The Auswine Forum

Boyeah wrote:'m more than happy with cork, as long as it's stored properly its as good as screw cap...most the best wines in the world are still cork

Ditto x100
Rgds,
Boyeah

And as long as they're not contaminated with TCA.
Because if you open a corked 2010 St Henri in 2025, TWE won't be replacing it with another 2010, that's for sure.
cheers,
GG

GraemeG wrote

Boyeah wrote:'m more than happy with cork, as long as it's stored properly its as good as screw cap...most the best wines in the world are still cork

Ditto x100
Rgds,
Boyeah



And as long as they're not contaminated with TCA.
Because if you open a corked 2010 St Henri in 2025, TWE won't be replacing it with another 2010, that's for sure.
cheers,
GG

I'm sure there will be many "Vintage of the Decade/Century/Millennia" before 2025 that will put 2010 into the meh basket.

cheers

I bought two online from DM last night, no click & collect available.
This morning back to being out of stock

Discovered my local DM's had a small allocation around mid-day today. Decided not to risk any delay and arranged for click/collect 2 bottles. By the time I collected at 4.30pm, all bottles sold. Local store had an allocation of 24 bottles and we're limiting 2 bottles per customer. Speaking to the manager, other stores were trying to get their allocation. Interesting bottles were under cork, hence perhaps Penfolds have released their overseas allotment. Despite all the negatives we speak of Penfolds & DM's price has held consistent at $72.90. With all the hype and demand both companies could have increased prices.

Phil H wrote:Despite all the negatives we speak of Penfolds & DM's price has held consistent at $72.90. With all the hype and demand both companies could have increased prices.

They don't entirely escape my criticism.

I went to the Willoughby tasting, discussing how much I liked the St Henri with the TWE rep, and the instore salesman/staff member came over really excited and said "price is $68". Other people asked "great can we order some?" "sorry, we are all sold out and should get some more in on Thursday". Since he was effectively advertising it at that price, logically I queried "can you guarantee that we can order it at that price?" reply: "no, sorry". Come Monday, price on the website was back to $72.

It's only $4 difference but it's still a pretty shitty sales pitch IMHO. Tastes rather slightly of bait-and-switch.

In fairness, the price changed from $68 to $72 on the 1st part-way during the day.

Fair point, so not only did he not know what he was talking about, he REALLY did not know what he was talking about... I don't know why I am surprised at that.

It's still a distasteful practice, the verbal sales pitch of the price of an item that is clearly known to be out of stock, and not backing that sales pitch up. Even if he said $72 he should have been prepared to back it up.

I had prevaricated and didn't end up getting any but then decided I wanted some. Discovered one of my local non-DM stores still has some, but at $78. Decided it was my own stupid fault for not getting in earlier and they are sending some to my offsite storage which will be there when I return.

If anyone in sydney is interested in some at that price PM me.

I went in to my local DM's today and they said they'd sold out. After a brief discussion they got the manager who said they had 1 six pack left but was waiting for an online order to pick up. I offered to take it off his hands right away - which he agreed to .
$72 or $73 for the 6 pack in the wooden box under cork.

Would have preferred stelvin but I didn't get in quick enough. I dropped in to another shop who had 5 dozen left at $85 a bottle.
Decided 6 is enough for now.

I'm sure we are all being drip fed and other allocations will appear later in the year.

I think this is crap - there is no way that from such a profitable (i.e. LARGE) vintage as 2010 that there is so little St Henri it is already "sold out".
The whole strategy of new school TWE is hold it as inventory and sell it for more (and a massively hyped, sold out first release is probably key to that)... wasnt sure that with Drearie's departure this would still be the main game, but apparently it is.

Sam, you and I know that this practice of drip feed is alive and well.
I thought if a product is sooooooooo Fu*king good then why not put the whole lot out at once and have some confidence in what you make.

On another forum I read comments that are rather scathing from the punters with the "millionaire palates and their millionaire cellars", that the man with the 100 point palate is rather inexperienced, particularly on the world stage.
That said, makes me think that Langtons, Woollies, DMs are all in bed with TWE and this will just be a warm up for the other 2010 release next year. Won't affect me cause I am not in the market for $800 reds.

I was chatting to the manager of the above opposition who went to a Pennies trade tasting with the message given loud and clear that the 150 is a far superior wine to the St Henri.
Again who do you believe??
Have had a few offers for the bottles under cork, but may end up waiting for some more stelvins and get a mixed case of the above 2.
Cheers Craig

ps. does Kraft cheese have a drip fed marketing approach?

phillisc wrote:Sam, you and I know that this practice of drip feed is alive and well.

Whats sad or maybe funny Craig, is I still went looking (online) for some St Henri because of all this bloody talk about it!! Where normally I forget all about it (I dont have a single bottle of it in my cellar... and barely any penfolds at all)

Thought this might amuse folks, I just got an email from a pretty good Singapore based wine merchant:

"Of all the releases from Penfolds via our usual sources this year, there have been no volume restrictions on any labels except for this wine. I still have the bite marks from the fight I had to secure today`s paltry 20 dozen. This speaks volumes about just how positively the market has reacted to this release already...

