"I love my fed-ex guy cause he's a drug dealer and he doesn't even know it...and he's always on time." -Mitch Hedberg
Of all of the things that are sent through the mail, it is hard to get a clear understanding of why I cannot get wine shipped to me legally in Massachusetts. It seems like it could be an antiquated notion that is used to protect an outlet for underage drinking. However, a UPS driver can check an ID as well as a bartender. So what else could be the biggest threat of me ordering my wine online? Unfortunately, the laws are put in place to protect the high prices of a three tier supply chain in the disguise of promoting local wineries. Here are the basic facts:
-A winery cannot directly ship to Massachusetts if their production is over 30,000-gallons. This is around 12,000 cases, eliminating most wineries. Fortunately, this is above what any Massachusetts winery produces. Unfortunately, there are very few inspiring wineries in the state.
-Furthermore, if any winery is represented in Massachusetts by a distributor within the last six months, they are not allowed to ship directly. This leaves the distributor with almost complete price control because it isolates the consumer.
-FedEx and UPS have to acquire special licenses to carry alcohol and they do not pursue it. Recent laws have been passed to turn the tides, but there still is no carrier that will accept this responsibility.
-Massachusetts has a limit of wine that can be bought by any particular individual. The burden of keeping track of this is put on the winery. Therefore, each winery has to track how much wine any person has bought from not only them, but any other winery.
It is in the interest of the industry to uphold these laws. While as a consumer I am not looking to get wine from a winery direct, I am looking to get wine that I cannot find easily here or wine that is priced too high to justify it. Therefore, if I followed the laws, I would have to pay Massachusetts prices or not have the wine at all. Screw that.
I have built a collection of wine here in Massachusetts at prices that are well under, sometimes half of the price, as I find them locally. I even have had the ability to buy wholesale and not paid prices that are as good as these web-based stores can offer. And no, these are not sketchy, back-alley websites or second hand screwballs. These are direct importers, industry professionals who have developed relationships with the wineries, and sellers who can work with serious volume and move product. They are accessible, organized warehouses-turned-websites that set a high standard for service and value. (I will mention here that wine.com does indeed ship within the state because they have local warehouses. They also have Massachusetts prices.)
I will not name any of these websites; because although many thanks are due, my stories would offer more damage than it is worth. I have purchased Italian collectibles at $60 less than they are put on the shelf for, and some '05 Bordeaux that is about $50 more on the wholesale book. Sure, I am a ruthless bargain hunter, but my resistance has definitely been rewarding. Even tack on shipping and the prices locally are still not reasonable.
Here are some experiences and tips that have allowed me to receive wine from out of state:
-My first online wine purchase got bounced back to the seller as soon as it his state lines. I got in touch with the company and asked what happened. He told me not to worry about it and that I would have my wine in two days. Sure enough, two days later there was a package on my doorstep labeled "Fragile Artwork."
-Call the store you are looking to purchase from. Often they have worked with customers in your state and will work with you to find a method to get the product to you. Very often, their desire to take care of their customers will be motive enough for them to ship, one way or another.
-If you know somebody that works at or owns a restaurant, often they can receive wine easier because of their liquor license. This seems to ease the burden on FedEx and UPS, although it is technically still wrapped in the same issues as delivering to a home.
-Have a relative that lives across state lines.
-Set up a shipping account with UPS or FedEx so that you are taking more of the legal burden than the store who is sending it.
These laws and the methods to circumvent them are an unfortunate arrangement. Consider this: I have had a friend order three bottles of absinthe from Denmark and have UPS leave the package on their doorstep. While lawmakers are spending our money fighting this battle and consumers are spending their money overpaying, little Johnny can hop on his computer and get international booze shipped without any questions.
It seems like the most rational thing to do would be refining the shipping and receiving policies so that alcohol is delivered in a safe manner and is taxed in a proper way. This would be a big victory for the consumer, but it would be a big loss for the wholesalers. The distribution companies have been protected for a long time and have been naming their own prices. This has become transparent with our new era of instant information. I think it is time to let me buy my wine. Or move.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Cup of Flaws
I like caffeine. It is an integral part of my day. Given the choice, I will try to find myself in front of a two-shot, 5-oz traditional cappuccino every day. And often wash it down with a single espresso. This is partially a luxury culinary experience while it is also an energy boost to kick off the day. However, lacking a $5000 professional grade espresso machine and the $1500 grinder to make it work at home, I have few options to get my fix.
Around Boston, I would argue that there are five shops that can pull a good espresso. Five! And no, none are in the North End. Stylistically, the shops are pulling different expressions of espresso from a variety of roasters. Also, as a trend and not a necessity, all of these shops happen to focus on coffee with every else being auxiliary. Furthermore, there are only one and a half of these shops can texture milk well. Among the hundreds of capable espresso machines that are weighing down counters all over the city, five are using them well.
