WTN: Bottom Feeding at TotalWines...(short/boring)

Had an hour to kill out on the South side of town, so (against my better judgement) went into TotalWines and walked out (I am such a wuss) with the following wines:
1. MaisonDenuziere Aphrodite Ad'OP: Condrieu (13%; SarantyImports/Stamford/CT) Condrieu 2014: Med.gold color; slight earthy light/quiet/Viog/pear slight toasty rather simple pleasant nose; soft/fat very light pear/Viog slight toast (not oak) slight earthy utterly vapid/watery flavor; very short soft/fat/porky/no acid very light pear/Viog slight earthy/metallic/tinny watery/vapid finish; an utterly vapid/watery white that speaks Viog only w/ a whisper; would say it's like a Lodi Viog cropped at 20 tons/acre; SueTipton's Acquiesence Viog would blow this away at less than half the price; you an actually find this wine at a non-TW shop for $80; a stupid/silly price for such a vapid wine. $53.00 (TW)
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2. Tenuta Cappallotto Famiglia Lanzavecchia PrimeTerre Dd'OC: Piemonte Rosso (12.5%; www.Cappallotto.It; Saranty Imports) Serralunga d'Alba 2015: Med.light color; lightly fragrant/grapey/Dolcetto-like/slight floral/lilacs somewhat earthy/loamy pleasant enough grapey nose; soft slight tangy/metallicsome grapey/Dolcetto-like/fruity bit earthy/loamy rather dilute/watery somewhat insipid flavor w/ light flaccid tannins; med.short soft slight tangy/metallic light earthy/loamy light fruity/grapey/Dolcetto-like rather watery/insipid finish w/ light flaccid tannins; this is how FredFranzia would make BricoAsili if he could; this is supposedly 100% Nebbiolo but speaks more of a lightweight/vapid Dolcetto than Nebbiolo; a pleasant/grapey/simple nose but pretty dull/insipid on the palate; no bargain at $16.00 (TW)
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3. Winzer Krems GrunerVeltliner Kremser Sandgrube (12.5%; SarantyImports) Krems/Donau 2017: Lots of large bubbles & many tiny bubbles along the sides of the glass/dissolved CO2; med.light gold color; pleasant floral/GV/carnations slight spicy/white pepper pleasant/simple GV nose; quite tangy/tart/bit metallic light floral/GV/carnations/white pepper very light bodied slight prickly rather watery/vapid flavor; short bit tart/tangy very light GV/floral/carnations/spicy slight prickly rather watery/insipid flavor w/ quite metallic/tinny aftertaste; a pleasant if simple GV nose but utterly watery/vapid on the palate w/ little GV character; nothing here wants me to take a 2'nd glass; no bargain at $15.00 (TW)
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4. Ch.Miselle Ad'OP: Sauternes GrandVin de Bordeaux (13.5%; SarantyImports) B by Dulong/Landivas 2016: Lots of bubbles that dissipate; med.light gold color; light peachy/apricotty/botrytis bit Semillon/figgy slight earthy rather attractive if simple Sauternes nose; soft light earthy some botrytis/peachy/apricotty bit Semillon/figgy fairly sweet quite pleasant if lightweight Sauternes flavor; med.long soft fairly botrytis/peachy/apricotty light figgy/Semillon fairly sweet pleasant Sauternes finish; reminds a lot of the old Calvet or Mouton-Cadet generic Sauternes; not a great price for a dessert wine but at least not boring as hell. $13.00/hlf (TW)
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A wee BP:
1. SarantyImports: There is not a lot out there about this importing company or the people behind it. As best I can tell, it is simply an importing company that is designed to bring in wines strictly for TotalWines. I've not been able to find any other wine shops that carry wine from SarantyImport. Which is all perfectly legal & above-board.
These are wines that carry the shelf-talker "Winery Direct". My understanding is that these are the highest margin wines that TW carries and that there is extraordinary pressure on the TW "wine associates" to move the "Winery Direct" wines. When I'm bottom feeding at TW, I often try the "Winery Direct" wines because they are labels that I don't recognize & I can always hope they are a real find. In some cases, the labels appear to be made-up names strictly for TW. All four of these wines refer to wineries which are actual wineries. But I don't know if these are bottom-of-the line cuvees made up/bttld for Saranty or not.
At any rate, of the 15-20 "Winery Direct" wines I've tried since TW came to SantaFe, none of been worth going back for a 2'nd btl. I've had better luck w/ the sweet wines, but then again not worth going back for more. And the TW markups don't appear to be particularly low, at least on wines I recognize.
If you're gonna go bottom feeding, I would suggest your chances are better at TraderJoe's than TW.
Alas, though, I am such a naive wuss that I have little doubt that I'll once again, in several months, darken the door of TW and walk out with a few btls that I "must" try. And be disappointed once again.
Tom

