Carolina Wine Company! No surprise there, as their emails have been a
source of mirth for years. But today's was a special winner:

$175 Brunello for Only $29.99!!!
The 1997 Sesti Brunello, at 97 points, was the International Wine
cellar's top-rated Brunello EVER, and a "deep, sensuous, generous,
compelling" classic. The lowest price in the Country for it is $175.
Sesti's 1999 Brunello, which wasn't reviewed here but was one of
Jancis Robinson's three best wines of this great vintage (and had huge
press in Italy and Germany as well), was in our view even better. But
the 2003 Brunello is Sesti's richest, most impressive and potentially
greatest Brunello EVER! And we can offer it at the frankly insane PRE-
ARRIVAL price of only $29.99 by the case!

OK, maybe the 2003 is a deal at $30 (or not). But calling it a "$175
wine" because a different (overhyped) vintage is that price on
Winesearcher? They don't mention that the only place the 1997 is
listed happens to be a store where EVERYTHING is ridiculously
overpriced (a quick glance shows the '97 Abadia Retuerta Palomar - a
$40 wine- for $135, but my favorite is the '96 Camensac for $125-
methinks they somehow accidently dropped that 1 in there- I paid less
than $20).

I actually have the '99 Sesti (its possible I bought from CWC back in
the day), a pretty good wine, so I won't say the 2003 isn't worth $30,
but I wouldn't chance it on an overripe vintage.

DaleW wrote:
<SNIP nauseating hype>

Wow! Wine-related spam that I don't get! Mirabile dictu. And they do
make even Benchmark and Garagiste look a bit circumspect by comparison.

Mark Lipton


--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

On May 31, 3:00�pm, Mark Lipton > wrote:
> DaleW wrote:
>
> <SNIP nauseating hype>
>
> Wow! Wine-related spam that I don't get! Mirabile dictu. *And they do
> make even Benchmark and Garagiste look a bit circumspect by comparison.
>
> Mark Lipton
>
> --
> alt.food.wine FAQ: *http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

Well, I did sign up. Occasionally they had real deals on hard to find
wines (Boxler, FX Pichler, Hirtzberger,etc). But with all the hype,
I'd prefer to deal with more straightforward merchants.

Benchmark: used to be great when Stefan Blicker was there. Now
bargains few and far between (but still there)

Garagiste: never been on their list, but some tastesof their great
value $12 wines have led me to not worry re not being on list.