The Offer:

Penfolds St Henri 2010 (750ml)

$130 net" (thats SGD... about $110 Aussie)

It's in stock at Winestar - but $89.99!

I finally caved and picked up 2 bottles. My first Penfolds purchase. Cheers!

Well here is one person the drip feed marketing will not work on. At $70 I thought it was moderate, if borderline, VFM. At $85+ there are far, far more interesting things to purchase.

Ooh, 2 bottles of St Henri, or a half case of Head Contrarian 13?...easy choice for me personally. I had a fleeting desire to join the rush for the St Henri, but then came to my senses, and directed my hard earned $ towards the future of the industry, rather than the past.

Simon

Just out of interest,
Were I to purchase a case of 6 under cork, kept details of receipt and placed in a temp controlled cellar for a very long sleep, what would be the recourse here.

Moira (Sparky) I would be really interested in your comments here, presumably in 2030 there will be a customer relations dept for said replacement of corked bottle.

Cheers Craig

1st Choice at Ashfield has at least one bottle left (I also saw a wooden St Henri half case, whether there was anything in it?). $85 single bottle and $80 by the half case. The one I saw was screwcap.

This, most definitely...

odyssey wrote:Well here is one person the drip feed marketing will not work on. At $70 I thought it was moderate, if borderline, VFM. At $85+ there are far, far more interesting things to purchase.

And this, most certainly....

simon1980 wrote:Ooh, 2 bottles of St Henri, or a half case of Head Contrarian 13?...easy choice for me personally. I had a fleeting desire to join the rush for the St Henri, but then came to my senses, and directed my hard earned $ towards the future of the industry, rather than the past. Simon

phillisc wrote:Just out of interest,
Were I to purchase a case of 6 under cork, kept details of receipt and placed in a temp controlled cellar for a very long sleep, what would be the recourse here.

Moira (Sparky) I would be really interested in your comments here, presumably in 2030 there will be a customer relations dept for said replacement of corked bottle.

Cheers Craig

Craig, unless Consumer Law changes dramatically in the next couple of decades (I don't recall seeing a mention in the budget as yet), there will probably still be a Consumer Relations team to ensure consumers who are unfortunate enough to get a dodgy cork in a bottle will have someone to call and get it fixed up.

Hopefully I won't still be here by then, although with the way this government is heading, I may well be...

sparky wrote:

phillisc wrote:Just out of interest,
Were I to purchase a case of 6 under cork, kept details of receipt and placed in a temp controlled cellar for a very long sleep, what would be the recourse here.

Moira (Sparky) I would be really interested in your comments here, presumably in 2030 there will be a customer relations dept for said replacement of corked bottle.

Cheers Craig

Craig, unless Consumer Law changes dramatically in the next couple of decades (I don't recall seeing a mention in the budget as yet), there will probably still be a Consumer Relations team to ensure consumers who are unfortunate enough to get a dodgy cork in a bottle will have someone to call and get it fixed up.

Hopefully I won't still be here by then, although with the way this government is heading, I may well be...

Sparky you will still be working for the Man like the rest of us till 70 years

guys, I am still waiting for the delay stocks which I have ordered through 1st Choice at the beginning of release.

I see now Dan Murphys has changed their online st henri 2010 description from screw cap to cork, does this mean all the delayed stocks are coming as cork closure?

1st Choice still has it as screw cap however status out of stock, I am wondering if anyone has received anything from their online orders yet

personally I would prefer screw cap or do I need to notify this to 1st Choice so they don't send the wrong pack.

Cheers all

no one has ordered online？

The FWMgr at my local Dan's last night said all the new stock they were expecting in the next week was under cork, so I suspect a redirected export order that will move while the hype is still around is the situation. Wonder if Sparky can shed any light on it, I suspect she's unable to comment.... Would not be surprised to see screwcaps back in stock once all the cork stuff sells out. But I'm guessing on that, possibly it will all be gone.

FWIW, I bought Woodlands 'Margaret' 2011 instead. Great wine, equally ageworthy yet delicious now and nearly half the price.

thanks for the reply.

I guess I will need to inform 1stchoice regarding my order since the time I ordered is with description screw cap.

but I guess they suppose to let us know before dispatch any cork orders instead of screw cap?

Cheers

FYI, to keep the global cross references going I am hearing St Henri available in HK at around A$75 equivalent... anyone seen in the US or UK yet to compare?

A$75 ? That's cheap. Went pass HK airport duty free yesterday. It's over $700 HKD,that's like A$100 .

Looks like I'm coming in a bit late on this topic. What's all the hoo har about the '10 St Henri? Did someone of authority rate it 100?

Carl

I think someone without authority did.

I didn't know about the rating or reviews when I tasted it beside the RWT and Grange, but thought it was a standout.