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2007 Amplus: An Incredible jammy, mouth coating find for the price...


Joe H

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2007 Amplus Peumo Cabernet which is a remarkable wine for the price. $16.99. Yes, $16.99 at Costco in Sterling. (Another wine whose shelf was left empty!) $24 from the WS and these are their comments:

Cabernet Sauvignon Peumo Amplus 2007

Score: 91

Release Price: $24

Country: Chile

Region: Rapel

Issue: Apr 30, 2010

Polished and very focused, with a terrific beam of red and black currant fruit, fig cake and melted licorice notes that glide over seamless structure. A tangy iron hint and fresh acidity lengthen the finish. Drink now through 2013. 550 cases imported. –JM

What it all means is that this is a SILKY (my caps) mouth coating, jammy, 14% wine that drinks for all of the world like a $60-75 bottle. But it's 16.99.

I will buy out every bottle tomorrow morning.

The last sentence (90 minutes later) is corrected to note that I bought out every remaining bottle tonight.

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What it all means is that this is a SILKY (my caps) mouth coating, jammy, 14% wine that drinks for all of the world like a $60-75 bottle. But it's 16.99.

This just reminds me why I love the elegance maintained by the small grower producers of France and Italy.

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Amen. I wonder if Costco ever sells anything along those lines?

Even if they did, I'd rather buy it from Arrow or Out of Site or Ace or Weygandt Wines or some other local guy who selects based on something other than "how much can I get one over on my suppliers?"

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Interesting responses from a number of people. Regardless of one's love for small individual producers who would be forced to charge three or more times as much for this wine (and several of the authors in this thread may have a role in wine distribution or sales) this is an excellent value that I wanted to share with the board. If Costco selling wine produced 11,500 cases at a time at a 30% discount is a problem I am sorry.

With the Euro @1.45 ($1.51 when you get your statement while the Australian dollar is on par with the U. S. (ON PAR!)) the small growers and producers have been priced out of many pockets. At the moment I am focusing on Walla Walla, Chile and Argentina for value. If I buy these directly from them (and I do: K Vintners, Bergevin Lane and Leonetti among others) that is fine. There's a role for Costco, the Wine Library and Magruder's. I'm not going to drink a Bionic Frog, Old Bones or Leonetti Reserve everyday. Although I will occasionally open a wine from Front Royal and even rave about it on here. Northstar, Amplus and others do very well on most days, especially purchased at a heavy discount.

The last two are damn fine wines for the price.

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the small growers and producers have been priced out of many pockets. At the moment I am focusing on Walla Walla, Chile and Argentina for value.

There are plenty of small European producers that are far from priced out of many pockets; it is just some of the better known "small producers" that have raised their prices without raising the quality of the product. A case in point, I had a Domaine du Grand Arc Corbieres the other day that cost half as much as the wine you described and was as big as I like wines to be, but it still maintained a lovely elegance at the same time – just one of many small grower producer that are making affordable and very drinkable (as opposed to chewable) wines.

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Joe

I checked and I ahve had this beverage alcohol at a trade tasting and it is just the kind of "wine" I rail against. I have 40 wines on my list that would retail at less than thiso onethat are all balanced and are the type I enjoy with food. To me, this is wine for people who really would rather drink a coke. But since there are so many more folk who drink coke than wine, it will enrichen many more that a simple Valpolicella, Barbera or Aglianico that is so much more representative, again, in my opinion, of wine should be. Happy drinking!

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I was going to chime in last night and pretty much say the same thing as Steve, Dean, etc., but decided to chalk it up to "personal tastes and preferences," and let it go. That said, the dialog going on here makes me feel like I'm not just one hand clapping in a dark room.

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That's bullshit.

What? That the Euro is 1.45 and seven or eight years ago it was .86? How much margin are you eating as a distributor? Certainly a great deal more now than then. It's not bullshit when the U. S. dollar has almost collapsed to most other currencies and we (yes, we-I've represented German, Swiss, Italian and Canadian companies for thirty years) are forced to shave margin to remain competitive.

