Patricia called a little while ago to ask if I was interested in additional purchases. I told her I was not interested and that my days of ordering 2-4 cases at a time were over, due to their ridiculously high price increases each year. I'll stay on the list, but I don't condone the outrageous increases.

I also told her that I've seen here and on WD that a number of people are dropping off their mailing list. The wines are uniformly outstanding, but I wish my investments appreciated the way their prices do.

Good for you. Well played.

$50+ for Zin is high. Their 05-06 G&L Zin were wonderful wines, though.

They need to stop the way they set up their allocations with these grouped options of 2 of this PN and 3 of this Zin etc. I look at the form and I'm just like "I don't need to be forced to check off a package that includes a few bottles (usually $45 or $50 too) I don't want". Their mailer this year was frustrating for me. I wanted to buy from it, but it came after I bought a bunch of others and instead of giving me an option to just buy 6 of one bottle, I just said f%ck it and tossed it. Even Kosta Browne lets me buy 6 Sonoma Pinots and lets me walk away. I'm not on the "A" list with Martinelli, but they'll never get me to go there handling their mailers this way when I have SO many options out there.

I like Martinelli. I actually love many of their chardonnays even more than the Zins and some of the higher octane pinots. They just need to take a step back. They make a lot more wine than years ago, so they really should have more open styles of buying and lowering their prices 10% or so wouldn't hurt either - given the increased competition that seems to show up every year.

I'm not throwing $50 at cali pinot anymore unless I feel it is very special.

Let's not forget their excellent Syrahs. I love their wines, virtually all of them, but $10 a year or so increase on everything adds up after a while.

Board-O, just curious, what was her response?

I've dealt with her for years, so I wasn't nasty about it. She told me she understood and would pass my comments on.

Easy pass.

I do hope others like Board-O will share their opinions.

I do think longtime customers voicing their displeasure could have as much impact as anything else.

Many options out there, many!

I stopped buying because of the bundling.

I have no problem with the bundling. All the wines in the bundle are outstanding, but each bottle seems to go up 15+% a year.

I passed on their last Fall mailer when the BSR pinot went to $90 and the JH zin went to $120. That was like $40-$50 hike on the zin
They called me to see if I forgot to order and I told them "not at those prices".

The Spring mailer had an excellent 6 pack bundle that I bought with no problem.

I expect to be passing again this Fall.

I think they drop you after two passes. At least, they used to. I'm guessing at these prices, they've lost some people and may be a bit more tolerant.

In defense of Martinelli, I cut back on more mailers than just them this year. I'm pretty sure many of you did the same thing. Combination of reasons (price increases, bundling ordering only, shipping cost, other winery options, personal finances). Pick a reason or several.

So, they are far from the only winery with more cases lying around then they had last year.

Let's hope the laws of supply and demand come into play here.