I don't like to write this kind of article because no one looks good in it. The other Wednesday I woke up and read the Dave McIntyre wine review in the Washington Post's Food section. It was all about Cameron and how he has made a successful business buying up many lots of wine in California ( and now in other parts of the world like Spain ) and bottling them and selling them under his own name.
We at Cleveland Park have decided to work primarily with his California " discoveries " and leave the Spanish Tempranillos and the Argentina Malbecs to others as that is something he has added onto his base which has always been California.
They are excellent - the California ones - all with lot numbers. We did really well with his " Flying Wine-Maker " label of the old vines Zinfandel. Our customers loved it. That was perhaps two years ago that we did that one? I think so. Time rushes by.
Cameron Hughes has been by Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits himself and it was great to meet him. I liked him and I always love meeting the principles involved in any wine project/dream/love/adventure/art work. Yes, I'm a romantic, I still hold out for all of this and am happy to say so in a world of larger and larger corporations that are happy-delighted even now to start out with a concept and a label and then a bottle and then something to put into a bottle that tastes more like everything else jammed into it along with the fermented grape juice to appeal to a larger and larger and still even larger audience that will buy it. But what are they buying? All that is stuffed in with the fermented grape juice displaces it and makes it taste like a whole lot of " other " things and I have trouble finding or tasting the grape in the wines any more.
Cameron sells wine, I like this : it tastes like the grapes from which it started. Bravo, and the values are there. Thank you for that, too. I do not thank you, however for having a wine article come out in the Washington Post newspaper that I love to hold in my hands and read quickly each morning that is still not in stock with my local distributor ( that's an unprofessional fiasco in my humble opinion having been in the wine business now for more than thirty years ). How could you have let this happen?
I read Dave's article on Wednesday morning and wondered why I had not been called in advance to be ready with wine in the store? I had a few remaining bottles but not enough to supply a review of this magnitude. I was mad about this and confused. I called Jeffrey my rep and inquired and heard him out and ordered my wine for delivery next morning. I was still mad. People had already called wanting the wines and placing orders with me. Customers came to the store asking for the wines bringing their copies of the Washington Post Food section with them. I explained and said I would have the wines the next day and took their names and phone numbers.
The next day I was really busy and was waiting for the wines. They never came. I called and asked where they were? I was so busy I then forgot about it till Friday when I thought about it all over again as another customer came asking for some of the Cameron Hughes wines written up in Dave McIntyre's wine article. I called Jeffrey again and we spoke. I heard more of the story from his side then. I was still mad as there were still so many questions unanswered.
I averted this fiasco after about three days at my wine store in Washington D.C. : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 slaes@clevelandparkwine,com, www.clevelandparkwine.com anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwine.com also now on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and on Twitter at : cpwinespirits ). It took me awhile for I did not fully understand what was happening at the time. I had to make several calls to finally see the bigger picture. Once I did understand I asked my local rep Jeffrey : "well, what do you have in stock from Cameron Hughes? " A simple question. Glad I asked it because by the weekend after the article had come out that Wednesday I had three Cameron Hughes wines to sell that I had already been selling thanks to the hard work of their local sales manager Maureen Britti. I was delighted to have them : a Napa Merlot ( $14.99 ), an Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ( $16.99 ) and a Chardonnay ( $12.99 ) all from the great 2007 vintage and all selling for under $17 a bottle in our store. I called my customers once my local rep Jeffrey delivered them himself that Friday after the article, called my customers asking about them and they started to sell within minutes of arriving at the store. Fiasco, crisis averted with quick thinking and the help of Jeffrey and the understanding of my customers when I explained what had just happened.
No, I did not have the wines written up in the Washington Post. I had the earlier great vintage of 2007 that I had been selling and preferred to sell now instead of the current releases. I will sell them after the 18th of November when they finally arrive. Why has it taken so long for them to arrive?
I just got a second drop delivered by Monument Imports yesterday, Friday, November 5th, 2011 and again the three 2007 wines are selling like hot cakes. Bravo! Again everyone is happy. No, I do not yet have the current vintages written up ( where are they? ), and I do not have any of the Pinot Noir that got a great review yet? Oh well, I am told that they are coming and will be available after November 18th, 2011 when the article will be by then for all intents and purposes dead in the water so to speak. Harsh analysis from me, I know. Embarrassing for me to be writing it. I am not happy to be doing so. Irritating really but I was a bit mad. perhaps a lot mad. The one right thing that happened with all of this was that our name was put into the paper as carrying the wines - some of the wines from Cameron Hughes. Thank you for that. I do appreciate that. The rest needs to be evaluated, and remedied as it has been I suspect one big embarrassment and a lost opportunity to sell the wines successfully in and around Washington D.C. in all the stores and not in just one big chain like Coscto.
