your opinions?

When Newman was Chairman of the PLCB I bought dozens of cases of wines he scored from select vintners at bargain prices. They were legitimate over-runs, closeouts or discontinued product. With the Commonwealth of PA's money he bought huge lots at pennies on the dollar and passed the savings on to Pennsylvanians. I all but revered the guy. He had a great palate, too.

When he went private Newman kept his contacts, formed a consortium and did the same thing. I bought a lot from stores like Circle Liquor in NJ and Canals. Also some from WTSO.

About a year or two ago it seemed he was ubiquitous on WTSO rating his own wines with a score of 92 as the standard. I may be wrong about this, but it also seemed he was creating his own labels using names like Thumb Print, Kingston and Rust Ridge. The b&m stores said they were over-run juice from known vineyards sold at a deep discount. But IMO the wines were nothing special and the prices were creeping up.

After about a half-dozen disappointments I stopped buying his wines. They weren't terrible; just nothing special, as they had been.

I'm willing to overlook the ridiculous ratings if the wine is a great buy, but am I missing something?