[James Roscoe]

Total Wine and the Trone brothers represent everything that is wrong with the world in 2019!

[Jenise]

In some cases, the labels appear to be made-up names strictly for TW.

Re the Winery Direct offerings, I presumed the same thing until I discovered them carrying Ropiteau, a Burgundian producer I've personally visited, as Winery Direct. That said, I would bet on a lot of the others being 'fake names', including 100% of their domestic lines.

Re the Winery Direct offerings, I presumed the same thing until I discovered them carrying Ropiteau, a Burgundian producer I've personally visited, as Winery Direct. That said, I would bet on a lot of the others being 'fake names', including 100% of their domestic lines.

Jenise,
As I pointed out above for those 4 wineries, they are real wineries in Europe. They may...or may not...
be available thru other importers. But the Saranty Imports I'm pretty sure go only to TW. But I bet your
Ropiteau that you found at TW was thru Saranty.
Tom

A wee BP:
1. SarantyImports: There is not a lot out there about this importing company or the people behind it. As best I can tell, it is simply an importing company that is designed to bring in wines strictly for TotalWines. I've not been able to find any other wine shops that carry wine from SarantyImport. Which is all perfectly legal & above-board.
These are wines that carry the shelf-talker "Winery Direct". My understanding is that these are the highest margin wines that TW carries and that there is extraordinary pressure on the TW "wine associates" to move the "Winery Direct" wines. When I'm bottom feeding at TW, I often try the "Winery Direct" wines because they are labels that I don't recognize & I can always hope they are a real find. In some cases, the labels appear to be made-up names strictly for TW. All four of these wines refer to wineries which are actual wineries. But I don't know if these are bottom-of-the line cuvees made up/bttld for Saranty or not.
At any rate, of the 15-20 "Winery Direct" wines I've tried since TW came to SantaFe, none of been worth going back for a 2'nd btl. I've had better luck w/ the sweet wines, but then again not worth going back for more. And the TW markups don't appear to be particularly low, at least on wines I recognize.
If you're gonna go bottom feeding, I would suggest your chances are better at TraderJoe's than TW.
Alas, though, I am such a naive wuss that I have little doubt that I'll once again, in several months, darken the door of TW and walk out with a few btls that I "must" try. And be disappointed once again.
Tom

Been doing some more digging around.
Not been able to find out much about Saranty. There seems to be some association w/ William Deutsch Imports,
both located in White Plains, but I can't determine that connection. Saranty was founded in 1994, about the time TW was starting to expand aggressively.
But it is privately held & can't find the people behind. My guess is that the Trone bros are involved in it and it's a sham importer set up to
import wines for TW at a very low markup.
Here in NM, there is a wine distributor that imports the Saranty wines for TW. They cannot, by law, be owned by TW, but probably another sham distributorship
that TW has set up. I've heard stories that these big trucks pull up into the warehouse parking lot briefly, then journey on to the two NM TW's. Not legal, as best I am told.
By NM law, the distributorship must also sell to other wine retailers. But the issue has never been pressed by any NM retailers that I know of. And, of course,
no wine reps from this distributorship make calls on any of the other retailers. If any retailer would force the issue, trying to buy the Saranty wines, I suspect they
would be given a bogus wholesale price list that would make them not competitive w/ the TW shelf prices. But, given that the Saranty wines are mostly
crap wines, I can't imagine why a NM retailer would seek to do this.
You can, of course, get some European estates at TW for very attractive prices. That is because these estates can go thru multiple importers. When those estates
sell to Saranty, I'm sure the markup Saranty takes is bare bones. But I'm sure that there are some estates that don't sell to Saranty. But this is probably how TW has
developed a reputation for being a source of low cost wines. But price comparisons I've made on a number of Calif wines, they are not particularly bargains compared
to other NM retailers. These are wines that go thru the other, non-sham, distributorships.
All of this is perfectly legal & above board and an example of the Trones manipulating the system aggressively to their advantage. And in view of the ethics/principals
that you see in today's business world and back in Wash, or dismal lack thereof, this is all pretty small potatoes.
Tom

