Levi's Notes: Overall, I found the quality of the wines from last weekend to be high, with the scales tipping significantly towards the 2007 and 2008 whites. The reds where all solid, yet there were very few wines that I found truly mind-blowing. Of the Pinots that excited me, the unusually "white wine-esq" nose on the 2007 David Duband – Echezeaux was enthralling, evoking fresh passion fruit flowers. I was also captivated by the dark blackberry bramble and citrus spritz of the 2007 Domaine Dujac – Clos de la Roche which had interesting baking spice and pepper on the mid-palate, leading into a long creamy finish. For me, two of the stellar whites of the day had to be the 2007 Domaine Leflaive – Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles 1er Cru and the 2007 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey – Meursault Perrieres 1er Cru. The Leflaive was enticing, smelling of fresh cut button mushrooms and sand with skyscraper-like structure in the mouth, all supported by endlessly tight and driving acidity. I cannot reproduce much of my Colin-Morey tasting note here because it is laced with so many profane superlatives, suffice to say that just thinking about the epic nature of the sliced starfruit I found on both the nose and palate, along with the wine’s awesome acidity, is still making my mouth water a week later.

We the Vinfolio Team want to personally express our appreciation to our loyal customers who have encouraged and supported us through a very difficult time. We realize that the past few months have been extremely challenging for some customers, and understand that it is now our job to win back your loyalty by making your wine buying and selling experience the best it can be.  While we know there are still details to work out, we sincerely look forward to serving your future wine needs.

Read the press release!

La Paulee de San Francisco is fast approaching and, happily, we have our Grand Tasting tickets in hand! Created as an homage to the La Paulee de Meursault - a post-harvest celebration that brings together wine-growers, critics, and guests for 3 days of shared wine and food - the American version recreates the tradition each year in New York or San Francisco. This Saturday, March 13, we’ll be heading to this Burgundy extravaganza to sample the wines of top producers like Faiveley, Colin-Morey, and Dujac, in a line-up heavy on 2007s, along with a few ‘06s and ‘08s.  We’ll post our notes and impressions from the Grand Tasting and look forward to your comments as well.

Our VP of Sourcing and Sales, Ann Feely, will be representing Vinfolio at Saturday evening’s Gala Dinner, where guests pop the corks on trophy bottles tucked away for just such a “competitive” occasion. Live vicariously through her notes on the wines tasted, coming next week.

The 2010 Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri tasting, held last Wednesday, February 24th at Fort Mason in San Francisco, proved again why this is the don’t miss Italian wine event of the year. More than 100 of Italy’s finest producers were in attendance, pouring wines deemed worthy of “Three Glasses,” Gambero Rosso’s highest ranking. Representing the country’s many diverse regions, the featured wines offered the chance to taste side by side the 2005 and 2006 red vintages, and 2008 white vintage. Levi Hensel and I did the arduous work of sipping, tasting, and video blogging all afternoon, and bring you our overall impressions and favorites.

Vintage Impressions

2005 Amarone: Less extracted and lower alcohol than past vintages. Generally round mouthfeel without harsh tannin or excessive sweetness. Pleasant wines that will have wide appeal.

2005 Barolo: Great aromatics on the wines we tried. Floral, elegant and seductive; entirely different from the 2004s, whose concentration and strength were obvious from the start. On the palate, youthful tannins and higher acidities show promise for in-bottle development.

2006 Tuscany:  While some wines were a little closed or restrained, the quality here was obvious.  Great balance of concentrated fruit and structure, with remarkable persistence on the finish. 

Look for specific wine reviews and tasting videos coming later this week!

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The Suggested Price field data is derived from multiple sources:

• Marketplace average transactions for that particular wine, vintage and bottle size for the past year.
• Auction data for that particular wine, vintage, and bottle size for the last 24 months as calculated by the auction algorithm’s on WinePrices.com
• Current Retail Pricing for that particular wine, vintage and bottle size from WinePrices.com

If there’s not enough data from all of those sources, the field will be left blank.

Bidders and sellers who use the Suggested Price will find higher bid acceptance and sell rates.  We also use Suggested Price in our Bid Feedback emails, so that sellers are able to signal to bidders the pricing that they are looking to see in order for them to accept a bid. Sellers can elect to send Bid Feedback from within VinCellar.

Bidders receive the email suggesting a price change and can then modify their bid.

When both bidder and seller come to the same market assessment, we find that both consummate the transaction happily.

Finer service is more than just being responsive, empathetic, and efficient.  It’s how employees view their role in the delivery of that promise.  I asked my team what they thought finer service meant.  Their responses included, “going above and beyond,” “taking the burden off the customer’s shoulders so that doing business with Vinfolio is easy,” and “bending over backwards to ensure the customer’s experience is a positive one, especially when things don’t go as planned.”  I couldn’t agree more.

We provide as many ways as possible for customers to reach us; phone, email, and live chat sessions.  Email, however, outpaces phone calls in terms of the frequency of contact methods.  Phone calls, by their very nature, demand immediate attention.  Unlike many other organizations that rely on automated call handling technology, calls coming into Vinfolio are answered immediately and personally. We have zero hold time before reaching a customer service associate.  Additionally, our response time for email contacts is very impressive given the percent of our total contact volume.  Response time averages 43 minutes for email.  Most companies promise a response within 24 hours.

But, let’s go back to the issue of turning a negative experience into a positive one.  That’s where the rubber meets the road.  Recently, a new customer made a purchase through our online store.  There was a problem with the wine he purchased and when we sent a replacement, it too was unsatisfactory. Complicating things was a misunderstanding regarding a charge.  Things weren’t going so well.  The customer was angry.  It took some time and patient communication, but in the end we resolved the problems and his latest email ended with, “Thanks a ton. You are wonderful.”

I encourage you to share your comments and if there are opportunities for us to improve your experience, don’t hesitate to post them here, contact me personally at beth@vinfolio.com or call us toll free at 800/969-1961.  

If you haven’t marked your wine for sale or accepted bids in the Vinfolio Marketplace, now is the time to start.  Beginning October 1, we’ve lowered seller fees and cut in-bound shipping costs to make it even more profitable to sell your wine, regardless of location*.

Sell your wine now and enjoy these limited-time benefits:

• FREE in-bound shipping for first-time Marketplace sellers on all bids accepted in October

• 15% fees for ALL Sellers, regardless of storage location until December 31, 2009 (reduced from 20% for off site locations).

• $6 minimum per bottle fee for ALL sellers until December 31, 2009 (reduced from $8)

• All sales still go towards the Marketplace cumulative volume discounts

• Shipping subsidies for bottles sold over $100 are still included

   
Get started

• Mark your wine for sale – learn how

• Set asking prices – learn how

• View open bids on your wines

For questions or to provide feedback, please contact service@vinfolio.com or visit the Vinfolio Forum.

*Please note that location refers to Vinfolio, private or home storage. All wine sold in the Marketplace must still be physically located in the U.S. (excludes MA).