Some may know- others may not, but Montelena futures went on sale today for the 2002 Estate Cab. I can't place an order right now, am personally anticipating a few things, but if anyone near me, or just anyone else is ordering, if they want to tack on a few bottles for me I would be greatly appreciative!!! They are $65 each and would ship in later 2005. I can square up with whoever would include me their order in about a month or so. If anyone is placing their own order and is interested, please email me @

kevin.beilke@ferguson.com

Otherwise I will just wait and see if I can still get them around the middle of April.

Just wanted to post the FYI while I was at it!

Kevin

Futures can be purchased in increment sof 6 bottles through Woodland Hills Wine Co. I got their e-mail today. Here's their website. They haven't posted the details on their website yet, but if you e-mail them, I'm sure they can help you.

"The world needs ditch-diggers, too, Danny!"

G&Z nut-

YOu can also order direct fromt he winery in whatever qty you want- limit of 12. I am trying to find someone that is ordering some and would add on 2-3 for me, and I will send them the money. In addition to giving up cheese for lent, I gave up CHARGING wine, as a result, I cannot buy from the winery until lent is over, but I CAN send out a money order to whoever is so kind to add a few bottles to their order. Kind of a loophole, however I can't buy from the website without a credit card, and I don't want to get shut out. Anyone buying this?

If you are interested in leveraging this order, please contact me directly via email. I was only going to order 1/2 case but if others are interested I will gladly help out.

R/
Glenn

A local store I use often emailed me this:

2002 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon Estate (futures- arrival fall 2005)
2002 Estate Cabernet (6x750ml) @ $54.97, 2002 Estate Cabernet (3x1.5l) @ $119.97

I didn't do it because I don't want 6, but if I could split it up, I would be interested. I would have to pay sales tax too. Email me if you want to try going in on this.

derek.bohn@guidant.com

Sorry... accidental post

"Drink up, me hardies, YO HO!"

Parkside Church

Griffin House

I saw this in their latest newsletter. I didn't pay close attention, but, I don't think there was a minimum order. Having bought futures directly from Montelena before, there is an advantage to NOT buying direct from Montelana. Unless Montelena's policy has since changed, when the futures are ready for shipment, they disgorge their inventory by shipping whether or not your are ready to receive it. I couldn't get them to NOT ship when THEY wanted to and had to go to some extra effort to at least get a friend to accept delivery for me. So, if you travel or have other reasons whey you cannot be home or wherever you have your wine shipped to on the date the wine is shipped at Montelena's inflexibnle date, you may have some major problems with the wine stuck on a truck for a few days.

LJ-

now I know how you got your posts up higher than me.

Kevin

"I break my back for a fifth of gin, and then I weep and wail about the shape that I'm in"

DHGOYINS--when did you purchase futures directly from them? Has anyone else had a similar experience with Montelena?

1998's futures. The staff was very nice to me and all that, but I simply wasn't expecting that they would not be willing to accommodate my schedule. As the facts were, I had to make arrangments to have a friend receive shipment and the new address was given to Montelena. Well, as things went, Montelena still shipped to my home address, didn't use the friend's address, and because no one was at my home to receive the wine, I literally had to go to UPS' lot (it may have been Fed-Ex's, but too long ago to remember that part), and it was in the evening, dark, in cold winter, and a very gracious, very kind UPS employee found the truck my wine was on, pulled it off and gave it to me. This was a Friday evening, mind you. My wine would have stayed on the lot the whole weekend! I notified Montelena that I was very disappointed. They then sent me 3 750 bottles of the 98 as an apology. Again, they were great about the apology. Just be sure that if you are going to order futures directly from Montelena that you may want to first ask them if they will accommodate your dates you want the wine shipped, or, if it's the date they decide and you're stuck with it no matter what. If it's the latter, and here I can only speak for myself, I would order my futures from someone such as Hi Times who has flexibility on when they may ship to you.

[This message was edited by DHGOYINS on Mar 17, 2004 at 04:39 PM.]

I purchased '97 futures from Montelena and the experience left me with a very sour taste--from the winery, not the wine.

I live in SoCal, and it was just too damn hot to have wine shipped here in September. They insisted that it was going to go out anyways and I was finally able to get them to ship to The Cantinetta (next to Tra Vigne) in St Helena (?) who graciously accepted on my behalf and consolidated it a month later with other wines I had bought from them directly.

I was absolutely stunned that nobody @ Montelena would hear my plea to hold shipping (despite the consistent 90+ degree days)--and I tried!!! I even left two messages for Bo, as I recall, after not getting anywhere with other people at the winery. While I understand that they have since changed their policies somewhat, they can go EFF ( ) themselves IMHO. When I buy, I get it cheaper at a local retailer and don't have to pay for the refrigerated shipping!

They burned a bridge with me that I'll never forget. I'll buy the wine only on the vintages that I choose, and I'll make sure they make as little as possible on the transaction! That being said, I'm passing on the '02 futures as I've got plenty of the '01 coming in.

WOW! Thanks for the heads up!--I guess I need to talk to them in advance.

Florida Vine, would you please, if you do talk to them and ask if they will accommodate your dates you want shipped, post the results of your conversation here? If they will not, then definitely buy from Hi Time Wines. I think the price is the same as direct from Montelena, but may be wrong. But, Hi Time WILL work with you on shipping dates. And it's a long haul from California to Florida, especially if Montelena isn't flexible on shipping dates.

Actually on this wine, I have been noticing many of the retailers have their prices less than the $65 that Montelena has them for. Qty discount I guess. So you get flexibility on the shipping and a better price. I don't think there is even a question on who to order from.

kevin

"I break my back for a fifth of gin, and then I weep and wail about the shape that I'm in"

This is what I heard from Montelena

"We do ship the wine all at the same time, but we can delay shipment if you will out of town at that time. Typically, we ship towards the end of September. For the 2002 Futures, this will be September of 2005. We send out an email reminder about a month in advance of shipment, so it is important that you keep your email address on file current."

And that...as they say... is all they wrote.

Well, Florida, that's a change of pace from my past experience and heartening good news to learn as well. Dirty South's comments on price are relevant and no minimum order quantity. At this point in time, I am now trying to recall myself if it was in the fall or in March when I had my problem. (I think I have received my Ridge futures in the past in March.) I seem to recall it as in the winter when the Montelena problem arose, but it may have been in late September, but the details are the same for getting the wine off the truck from the weekend. I had a case of half bottles and Montelena's apology was a 3 pack of 750s. Maybe they've learned some lessons on satisfying the small consumer though on shipping dates. Good luck!

K&L and Wine Club in S.F. both sold out in two days. so much for pondering an order and hoping to keep it off of this month's VISA card. I lost my resolve and had to bite the bullet and order direct from the winery.

$65 plus tax and shipping brings my all-in cost to $74 a bottle.

Stood up and tried to focus
I hoped I wouldn't have to look far
I knew I could use a bloody mary
so I stumbled next door to the bar