Tuesday morning and still no call. Should I be concerned? The Vintages phone lines re-open this morning. Shouldn't that mean that all the calls have been made?

This was the first time I submitted my order by e-mail. Historically, I've always faxed it in. What's been the experience of others in e-mailing in their orders?

Slan,

If the phones open this morning, call and ask what's up. Also, I always email my order; never did it any other way.

Maybe they're just lagging behind this time because there are a large number of orders.

Ya...I gave up and called...they gave some sort of excuse like...yes, there are some "anomolies" and people don't get called in time...don't quite understand why I go to all the effort then. Here's how I did:

1 Alkoomi - sold out
1 Moss Brothers
1 Moss Wood - returned it
1 Allegrini - sold out
1 Lake's Folly
1 Simonsig Pinotage

Not great - maybe next time I'll fall near the front of the line...although it hasn't happened so far.

My advice: since the phone lines are open...stop waiting for them to call.

Well, based on the advice above, I decided to get proactive and call Vintages myself to enquire about my order.

What a freakin' disaster! Apparently, they never received my e-mail! And, of course, everything I wanted (with one exception) was already sold out! The fellow who took my call was helpful and sympathetic. He asked me to try sending him another e-mail, which I did and he received without a problem. He also agreed to put me at the top of the waiting list for any wines that were allocated to customers who ultimately didn't want them. I'm not holding my breath, though.

We also got into a bit of a discussion on people "padding" their orders. I had always assumed that if you order 10 bottles and you get allocated 10 bottles, then you have to take 10 bottles! I've never padded any of my orders. I suggested to the Vintages fellow that orders should be charged to a credit card as soon as the customer receives the allocation he asked for and any returns should only be for LCBO credit (i.e., not simply refunded to the credit card) to cut down on order padding.

For what it's worth, I struck out on the following:

2000 Grand-Puy-Lacoste
2000 Gruaud-Larose
2000 Lafon-Rochet
1997 Frescobaldi Brunello Castelgiocondo
1997 Brunello Campogiovanni
1997 Brunello Banfi (magnum)

The one exception was, naturally, the wine I was least interested in -- the 1999 Guigal CNP -- which I only ordered to see what all the Wine of the Year fuss was all about.

Slan,

Honestly, I think you *have* to pad your orders. I learned the hard way and padded this time around. Sorry to hear you got shut out. Now I feel bad for turning down my two bottle allocation of the Frescobaldi Castelgiocondo! I could have picked it up for you if I knew ...

The LCBO is in such an awful state when it comes to having enough wine to supply its demand, that there's really no choice but to over-order. I ordered seven different wines and got all of them but the '98 Elderton CSM. In the past I've ordered just two or three that I definitely wanted and got shut out. Now I put down everything that I want and rank them accordingly. When I get the call back, I just go down the list and don't go over the self-imposed budget I set.

As for them not receiving your email, I was concerned about that at first too. The simple solution is to turn on delivery and read receipts when you email your order. This way you know it's been delivered and you can prove it if they say otherwise. Registered email ... what a beautiful thing!

Well my email got through and I still had to call on the first day the phones were open in order to get them to tell me what I had received!!! Grr.

Sorry Ism ... I don't know what to say to that!

Maybe you should write a letter to the LCBO about their poor service. Oh, a further recommendation - don't email it, send it via Canada Post!

i almost feel bad for saying this but i ordered only what i wanted, and got all i ordered....here they are.

chateau bernadotte 2000
guigal chateauneuf de pape 1999
gewurtz vorbourg vendanges tardives 2000grand cru
riesling schlossberg 200 grand cru albert mann
moss brothers cab/merlot 1999

i'll chalk my success up to beginners luck

My call came just after they opened the phone lines. I received:

2000 Chateau Charmail
2000 Vieux Donjon
2000 Riesling Schlossberg A. Mann
2000 Tokay Pinot Gris Rene Mure
1997 Barolo Abbona
1999 Flaccianello

I did not get 5 others, so I was about 50%.

BTW, the cover wine, the 1996 Haut-Brion, I just saw on sale at Binny's in Chicago for $135 U.S. Our friends at the LCBO want $425 CDN. Tell me that isn't a crime!

Well, much to my surprise, I got a call back from Vintages today. I was offered two items from my original order which were allocated to customers but not taken -- the 2000 GPL and the 1997 Castelgiocondo.

I suppose I should be grateful but, frankly, I don't know who's benefiting from this insane system of ours. Certainly not the consumer. Agruably, not even the government. Think of all the forgone revenue from all the unsatisfied demand!

Maybe the Classics system should be a quarterly online Dutch auction, instead. You know, a partnership between the LCBO and Wine Commune or Wine Bid or someone like that. The guy who bids the most will get his order filled first, then the guy who bids second highest, etc. That's how the province could really maximize revenues! Why pretend to be consumer friendly if the objective is to maximize revenues? Or, if the objective is to be consumer friendly, then why worry about maximizing revenues - PRIVATIZE!

Rant over.

i agree that something has to give.....unfortunetly for us the average wine buyer is satisfied with the lcbo...they've dumped a ton of cash back into the stores, the magazines etc etc..

a good friend in the distribution/sales business feels that if anything were to be privatized in ontario it will be the highest end products....

he wasn't clear on how it would be done but mentioned that NB or NS is experimenting with private high end wine sales..

who knows