2016 Pauillac has been uncorked, more 2019 Montrose, they passed our pay raise, and the Blue Demon has been retired....

[JimHow]

Indeed. We were literally giggling during the famous MacArthur’s 2002 vintage heist.

[Nicklasss]

You guys are nuts. Worst than me. But Krug is great!

[JimHow]

One of my best wine experiences last year was hanging out on the back deck one late summer afternoon with Winona Chief, sipping a 168ed Krug.

[Blanquito]

In Canada, you only go bankrupt once. In America, we can do it again and again, and then run for president.

[Blanquito]

I think the word spreading about the krug sale! A buddy just had his online order cancelled!

[JoelD]

Damn, I missed all the Krug action. That is such a steal. Well done.

[Gerry M.]

Hampton North had 14 in stock this morning, Gerry, I placed my online order for 12 bottles at the discount.
They're holding them for me, gonna pick them up tomorrow morning.
Buy! Buy like the wind!

Ok, I picked up the last six pack at #69 north Nashua tonight along with 6 other misc btls. That should do me. I'd like to help out Blanquito but no place left around me has any qty. It's 2 and 3 btls, if any.

[JimHow]

I'm sure I'll get a bottle or two into your hands at some point, Joel, I just generally don't get involved in buying for others as I don't mail them, I don't put them on planes, I don't know when I'm going to see people again, etc. Gerry has been trying to exchange some 2012 du Tertre with me for like 10 years and we haven't gotten around to it.

[JimHow]

I got 6 bottles for Blanquito, if there's any accessible near I-95 when I come back from London I'll take a look.

[JimHow]

JimHow wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 3:05 pm
Hampton North had 14 in stock this morning, Gerry, I placed my online order for 12 bottles at the discount.
They're holding them for me, gonna pick them up tomorrow morning.
Buy! Buy like the wind!
Ok, I picked up the last six pack at #69 north Nashua tonight along with 6 other misc btls. That should do me. I'd like to help out Blanquito but no place left around me has any qty. It's 2 and 3 btls, if any.

Well done, Gerry. Very well done indeed.

[JoelD]

I'm sure I'll get a bottle or two into your hands at some point, Joel, I just generally don't get involved in buying for others as I don't mail them, I don't put them on planes, I don't know when I'm going to see people again, etc. Gerry has been trying to exchange some 2012 du Tertre with me for like 10 years and we haven't gotten around to it.

No worries at all if it's a hassle at all. But if you are able to grab a few more I'll take them. I'm up in NYC at least a few times a year so that could work.

I wonder, when was the last time a convention was in NYC? DC seems to be a lot more often.

[Gerry M.]

Joel, I drank the 2016 Reserve Comtesse and loved it so much that I bought a case. I agree, Chris, this is a nice little wine at the price.

I popped a bottle last night with a strip steak. It was amazingly approachable. It put on weight and rounded out nicely over 3 hours.

[JimHow]

I feel guilty because others, yourself included, have accessed wine for me. I just am in no position to reciprocate, my schedule is insanity plus, and I’m just really kind of limited when it comes to modern technology and things like getting something from point A to point B in the modern world. Thus, as you can see, Patrick had to physically mail a paper check to me because I am really stupid when it comes to this stuff, Zelle, and Face Man, and Snap Hat, etc., etc. I’m an old man, young Joel. I’m an old man. When I was your age the internet like basically did not exist, except like in NASA, the CIA, etc.

[Blanquito]

I enjoy many bubblies, but Krug is my favorite house.

In the peerlessly generous spirit in which BWE was founded and has been sustained ever since, I’ll definitely share this BD-facilitated score at future conventions.