The small growers and producers ARE being priced out of markets unless they shave their margins. But this is no different than yourself or, honestly, myself in my industry. I've sold US $200 million worth of equipment over the years I've been in my industry. The margins that I can get today have nothing in common with what I would have never even considered seven or eight years ago. They have been shaved to maintain market share. Manufacturers have taken jobs for cash flow. Whether it is wine or the amusement industry (mine) the exchange rate as well as the economy makes a huge difference.

It also governs how much wine I can buy from "small producers" and how much I will go out of my way to get a better price on a wine that I really like. Even a Dal Forno.

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The small growers and producers ARE being priced out of markets unless they shave their margins.

Nope. They're still waaay better value than blended-and-branded wine glut beverages. Pepiere Muscadet isn't $8 a bottle anymore, but it's got more minerality, expressiveness, and food-friendliness than almost any American wine under $20. Same for J.-P. Brun, Ed Addiss's Bordeaux, Jose Pastor's Spanish wines (not all of which are austere), Peter Weygandt's Loire reds and Austrians. The list goes on.

One of the great shames of the American vignoble is that even in the current currency nightmare, imported wines are still a far better value. Instead of a scattershot approach to planting and a "more-is-more" approach to vinification, the best producers combine appropriate planting, non-laboratory plant material, winemaking that respects the land and the table more than the critic, and excellent selection of export and import agents (which is why _I'm_ not in the wine business anymore).

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Nope. They're still waaay better value than blended-and-branded wine glut beverages. Pepiere Muscadet isn't $8 a bottle anymore, but it's got more minerality, expressiveness, and food-friendliness than almost any American wine under $20. Same for J.-P. Brun, Ed Addiss's Bordeaux, Jose Pastor's Spanish wines (not all of which are austere), Peter Weygandt's Loire reds and Austrians. The list goes on.

One of the great shames of the American vignoble is that even in the current currency nightmare, imported wines are still a far better value. Instead of a scattershot approach to planting and a "more-is-more" approach to vinification, the best producers combine appropriate planting, non-laboratory plant material, winemaking that respects the land and the table more than the critic, and excellent selection of export and import agents (which is why _I'm_ not in the wine business anymore).

Good post, Jake. Thank you.

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What? That the Euro is 1.45 and seven or eight years ago it was .86? How much margin are you eating as a distributor? Certainly a great deal more now than then. It's not bullshit when the U. S. dollar has almost collapsed to most other currencies and we (yes, we-I've represented German, Swiss, Italian and Canadian companies for thirty years) are forced to shave margin to remain competitive.

The small growers and producers ARE being priced out of markets unless they shave their margins. But this is no different than yourself or, honestly, myself in my industry. I've sold US $200 million worth of equipment over the years I've been in my industry. The margins that I can get today have nothing in common with what I would have never even considered seven or eight years ago. They have been shaved to maintain market share. Manufacturers have taken jobs for cash flow. Whether it is wine or the amusement industry (mine) the exchange rate as well as the economy makes a huge difference.

It also governs how much wine I can buy from "small producers" and how much I will go out of my way to get a better price on a wine that I really like. Even a Dal Forno.

When you look at the markups of a Vias and then COuntry Vintner, then the mark ups of a Brenan Downey, Simon & Cellars, Siema etc etc etc you can see there is room in the market for more small producers than ever and they can be prioced more competitively then the Behemoth wineries of OZ and Chile with their multi tiered import system.

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When you look at the markups of a Vias and then COuntry Vintner, then the mark ups of a Brenan Downey, Simon & Cellars, Siema etc etc etc you can see there is room in the market for more small producers than ever and they can be prioced more competitively then the Behemoth wineries of OZ and Chile with their multi tiered import system.

Late this afternoon the Costco in Pentagon City had at least 40 bottles of this still in the rack if anyone is interested...

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