Flood/Heat Damaged Auctions

[sjw_11]

More importantly, did she go to the highest bidder? ... and the circle is complete

[Chuck]

haha, you got to be kidding me!!
I live in the world's 5th most crowded city, and the 6th richest GDP/capita (i.e. everyone has a car). 15.6 million official, 7.9 million estimated non-Hukou residents, so more than the population of Australia living in a city less than the size of Sydney Traffic in Sydney is like driving thru Coonawarra compared to here, I crave for traffic as light as Sydney!!!!
Smog in Sydney?? are you serious?? go to Beijing, some days you can't see your toes there!!!!
People in Aus never realise how perfect they have it until they live somewhere else in Asia

That brings back memories. I recall sitting in a hutong courtyard in Beijing one morning looking up to see a hazy dull circle in the sky. Was it the moon? No it was the sun. Easily confused by the incredible smog. They have a very serious problem there but the government is doing a lot to fix it. Had the ubiquitous Peking Duck and desperate for a moderately priced chardy to match it selected a Jacobs Creek Reserve Chardy. It was about 3 years old and I reckon it spent it's entire life either in a hot kitchen or in a vibrating fridge. It was stuffed. Suggested same to waiter who without tasting assured us it was fine. Apart from the wines we brought I drank beer for the rest of the trip. BTW If any of you want to experience the real Great Wall while in Beijing get a driver and guide and head out 200km to a great day long 10km walk along an relatively uncrowded section. Jingsangling to Simatai. It's only partially restored and in some sections you are walking on the ground. Commented to the guide that the battlements on each side were of differing height. He pointed to one side "China" and the other "Mongolia". Seems logical. An awesome experience. Amazing country and people. Nice to visit but.....

What was this thread about?

Carl

[deejay81]

Sorry to bring this thread back on topic,
But I got my Montrose's from the auction and you guys aren't going to be happy....

Basically, they've stuck a sticker on the label that is easily peelable without any marks left whatsoever
So, even though I'm not going to resell, i'm going to peel the label off.

Here's a pic of the label before peeling:


And after:


Can't really see any damage to either of my bottles either...

I'll disinfect the tops with some ethanol spray like in those warnings told me to, then tuck these away...

If I brought any of these to a future offline would you guys be willing to try them?

[Croquet King]

This is incredible. They can't be serious about putting a sticker on the label.

Out of interest - what prices did the wine in the auction sell for?
Was it cheap enough for people to peel off the sticker and sell it for a profit?

This wine could end up anywhere now.

[deejay81]

Out of interest - what prices did the wine in the auction sell for?
Was it cheap enough for people to peel off the sticker and sell it for a profit?

Find the prices here:
https://www.langtons.com.au/auction-results
In the drop down list select "FLOOD Damaged Unreserved Auction".
Leave the Key term blank and hit the search button, you'll see all the wines from that auction.

And yes, although many of the wines were not THAT much of a bargain, some/ a number were... and I could def see some of them being flipped back for a profit.

[swirler]

Woah. That's bad. That corporation has no morals whatsoever. They must have laughed their socks off at implicating such a feable scheme.

The mind boggles at what else could be going on in the world of Langtons/BWS/Dan Murphy/Winemarket/Cellarmasters/Vinpac/Woolworths/Big W/etc.

I think I'm going to have to eat my hat after all......

[dave vino]

Wow, just wow.

I was half expecting one of those types of stickers that used to be on the Video Cassettes that broke up when you tried to remove them.

[Chris H]

That shows how low that auction house has stooped to. Purely a profit driven entity now with no integrity.

[JamieBahrain]

Aren't they shitting in their own nest? I mean, surely, this has undermined the secondary market and shattered the confidence in buyers in paying good money for premium wine.

[JamieBahrain]

I have a dozen of these babies I must drop off. Minor scuffing, runny photocopying ink but superb levels normal to overfill.

[camw]

Won't give them the benefit of the doubt next time. My buying from them is way down this year anyway (about 1/10th of the amount spent last year), so I could say that I won't buy from them any more but it will hardly make an impact.

[Polymer]

Aren't they shitting in their own nest? I mean, surely, this has undermined the secondary market and shattered the confidence in buyers in paying good money for premium wine.

Yeah....definitely not good for them...no reason to have done it this way...

But on the plus side...the prices were not very good overall..some ok deals if you assume the wine is sound...but nothing fantastic. Not sure there is enough meat there to flip...More shocking is that some of these wines went for MORE than they normally do....

[camw]

Did get a response from Langtons that the stickers were only on wines that had dark labels or glossy labels that repelled the stamp (not sure that Montrose is especially glossy but I haven't seen one for a while). I did respond to say that without knowing which were stamped and which had stickers that all the wines in this auction will have to be treated as suspect by consumers in future auctions.

