2004 Ch. du Tertre

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

I've had three or four of these since getting a case back in '10 or '12. I've always liked it for its vinosity, which to me describes a wine's wineyness, which in turn to me means ... uh ... I guess it's when the wine has some good acids and has a bit of a round or wet feel in the mouth without having an imbalance of surgary fruit. Kind of pliant, and with some elastic rebound. Verve. In contradistinction many of the vintages of the century seem to be bigger and drier and ... but I digress.

Nice color, some cedary/sandalwood/creme de coffee (if there is such a thing, maybe like a whiff of coffee ice cream) on the nose. Some dark berries. In the mouth this is evolving and settling nicely, it feels like it's added a little plumpness. Creamy-textured, dark berries, just a bit of chocolate and a bit of charred oak. This was never in my experience a characteristically closed or tight wine, at least from about age six when I got it. Good supporting tannin, it remains a little short in the finish but overall quite nice. Drinking well now and I think has enough to get to a finish line of more advance/mature flavors without drying up first although my guess is that this happens in some reasonable time horizon and not 40 years.

Oddly, Wine Library has something called 2014 Ch. du Tertre, Margaux, 750ml, on their website regular $13.99 on sale $9.99. The last thing I need is more wine but that's the sort of think that makes one want to order first and cancel when it turns out to be the second wine or a wine from the town Margaux in British Columbia.

[AKR]

I saw that too on WL a while ago. I think that must be an SKU error or something. I've had a fair number of stockouts from them on orders, that I find out about later when shipping time comes. So even if you thought you were getting a deal when you click 'buy' it may not happen. I'm ok with that.

There is a 96 sitting on my shelf waiting for a suitable moment. However: the times for these reds are winnowing as the heat starts settling in. This wknd marks the beginning of summer pool season for us.

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Yes, in the world of e-commerce it doesn't hurt to have one or two of those "mistakes" on your website to be disseminated to a million places. It's great advertising to appear atop the lists. Like a loss-leader without the loss. I think legally a mistake like that must be honored but I've been told once at least by a reputable retailer, "oh, we can't sell it for that" without any offer of accomodation. Not meaningful enough to waste time going to the AG over but bs nonetheless.

[JimHow]

Doesn't mistake render the contract void ab initio?

[Chateau Vin]

The fine print written in legal jargon somewhere buried at the website has disclaimers that the retailer is not liable for any pricing related "mistakes"...And guess that reportedly absolves them of any legally binding contract related to price...

[dstgolf]

Looks like there might be another Chateau du Tertre. Looked on wine-searcher and many listings for this under $15 but look at label...not Margaux but listed as BORDEAUX so I guess a Cru Bourgeois?? Have not seen this one before but French laws seem a little strange that they allow so many copy-cat names with no apparent infringement on the legal name of the true owner. I guess buyer beware and this doesn't seem to be an intentional e-commerce error in listing but another Bordeaux copy-cat label!!

http://www.wine-searcher.com/wine-412-0 ... aux-france

[Blanquito]

The (real) 1996 du Tertre is drinking really well right now. The 2000 is quite excellent as well

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

For all of the above reasons it's pointless to pursue something like that. The time I had the issue with the retailer above involved a "mistake" in pricing the St. Emilion Clos l'Oratoire and the CdP Clos l'Oratoire. I ordered the former thinking it was a good deal (not an obvious mistake or fire sale) and when it came to fulfillment I was offered the later. Whatever.

[AKR]

Yes, in the world of e-commerce it doesn't hurt to have one or two of those "mistakes" on your website to be disseminated to a million places. It's great advertising to appear atop the lists. Like a loss-leader without the loss. I think legally a mistake like that must be honored but I've been told once at least by a reputable retailer, "oh, we can't sell it for that" without any offer of accomodation. Not meaningful enough to waste time going to the AG over but bs nonetheless.

I guess I'm going to take the approach of 'how would I like to be treated if the situation was reversed'

If I made a genuine error on something like that (and it really was the real du Tertre, let's pretend its true value is something like $30) and someone wanted to clean out my stock of 10 cases or whatever a retailer carries, that would be a painful loss. I wouldn't want to do business with that customer going forward.

There are retailers like Frys (which sells electronics) which is known for studying their customer accounts, and identifying their 'worst 1%' and removing them i.e. blocking their credit cards etc. And if they come back and try to keep buying (using cash) they get ID'd. Those efforts are unlikely to affect any normal person, mostly just the 'professional' who resell loss leaders or mistakes on ebay/amazon/craigslist/fleamarkets. Sure it keeps the 'market' efficient, but a transaction is voluntary for both sides, and if the seller wants to embargo someone because of their prior behavior, its ok (as long as they are not being targeted for traits that society does not allow discrimination against - religion, ethnicity, gender etc.)

So all that being said, I take the approach that I don't want to abuse vendors. I will shop carefully, checking prices, waiting for sales or free shipping offers, but I'm not into the clean out stores at mistake prices stuff.