Whoa

originally posted by VLM:

Frankly, I don't think he is credible on anything in that article.
His emails haven't done a great job building his credibility. It took me about a month to lose count of how many of his wines were the second coming of Latour or Roumier...
 
There's a lot of inflation in the write-ups on these listserve-type outlets, including, say, Envoyer. If they come through with good offers sometimes, you learn to filter.

I stopped reading Garagiste past the subject line a long time ago, though; not sure why I haven't unsubscribed. The only time in the past year they offered a wine I was seriously interested (aforementioned Germain/Chorey), they were sold out by the time I tried to order.
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
There's a lot of inflation in the write-ups on these listserve-type outlets, including, say, Envoyer. If they come through with good offers sometimes, you learn to filter.

Absolutely. With folks like that, I'll rarely buy wine from a producer that I don't have prior experience with. They certainly don't descend to Rimmerman-esque depths of purple prose, but I don't trust their written descriptions beyond the most basic level of information.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton: They certainly don't descend to Rimmerman-esque depths of purple prose, but I don't trust their written descriptions beyond the most basic level of information.

Especially when the emails are sprinkled with typos and errors at the most basic level of information.
 
I honestly don't get why everyone gets so chapped by him. From the article I don't find him appealing at all as an individual, but the venom seems a bit unjustified. I roll my eyes with the rest of 'em but certainly don't take such offense. If sales are indicative, people obviously resonate with the model.

Ive bought wine from him, sold wine to him. Whatever. Its just another source for an occasional deal of interest. Points for importing Guion and Bouchard at least.
 
Brian,

I took myself off the list quite a while ago, I just couldn't deal with all the heavy breathing. Question of preferred rhetorical style, I suppose.

But on the wines, he occasionally had a good price (with delayed delivery and me as his banker) on something I already knew and liked, and for that he was OK.

But I found him profoundly unreliable on wines that I didn't know before his emails. They often became my cooking wines. His descriptions were poetic, as if Rod McKuen were a schnook, but they passed on no information to me and there was no indication from being an occasional customer that he has any sort of a palate.

So his apparent self-importance (cf GG's video) is maybe not enough for "venom," but I've been very disappointed by him commercially, and his recent stunts with wine raffles of random cellars strike me as bizarre.

Just for myself, I prefer to buy from people with credible taste. Others are free to buy into the sunset on the Tuscan coast, of course.
 
Why the NYT got sucked into what is a very minor story is beyond me. Journalism is dead.

The local ITB line is that his emails are routinely full of BS (claiming to be writing from the TGV while in fact writing from a run down warehouse covered with flapping Tyvek in the Seattle industrial district for example). Why he continues to get the exposure through permathreads on large volume wine sites is beyond me. I got fed up with the emails years ago.
 
originally posted by BJ:
Why the NYT got sucked into what is a very minor story is beyond me. Journalism is dead.

The local ITB line is that his emails are routinely full of BS (claiming to be writing from the TGV while in fact writing from a run down warehouse covered with flapping Tyvek in the Seattle industrial district for example). Why he continues to get the exposure through permathreads on large volume wine sites is beyond me. I got fed up with the emails years ago.

Having never subscribed or purchased from Garagiste, I can't comment on the level of BS, but I am with SFJoe on the subject of "breathless hype." Regardless of the merits of the goods he's selling, it's the tone of the sales pitch that puts me off: breathless hype is the province of the used car salesman... and I only buy new cars.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
originally posted by BJ:
Why the NYT got sucked into what is a very minor story is beyond me. Journalism is dead.

The local ITB line is that his emails are routinely full of BS (claiming to be writing from the TGV while in fact writing from a run down warehouse covered with flapping Tyvek in the Seattle industrial district for example). Why he continues to get the exposure through permathreads on large volume wine sites is beyond me. I got fed up with the emails years ago.

Having never subscribed or purchased from Garagiste, I can't comment on the level of BS, but I am with SFJoe on the subject of "breathless hype." Regardless of the merits of the goods he's selling, it's the tone of the sales pitch that puts me off: breathless hype is the province of the used car salesman... and I only buy new cars.

Mark Lipton

Really? With new cars you pay the sucker tax. For the cars I buy, if you buy a 2 year old version, you can pay 55-65% of the original sticker.
 
originally posted by VLM:

Really? With new cars you pay the sucker tax. For the cars I buy, if you buy a 2 year old version, you can pay 55-65% of the original sticker.

I'm lucky to be married to a champion bargainer. In 30 years of continuous car ownership (and 20 years of dual car ownership) I've bought 4 cars. The model is to buy a new car, heavily discounted, and keep it for 20+ years while maintaining it in top condition. It's worked for me so far: my first car, an '81 Honda Civic, I traded in (210K miles with original drive train intact) for my current car in 2003. Considering that I bought that '81 Civic for $4K in cash, I think that I got my money's worth out of it. YMMV VLM.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
originally posted by SFJoe:
I'm a bad car customer, too. Haven't owned one in 15 years.

This is the only rational choice, if you live in a place like NY.

You got that. When I moved to NYC in '83, I lent my car to my mother for 5 years rather than take it with me or sell it. I never regretted that decision.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
[...] YMMV [...]

Mark Lipton

Apt.

I like the model, but am pushing 135,000 after only seven years (actually six, since I bought a past-year-end 2006 Subaru). Who says country living is cheap? You have to drive everyfuckingwhere.
 
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