[deejay81]

Did get a response from Langtons that the stickers were only on wines that had dark labels or glossy labels that repelled the stamp (not sure that Montrose is especially glossy but I haven't seen one for a while). I did respond to say that without knowing which were stamped and which had stickers that all the wines in this auction will have to be treated as suspect by consumers in future auctions.

I also have a 2000 Montrose from the same auction. This one was "stamped" on the label directly... but with a bit of spag and finger rubbing, it rubbed off completely.

The labels are semi glossy. (Its def not glossy, but its def not the raw paper type label).

Funny thing was the 05 Montrose had sticker label and the 2000 Montrose had been stamped directly but they're exactly the same glossiness.

[Cactus]

Woah. That's bad. That corporation has no morals whatsoever. They must have laughed their socks off at implicating such a feable scheme.

The mind boggles at what else could be going on in the world of Langtons/BWS/Dan Murphy/Winemarket/Cellarmasters/Vinpac/Woolworths/Big W/etc.

I think I'm going to have to eat my hat after all......

I often wonder about the link-up between the vertical integration above & the provenance of product. You go to a store and you think it would be from the vinyard to the store. But given the relationship above...

[sjw_11]

Uncle Dan's definitely sells product sourced through Langtons, in their "Cellar Reserve" style sections. It was not unheard of for them or Vintage Cellars to source product from Langtons or Oddbins in the past (I recall finding bottles in the old Vintage Cellars on Walkerville Tce with the distinctive oddbins white pen marks), but obviously with Woolies owning Langtons the scope for doing this increased.

On the plus side, if you buy it in store you get to return it if the product is faulty, which you obviously can't do at auction.

[AaronL]

I think this scandal should now be known as #floodgate. Will be interesting when Deejay opens the floodgate wine

[deejay81]

I think this scandal should now be known as #floodgate. Will be interesting when Deejay opens the floodgate wine

Offline anyone? mini Montrose vertical? 2000 2005 2010 and if anyone wants to bring an 03 and/or 09 to cover their good years?

[Bobthebuilder]

a blind side by side of the same vintage would be ideal

[rens]

Woah. That's bad. That corporation has no morals whatsoever. They must have laughed their socks off at implicating such a feable scheme.

The mind boggles at what else could be going on in the world of Langtons/BWS/Dan Murphy/Winemarket/Cellarmasters/Vinpac/Woolworths/Big W/etc.

I think I'm going to have to eat my hat after all......

I often wonder about the link-up between the vertical integration above & the provenance of product. You go to a store and you think it would be from the vinyard to the store. But given the relationship above...

I can confirm that I have seen Staff at DMs unloading ‘museum wines’ from Langton’s branded boxes. So I’d say it happens often.
But what gets me is the ethics around this whole thing.
On the face of it, you have Woolies (DMs) buying from Woolies (Langtons). The auction vendor has entered into a contract with Woolies to sell their wine for the best possible price. Can Woolies guarantee the best possible price when Woolies are buying on their own behalf?
Unethical at best, dodgy at the worst.

[Cactus]

I dont want to be seen to be talking about a competitor Gavin. Sorry if this is view as that. If that is an issue here I can delete. At least we are talking about a competitor in a negative light.

But yes the DM - Langtons link is not very good in my view. The cellar reserve system I wondered how it would work. Woolworths has a corporate focus on reducing working capital as much as possible (tight inventory, extend payment terms to suppliers, get paid cash at time of sale). Within this mantra, how could DM possibly fund their 'cellar reserve' system. They act on the ad's as if it is a personally selected, held in climate controlled warehouse until optimum drinking perfection. But how could that possibly be the case. Where would it be on the balance sheet. If it is just you and me & other collectors doing it for them then yeh it is a concern. Whats the provenance of these wines? As to the conflict of interest as an agent being on both sides of a transaction. That is a big concern too. They could watch things systematically like page views, bidding activity etc and swoop in and buy things at jsut the reserve.

[swirler]

I know that they do have a temperature warehouse where they age wines for the cellar release program. Maybe they source one-offs like Grange, HoG, Margeaux, etc., from Langtons but not the cellar release wines?

Google dan-murphys-supplier-could-become-its-prime-rival

[odyssey]

Basically, they've stuck a sticker on the label that is easily peelable without any marks left whatsoever

I also have a 2000 Montrose from the same auction. This one was "stamped" on the label directly... but with a bit of spag and finger rubbing, it rubbed off completely.

Not surprised. No gift, no benefit, no doubt.

Glad I saved the list.