[
Been doing some more digging around.
Not been able to find out much about Saranty. There seems to be some association w/ William Deutsch Imports,
both located in White Plains, but I can't determine that connection. Saranty was founded in 1994, about the time TW was starting to expand aggressively.
But it is privately held & can't find the people behind. My guess is that the Trone bros are involved in it and it's a sham importer set up to
import wines for TW at a very low markup.
Here in NM, there is a wine distributor that imports the Saranty wines for TW. They cannot, by law, be owned by TW, but probably another sham distributorship
that TW has set up. I've heard stories that these big trucks pull up into the warehouse parking lot briefly, then journey on to the two NM TW's. Not legal, as best I am told.
By NM law, the distributorship must also sell to other wine retailers. But the issue has never been pressed by any NM retailers that I know of. And, of course,
no wine reps from this distributorship make calls on any of the other retailers. If any retailer would force the issue, trying to buy the Saranty wines, I suspect they
would be given a bogus wholesale price list that would make them not competitive w/ the TW shelf prices. But, given that the Saranty wines are mostly
crap wines, I can't imagine why a NM retailer would seek to do this.
You can, of course, get some European estates at TW for very attractive prices. That is because these estates can go thru multiple importers. When those estates
sell to Saranty, I'm sure the markup Saranty takes is bare bones. But I'm sure that there are some estates that don't sell to Saranty. But this is probably how TW has
developed a reputation for being a source of low cost wines. But price comparisons I've made on a number of Calif wines, they are not particularly bargains compared
to other NM retailers. These are wines that go thru the other, non-sham, distributorships.
All of this is perfectly legal & above board and an example of the Trones manipulating the system aggressively to their advantage. And in view of the ethics/principals
that you see in today's business world and back in Wash, or dismal lack thereof, this is all pretty small potatoes.
Tom

A bit more. The two NM TotalWines go thru almost exclusively thru a distributor here in NM by the name of Johnson Bros. Starting in StPaul,
I gather they have a bunch of distributorships in a bunch of states. I suspect they take a minimal markup when the sell to TW. By law here in NM,
they must sell to any restaurant/wine retailer at the same price. One retailer I know requested a price list from them an was refused. A clear
violation of the NM law. But, given the quality of the Saranty Wines and what's on the shelf at TW, I don't know why they'd want
to deal w/ JohnsonBros. And I have not been able to track down an address or phone # for them in Albq.
I was told by the guy out at TW that JohnsonBros has a small warehouse in Albq. Which would square w/ the story I heard that these large trucks
stop briefly at JohnsonBros and then head off to deliver the goods to the two TWs. Again, probably not legal.
Against my better judgement, I ventured into TW on Sat. Almost all of the WineryDirect imports are thru Saranty. Checking a few of the big-name Bdx reds,
some were coming thru PalmBay Importers in FL. Nothing about Saranty on the label. But also a bunch of them came thru Saranty as well. So a lot of the
big name wineries in Europe must sell to several different importers in this country, including Saranty. Which I why you can see them at other stores
other than TW. But just not coming thru Saranty.
I was tempted to buy one of the widely available wineries at TW thru Saranty and then a btl that came thru conventional channels and compare the two...
but don't think I'll bother.
Tom