2019 Futures Disappointment

[dstgolf]

The LCBO futures orders opened today at 8:30am. A new system that I didn't like not that I was thrilled with previous structures but this year they showed how many bottles were allocated for this first tranche and the two that I most wanted were Tour St Christophe and Lilian Ladouys as I've been buying the TSC since 2014 and LL since 09. This morning the computer system was overwhelmed and I couldn't login for the first 2 hrs and I gave up til this eve and the total allocation has sold out in less than 12 hrs which I've never seen before. They had no TSC on the SAQ side of the border so now I'm left with none for 2019 and the vertical stops!! Disappointed big time but did pick up 6 cases including Talbot, Lagrange, Dauzac, Capbern, Clos Marsallette, and Corbin. None of the big boys and might be risking the Talbot outliving me before it comes into its own.

Not sure how much TSC will be available after release in USA but obviously this wine undiscovered a few years ago and LL striking way above their price point has cleared these out quickly at the LCBO release and it might not be wise to wait for a regular release in your area as there may not be any coming.

[JimHow]

I just placed my order of a case of 2019 Tour saint Christophe at Zachy's for $29.99 per bottle. I didn't see any reference to tariffs so I went ahead.

[sisler]

Some wines which where sold out are now available again in Switzerland. Figeac for CHF 165.- and LMHB for CHF 245.-. Any thoughts on these two wines?

[Antoine]

Go Figeac... no hesitation... I missed it...but got 3 Canon

[JimHow]

I already bought a case of 2019 Tour Saint Christophe, I really want a case of 2016 Corbin but I promised myself I would not buy any more wine!

[dstgolf]

Well done Jim on the TSC. I keep thinking about the but what if's and our missed Spring opportunity to visit.Hopefully there will be some TSC come through a second wave release either in Quebec or Ontario along with Lilian Ladouys which should be available for sure at a later date.

This lockdown business has not been fun and getting long in the tooth. A little discouraging reading yesterday about a Russian virologist who was 69 and got infected with little to no symptoms in the Spring. He followed his antibody levels and they dropped off over 3 mths so he put himself in contact with infected people to see if he'd catch it again and sure enough he got it again only second time he became quite sick requiring hospitalization showing at least some people only develop short term immunity which is what we're seeing here with people catching it a second time. On the vaccine front there are similar concerns on the duration of immunity with people talking about need for a second or third booster required. What they are fearful for is they are seeing short lived immunity and concern of the vaccine which uses an adenovirus carrying the covid spike protein and on repeat injection antibodies are developed against the adenovirus rather than the spike protein preventing long term immunity.This would not be good news and many of our infectious disease docs are putting hope on continued mutations creating a less virulent bug but in Europe this second wave is just proving the opposite.

This kinda puts a damper on when we can start replanning BWE 202??. On a brighter note Hotels.com finally sent us an email saying they will be sendin a voucher good for a year once received for travel credit to the Mercure in Bordeaux Lac so all might not be lost. Looking forward to better times when this mess clears, your election is over, the world stabilizes and we can move on more normally with our lives and plan for a visit once again before we're too old or frail to travel.

[JimHow]

Grim times indeed, Danny.
I put $1,500 of work in the old Blue Demon to get one more year out of it, she crossed the 337,000 mile mark this morning.
I got my blood work numbers back in place, finally got approved for the cholesterol injection after years of denial, and I'm ordering my hearing aids this week.
Getting my homicide cases queued up and ready for whenever jury trials start up again.
Otherwise, I'm hunkering down into Chateau How for a hard winter.
I think Stefan is right, the earliest we are looking at BWE gatherings is 2022.... And that is being optimistic, I think.
Cheer up, though, Jack Nicklaus says there's nothing to worry about.
First thing's first.... We got get this germ out of there on Tuesday.
My confidence is shaken, though. That endorsement by Number 4 really hurt.

[JimHow]

On a brighter note, I had a 2016 Lilian Ladouys recently that was excellent, great consistency with this estate, a dstgolf kind of wine.

[dstgolf]

When Bobby Orr endorses Trump there's a bigger problem coming than covid!!