Lazy Ballerina 2008 release

[ufo]

Does anybody know what's going on with their 2008 Vintage releases ?
I got the news letter and ordered both whites and reds. Only whites arrived with a message saying that Reds are not available at the moment !?!?

[Gavin Trott]

Does anybody know what's going on with their 2008 Vintage releases ?
I got the news letter and ordered both whites and reds. Only whites arrived with a message saying that Reds are not available at the moment !?!?

Hello

Indeed, I do know what is happening, and it is most difficult for Lazy Ballerina.

However, probably best if Mr Ballerina explains, I don't wish to post without them making a 'proper' announcement.

[ufo]

Does anybody know what's going on with their 2008 Vintage releases ?
I got the news letter and ordered both whites and reds. Only whites arrived with a message saying that Reds are not available at the moment !?!?

Hello

Indeed, I do know what is happening, and it is most difficult for Lazy Ballerina.

However, probably best if Mr Ballerina explains, I don't wish to post without them making a 'proper' announcement.

I hope they are not in some sort of trouble ?

[Mandingo]

Does anybody know what's going on with their 2008 Vintage releases ?
I got the news letter and ordered both whites and reds. Only whites arrived with a message saying that Reds are not available at the moment !?!?

Hello

Indeed, I do know what is happening, and it is most difficult for Lazy Ballerina.

However, probably best if Mr Ballerina explains, I don't wish to post without them making a 'proper' announcement.

I hope they are not in some sort of trouble ?

They're not in trouble - James will no doubt let you know what is going on. You could also get some of the information through the Lazy Ballerina Facebook page.

[Gavin Trott]

James will post an explanation here, he tells me.

[James Douglas Hook]

Hi Readers,

Thanks you for your concern. Lazy Ballerina is not in trouble although we have had a major problem which threatened our wines and are working to get through it.

The good news I now have 2008 reds back in my shed at home. For the bad news read below.

The 2008 Lazy Ballerina Shiraz and Shiraz/Viognier were blended up at home and then sent to a contract winery (as I have always done).

An accident occurred at the winery where the 2008 Lazy Ballerina Shiraz and Shiraz/Viognier were waiting to be bottled. A mistake by that wineries cellar hands saw a foreign wine (rough Cabernet Sauvignon) pumped into the tank that majority of the 2008 Lazy Ballerina Shiraz was being stored in. This happened a few hours before the Lazy was scheduled to be bottled.

For the Shiraz I lost 4000lt out of a 6500lts!!! It was devastating to lose something that we spent so much time and energy on.

What we did to recover –

After some soul searching we decided to continue on. We are still negotiating compensation with the winery.

We put out an SOS to our colleagues in McLaren Vale to help us. They offered to give up some of their own production so that we could have more than 2000lts for this year. Thanks to those guys. You know who you are!!! This was wine picked by myself from neighbouring vineyards or vineyards that I worked on as part of my day job as viticulturalist.

We are used remaining Lazy Ballerina Shiraz and a dash of Shiraz/Viognier to put this together.

What this means

We sent our preordered stock out this week.

2008 Shiraz is in very short supply.

2008 Shiraz Viognier is effectively sold out after I send out what has already been preordered and I to send a pallet to the US at Christmas.

For those who have brought previous Lazy Ballerina's we understand if you wish to reassess buying. However if you stick with us we stand behind any wine we put out. Hopefully our fans will understand.

The 2008 wines are being sent to Gavin's AUSWINE panel for review. It is also being sent to reviewers TORB, Campbell and Gary at WINEFRONT and Philip White.

In the short term, to run our cellar door we are featuring wines that are hand-picked by us. I am the viticulturalist for these wines with the winemaking by the owners themselves. These wines represent the strong bond between the ground vines are grown on and the wine made from them.

Thank you for your support at this tough time.

[ufo]

Hi Readers,

Thanks you for your concern. Lazy Ballerina is not in trouble although we have had a major problem which threatened our wines and are working to get through it.

The good news I now have 2008 reds back in my shed at home. For the bad news read below.

The 2008 Lazy Ballerina Shiraz and Shiraz/Viognier were blended up at home and then sent to a contract winery (as I have always done).

An accident occurred at the winery where the 2008 Lazy Ballerina Shiraz and Shiraz/Viognier were waiting to be bottled. A mistake by that wineries cellar hands saw a foreign wine (rough Cabernet Sauvignon) pumped into the tank that majority of the 2008 Lazy Ballerina Shiraz was being stored in. This happened a few hours before the Lazy was scheduled to be bottled.

For the Shiraz I lost 4000lt out of a 6500lts!!! It was devastating to lose something that we spent so much time and energy on.

What we did to recover –

After some soul searching we decided to continue on. We are still negotiating compensation with the winery.

We put out an SOS to our colleagues in McLaren Vale to help us. They offered to give up some of their own production so that we could have more than 2000lts for this year. Thanks to those guys. You know who you are!!! This was wine picked by myself from neighbouring vineyards or vineyards that I worked on as part of my day job as viticulturalist.

We are used remaining Lazy Ballerina Shiraz and a dash of Shiraz/Viognier to put this together.

What this means

We sent our preordered stock out this week.

2008 Shiraz is in very short supply.

2008 Shiraz Viognier is effectively sold out after I send out what has already been preordered and I to send a pallet to the US at Christmas.

For those who have brought previous Lazy Ballerina's we understand if you wish to reassess buying. However if you stick with us we stand behind any wine we put out. Hopefully our fans will understand.

The 2008 wines are being sent to Gavin's AUSWINE panel for review. It is also being sent to reviewers TORB, Campbell and Gary at WINEFRONT and Philip White.

In the short term, to run our cellar door we are featuring wines that are hand-picked by us. I am the viticulturalist for these wines with the winemaking by the owners themselves. These wines represent the strong bond between the ground vines are grown on and the wine made from them.

Thank you for your support at this tough time.

Thanks James and I am so sorry to hear what happened. What a nightmare, I hope you will be able to recover your loses from the winery.
So, what’s going to happen to the people who already sent you their orders? Are they going to receive it as they ordered or not ?

[James Douglas Hook]

Hi,

Those that pre-ordered wine are being sent their wine. They have a right of refusal, if they are unhappy with it etc. Once all bottled I was able to have enough Shiraz and Shiraz/Viognier for these orders.

As I said I wouldn't put out a wine that is inferior under my name.

The world will never know what the 100% James Hook produced Lazy was like. You now have a hybrid!!!

[odyssey]

How devastating for you... I hope the bottling winery in question has very good insurance.

Good luck with the recovery production.

EDIT: looks like it is already produced... in that case, good luck with the reviews of the hybrid!

[ufo]

Hi,

Those that pre-ordered wine are being sent their wine. They have a right of refusal, if they are unhappy with it etc. Once all bottled I was able to have enough Shiraz and Shiraz/Viognier for these orders.

As I said I wouldn't put out a wine that is inferior under my name.

The world will never know what the 100% James Hook produced Lazy was like. You now have a hybrid!!!

Himm, what a pity. Being a very enthusiastic Lazy ballerina follower, I would love to be able to know/taste what 100 % James Hook produced 2008 Lazy was like. But I suppose this is the time for us true followers to support James in these difficult times. Keep the good work going James.