This is one of the top ten metropolitan cities; and maybe not boasting the biggest population, Boston is still crowded as hell. As egocentric as Bostonians can often feel, they are consistently playing catch-up in the finer points of the beverage industry. Some that are humble enough to admit it are really taking strides to do something new and innovative. On the other side are trendy, big money hot-spots that make the same mistakes but dress them up with a team of publicists and, I don't know, let's say cupcakes.
A big, fat example of this is that the 'Best of Boston' Coffee Shop serves espresso in the wrong cup and loads pre-ground coffee into the grinder. Wrong cup I can handle, but even the most novice of coffee drinker will have an inkling that grinding coffee freshly makes all the difference in the world. Espresso is built to show intense flavours but also expose flaws. For a sample of this, go to Starbucks and get an espresso for a demitasse cup full of flaws: over-roasted, bitter, smoky, dry, over-extracted, hot, dirty espresso like liquids. They do, however, know well enough to grind the coffee right before brewing it.
Some people are calling the new prevalence of sweet, delicious espresso part of the Third Wave of Coffee. This is in the perspective that the first wave is the Folger's generation, and the next being the Starbucks mall coffee. Folger's represented anonymous coffee of similar poor quality that went unchallenged. The second wave of Mall Coffee begin to focus on milk drinks ordered by the unit (size, milk, flavour shots, type) as well as a small presence of specialty coffee. Although this made coffee better, there was a lack of focus on flavour and origin that you get with, oh, let's say wine.
The Third Wave of Coffee is a focus that has developed in the last few years on a concentration of the greater culinary aspects of coffee including flavour, origin, and respect and reverence for those who produce the best quality product (now that 'quality' is part of the language). It is being supported with the appropriate technology to produce the premium expression of the bean. Only in the last twenty or less years have baristas really understood all of the intricate factors and effects that go into the perfect shot of espresso.
This developing knowledge and language has produced a new momentum for a spectacular coffee culture. Imagine perspective altering shots of espresso being the norm or bitter coffee being shunned. However, asking for something this good and precise to be commonplace is probably as foolish as going to McDonalds and ordering Foie Gras. Sorry to be so cynical, but this is the country that tries to absorb the best of everything around the world, bastardize it for convenience, and use that mutation as the standard.
There is a great and small voice promoting the best coffee and espresso in the world. However, it is specialty, and by nature that means that it will have to continue to be scarce. Following this reasoning, I guess I should consider myself fortunate to be within driving distance of five dedicated coffee shops. Otherwise I will do what any other passionate consumer with a cause does: I will strive to educate, provide a language and a forum to develop a perspective, respect the alternative, and use my choices to exemplify my focus.
Around Boston, I would argue that there are five shops that can pull a good espresso. Five! And no, none are in the North End. Stylistically, the shops are pulling different expressions of espresso from a variety of roasters. Also, as a trend and not a necessity, all of these shops happen to focus on coffee with every else being auxiliary. Furthermore, there are only one and a half of these shops can texture milk well. Among the hundreds of capable espresso machines that are weighing down counters all over the city, five are using them well.
This is one of the top ten metropolitan cities; and maybe not boasting the biggest population, Boston is still crowded as hell. As egocentric as Bostonians can often feel, they are consistently playing catch-up in the finer points of the beverage industry. Some that are humble enough to admit it are really taking strides to do something new and innovative. On the other side are trendy, big money hot-spots that make the same mistakes but dress them up with a team of publicists and, I don't know, let's say cupcakes.
A big, fat example of this is that the 'Best of Boston' Coffee Shop serves espresso in the wrong cup and loads pre-ground coffee into the grinder. Wrong cup I can handle, but even the most novice of coffee drinker will have an inkling that grinding coffee freshly makes all the difference in the world. Espresso is built to show intense flavours but also expose flaws. For a sample of this, go to Starbucks and get an espresso for a demitasse cup full of flaws: over-roasted, bitter, smoky, dry, over-extracted, hot, dirty espresso like liquids. They do, however, know well enough to grind the coffee right before brewing it.
Some people are calling the new prevalence of sweet, delicious espresso part of the Third Wave of Coffee. This is in the perspective that the first wave is the Folger's generation, and the next being the Starbucks mall coffee. Folger's represented anonymous coffee of similar poor quality that went unchallenged. The second wave of Mall Coffee begin to focus on milk drinks ordered by the unit (size, milk, flavour shots, type) as well as a small presence of specialty coffee. Although this made coffee better, there was a lack of focus on flavour and origin that you get with, oh, let's say wine.