[JimHow]

So I see the Murdaugh fellow got convicted. I watched the three part series on Netflix, it was excellent. I’ve been in that position over 160 times. You put your heart and soul into it. It’s a euphoric, almost dream like feeling when you win. When the foreperson says “not guilty.” Those words never get old, whether I’m doing a murder case or a drunk driving ticket. Some jury trials are done in one day. Some take weeks, like our Alaska case. We were in Fairbanks for 44 nights during just the trial itself. My acquittal rate is really high, in the 80% range, most criminal defense lawyers are unsuccessful 80% of the time. That doesn’t mean they are lousy lawyers. I have won cases I was sure I was going to lose, and I’ve lost cases I was sure I was going to win. I sympathize with Murdaugh’s lawyers tonight. I didn’t see any of the trial but I have no doubt they put in a zealous defense. When you pour everything you have into the effort and you come up short, it hurts. Those lawyers will go through a depression for a period of time, anywhere from several days to months. When the verdict came in after three hours my initial thought was that he was guilty, but then you start playing mind games with yourself, trying to convince yourself that, surely, they just had reasonable doubt, and they decided to acquit. In the Gage Dalphonse murder trial up here in Maine, the “Walmart shooting case,” the jury came back in 3 hours. I asked my second chair Jesse what I thought was going to be the verdict. He said, I think they’re going to compromise on manslaughter. And I told him, nope: It’s going to be not guilty on murder, and not guilty on manslaughter. And I was right. The verdict came back not guilty on both counts, and little Gage walked out of the courthouse a free man. He had been sitting in jail for over two years awaiting trial. Had the arrogant prosecutors offered us 10 years on a manslaughter, my 21 year old client would have taken it. But they were too arrogant. Too greedy. They needed a murder conviction (25 years to life in Maine). And that made our job easy. When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose. Gage walked out of the courthouse (under police protection, we all did), and has gone on with a life of freedom as opposed to a life of misery for 50 years in the Maine State Prison. In Fairbanks Alaska last year, we threw everything into the case for 44 days. A story book ending would have been another acquittal, and a walk out of the courthouse after THREE years of incarceration in Maine and Alaska and a half dozen other hell holes in between. It was not to be. The jury was not out 3 hours. The jury was out 4 days. We had a very thoughtful jury, they wrote numerous notes to the court during deliberations, some that leaned towards acquittal, some that leaned towards conviction. By the fourth day, we thought we might have had a hung jury. Which would have been a victory for the defense, as the state was not going to relitigate this incredibly complicated trial. But by late morning on the fourth day, we got the word from the clerk: “We have a verdict.” That’s when your heart really sinks, even when you win. It is the point of no return. In the Alaska case we knew this was trouble, based on the more recent notes that had been written to the court. By that fourth day, we were pretty much hoping for a hung jury. We put on our ties and shuffled across the street in minus-thirty temps from our hotel to the courthouse. The jurors filed in. At least 6 of them were visibly crying. The court officers had to bring them tissues. The judge read the verdicts: Gullty on murder in the first degree, guilty of sexual assault in the first degree. It was, needless to say, devastating. We felt that we had raised reasonable doubt — the state’s case was entirely circumstantial, and there were at least three very serious alternate suspects. We truly believe that the local jury did what we feared was most likely going to happen: They set aside the reasonable doubt standard, and convicted Steve based on emotion, rather than the facts. And I was reminded of that whole ordeal tonight as I thought of the ordeal of Murdaugh’s defense lawyers. I watched the Netflix series. The dude was clearly a psychopath. It seems “clear and convincing” that he was guilty. But can I say that “beyond all reasonable doubt?” I dunno, I wasn’t in the courtroom. Anyway… This weekend I’ll raise a glass to the Murdaugh defense lawyers. I have no doubt they fought the good fight, I suspect they got paid more than the $150/hour I just lobbied successfully for the Maine criminal defense bar, now the HIGHEST (deservedly) paid criminal defense lawyers in the nation. I celebrate the efforts of the Murdaugh defense lawyers because even in defeat, they provide a most fundamental service on any democracy: Challenging the government, preserving the presumption of innocence, and giving it all when everyone hates your guts, the public, the media, the politicians, Nancy Grace even. It is a very hard job. But I don’t know how a free society survives without the services of criminal defense lawyers. Otherwise, we are at the complete mercy of the state. I’m thinking military and public safety, followed by medical personnel….. After that, I can’t think of another profession in a free democracy more important than a criminal defense lawyer. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. Otherwise… we are a banana republic. In light of the Murdaugh trial… Whether you think he’s guilty or innocent… hug a criminal defense lawyer… and thank him/her for protecting your fragile democracy.