Discovering that the wines are now being sold in Costco in my opinion does nothing to make the Cameron Hughes wines more appealing as a retailer. In fact it makes me want to stop selling them almost immediately. I understand for money purposes why they sell to Costco but it diminishes the dream for me and makes it more simply a functioning, working horse kind of thing that pays the bills but does not fuel the fires of imagination, of dreams and of the creative endeavors it takes/ has taken Cameron to put this all together. Sorry to see it reduced to this Cameron. I will think carefully now how to proceed with the selling of your wines. Maureen really has done an excellent job promoting them for you and I have to think about that as well as I arrive at a final decision. Hard work should not be punished but rewarded.
For now we have some of the Cameron Hughes wines and I am very happy with all three. I have not as yet tried the new vintages I do not believe? I do look forward to that and getting the wines that were reviewed by Dave delivered to us and getting them to our customers that have asked for them. They have for now some of the excellent 2007 vintage of Cameron Hughes wines to enjoy. So for the moment considering the circumstances we at Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits have done our job. That pleases me. That's what we are here to do.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I have lots of other things going on like our Big-Theme American Wine-Tasting to continue planning. Maureen was going to be a big part of that until all of this happened. She asked me if she was still included and I was sorry to tell her that I had to make other arrangements once this all started and did not seem to have a clear plan or resolution.
You see our Big-Theme American Wine-Tasting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 ( 5:30-8:30PM ) and I need to have everything come early to be sure that there are no problems. Who knows, perhaps Maureen and I can still work something out? I will contact her and see this Tuesday when back at work. For the meantime things are on the back burner.
As I said I get no real pleasure writing this article blog of mine except to say thanks to those like Maureen and Jeffrey that got caught without much notice as I was and that have done what they can. I don't expect or want any thanks for any of this. As I said it makes us all look bad and ineffectual and as if none of us have done our jobs. I do not like that. I guess some truthful explanation of what happened might be nice but then again that's much too late and would not go very far to making anything better.
Why was nothing ever done : no one ever called? It's a big deal as far as I can see again from my humble experience being written up ( a whole article all about just one series of wines - Cameron Hughes in this instance - what I would give to have a whole article written up about us at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits?!? Wow, that would be nice ) in the Washington Post newspaper which I still love getting, holding in my hands as I did earlier. It's now Sunday, November 6th, 2011 at 11 AM and I took a break in writing this to go sit outside on our hill out back in the warming rays of sunshine reading about Andy Rooney ( we will miss you! ) and of the " new " David Lynch record of music and more : all in the Washington Post Sunday- weekend edition.
Cheers and come buy some of Cameron's excellent 2007 vintage wines from us at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits while we still have some. I do not know how much is left? I suspect that we will buy it all? Enjoy this beautiful Sunday in the meantime.
It would be nice to hear from you Cameron. Hope you are well. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
1 comment:
Tony,
Sorry for not replying sooner, but I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to business communications. I'm pretty good at getting back to letters, emails and calls, but if someone issues a concern on a blog, I'm less likely to see it. I'm glad one of my employees brought this to my attention.
Yes, the timing of our wines being re-shipped out to your market, and the appearance of the Washington Post article, could have been more seamless on our end. We will work to remedy that in the future and I'm sorry if that caused you and your customers inconvenience. We are proud to be in your store and hope to do a better job supplying you moving forward.
With regard to Costco.....well, like you, my main goal, ultimately, is to deliver good wines at fair prices to a broad audience. Championing the consumer has always been one of our main concerns. To that end, we find that many wine lovers shop at Costco. Modern life has gotten so hectic for so many; we find that many of our consumers have chosen the "one stop shopping" model for their own needs. Accordingly, we've made our wines available to them at Costco; it's a decision that we're actually very proud of and that we stand behind.
We have a deep appreciation for retailers in general and enjoy working with them; in all shapes and sizes.
Thank you for your continued support of Cameron Hughes wines.
Best,
Cam
Post a Comment