[JoelD]

No need to feel guilty, jim. I appreciate the thought regardless. You do more than enough by keeping this wonderful site up and running.

Thanks for the long post. It's hard to fathom how tough the job must be. The roller coaster of emotions must be very tiring. But it has to feel great for everyone you've been able to help directly as well as indirectly by keeping the system in check.

[Nicklasss]

You're doing an important job Jim, like you say often important for equality, and make sure that everybody got a defense, that having or not having done was that person is charged.

At the end, there are many important jobs, like lawyers, but also fair police officers, fair judges, teachers, doctors, scientists, psychologists, all jobs helping the poors, social workers, good politicians (the ones working for peace and people, not for their need of power or their bank account)...

Unfortunaly, all these come with successes and also big deceptions, but i guess some of us are at least trying to make that place a better World, no matter what.

[JCNorthway]

Interesting article on that case in the New York Times by Farhad Manjoo. He was troubled by how quickly the jury came back, considering all the "data" introduced on both sides of the case to be considered.

[JimHow]

Agent How to Agent Blanquito.
Reporting from Granite State Base.
Stash has been secured.
Repeat, stash has been secured.
Proceeding in Red Lion 2 to Louis Town.
Over.

[Blanquito]

Agent How to Agent Blanquito.
Reporting from Granite State Base.
Stash has been secured.
Repeat, stash has been secured.
Proceeding in Red Lion 2 to Louis Town.
Over.

Operation Krug-a-heist is a success! Once the details are declassified (you can get a sneak-peak now though as a paying member at Mar-a-Lago), Agent How’s in vino-ops legend will only grow. Your country salutes you!

[marcs]

[double post]

[marcs]

wow what a get! amazing stuff!

Hey Jim, in your honor I bid $300/bottle all in on a pristine lot of 1989 Lynch Bages at auction. It went for...drum roll...

$700 / bottle!

Soon you're going to be a millionaire just off 1989 Lynch Bages holdings!

[JimHow]

Ha I only have two bottles left, Marcus. It truly is a 100 point wine though, I know folks think I’m over the top sometimes when rating this wine but when you truly sit down and analyze a bottle, to me it is the pinnacle of Pauillac.

[Gerry M.]

wow what a get! amazing stuff!

Hey Jim, in your honor I bid $300/bottle all in on a pristine lot of 1989 Lynch Bages at auction. It went for...drum roll...

$700 / bottle!

Soon you're going to be a millionaire just off 1989 Lynch Bages holdings!

omg, that's insane!

[JimHow]

I wonder why the price has gone up so much....

[JimHow]

Just got around to reading that NYT article, Jon, thanks for pointing it out.
I spend a lot of time defining "reasonable doubt" in my closing arguments.
I want the jury to "own" the significance of reasonable doubt.
The Murdaugh lawyer talked about reasonable doubt at the beginning of his argument, he skipped over a lot of things. Not very impressive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa5eS1ER9hA

Reasonable doubt is our Superman's cape, our Linus's blanket.
When I go into a courtroom with my reasonable doubt chart I feel I can win almost any criminal case.

Contrast the Murdaugh lawyer's closing with Johnny Cochran:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIKPaXW ... vGcADuz7c0

[marcs]

I wasn’t too disturbed by the Murdaugh verdict from what little I know of it. But I was disturbed by that Alaska verdict. If there was ever a case of reasonable doubt that would seem to be it. It just seems like the evidence did not admit of anything even vaguely approaching certainty in that case. I actually found it a bit shocking they even brought the case

[Blanquito]

I wonder why the price has gone up so much....

How much is your kickback % again?

[DavidG]

I wasn’t too disturbed by the Murdaugh verdict from what little I know of it. But I was disturbed by that Alaska verdict. If there was ever a case of reasonable doubt that would seem to be it. It just seems like the evidence did not admit of anything even vaguely approaching certainty in that case. I actually found it a bit shocking they even brought the case

This.

Jim, defense lawyers like you are a cornerstone of the freedoms we enjoy.