The Third Wave of Coffee is a focus that has developed in the last few years on a concentration of the greater culinary aspects of coffee including flavour, origin, and respect and reverence for those who produce the best quality product (now that 'quality' is part of the language). It is being supported with the appropriate technology to produce the premium expression of the bean. Only in the last twenty or less years have baristas really understood all of the intricate factors and effects that go into the perfect shot of espresso.
This developing knowledge and language has produced a new momentum for a spectacular coffee culture. Imagine perspective altering shots of espresso being the norm or bitter coffee being shunned. However, asking for something this good and precise to be commonplace is probably as foolish as going to McDonalds and ordering Foie Gras. Sorry to be so cynical, but this is the country that tries to absorb the best of everything around the world, bastardize it for convenience, and use that mutation as the standard.
There is a great and small voice promoting the best coffee and espresso in the world. However, it is specialty, and by nature that means that it will have to continue to be scarce. Following this reasoning, I guess I should consider myself fortunate to be within driving distance of five dedicated coffee shops. Otherwise I will do what any other passionate consumer with a cause does: I will strive to educate, provide a language and a forum to develop a perspective, respect the alternative, and use my choices to exemplify my focus.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Best Money You'll Ever Spend
There is a multitude of wine drinkers imbibing every night. Or afternoon or morning, if you please. Either way, while a few lucky aficionados are drinking the 'crus' of the world, the rest are out there picking up something that is stacked at the end of the aisle at Trader Joe's. Whether you are into fancy wine or not, the cheapest wine sells in big quantities and that is the dominating chunk of volume of juice drank in any wine culture.
And for every person that is going to buy the rotgut that is marketed their way, I will have another ask how to break out of the slump of choosing the prettiest bottle over the best tasting one. In the world of overwhelming selections, a plethora of deals, and a sales clerk that has no idea what you like, there is a bottle for you. It will take some experimenting, some good wines and bad, but you will come out better for it in the end. Or at least quenched.
For those of you out there who never know what to spend to enjoy a bottle of wine let me stress this: the best money you will ever spend on wine will be when you decide to move from the $10 range to the $15 range. This five dollars is the biggest consistent increase in easily discernible quality.
For anybody who finds wine intimidating or can never really vocalize what makes one wine good and the other bad, this rule is for you. The casual wine drinker will probably not care too much about the flavor profile being more subtle or developed between the $15 and $30 bottle of wine. However, when you find yourself lost in the process of picking something off of the shelf, the simple descriptors between the $10 and $15 bottle will be what is important. It will taste better. It will be smoother. And, seeing as wine is a social thing at its core, it will impress more friends or loved ones.
From a wine geek perspective, I probably will stick to beer when I see the '2 for $12' sticker on the bottle that is being passed around a cocktail party. But at the same time, my casual everyday drinking wines, or the wines I try in tasting groups, or the wines I have picked for wine lists often fall in the $15 range. I'll be there to help you open the bottle and make sure the first few glasses taste right.
Furthermore, let's examine a wine that is 50% more expensive at any other range. Granted, the top price point of any comparison should have the ability to prove a better wine in a variety of attributes. For example, a $30 bottle of wine could be a killer collectible bottle at the low end of the threshold for serious wines. However, its $20 counterpart could be found preferential in many cases. Same goes with the $40 wine sitting next to the $60. Only when you start approaching extremes around $80 for the base wine does a wine purely sell for that much more because of prestige, history, or critical acclaim; all of which do not speak for your tastebuds.
After that, I'll let you decide for yourself what those most a bottle of wine could every be worth to you. A decently regarded White Burgundy usually starts at $150. First growth Bordeaux is going to sting you for at least $750. Screaming Eagle may set you back $3000. That's $4 a milliliter. And it's immediately consumable, unlike most anything else you would spend that kind of money on. One and done. But of course, that's why it is there. Wine is an extreme luxury.
Instead, transcend the luxury and get what you really want. For five dollars more, buy yourself a wine that tastes good.
And for every person that is going to buy the rotgut that is marketed their way, I will have another ask how to break out of the slump of choosing the prettiest bottle over the best tasting one. In the world of overwhelming selections, a plethora of deals, and a sales clerk that has no idea what you like, there is a bottle for you. It will take some experimenting, some good wines and bad, but you will come out better for it in the end. Or at least quenched.
For those of you out there who never know what to spend to enjoy a bottle of wine let me stress this: the best money you will ever spend on wine will be when you decide to move from the $10 range to the $15 range. This five dollars is the biggest consistent increase in easily discernible quality.
For anybody who finds wine intimidating or can never really vocalize what makes one wine good and the other bad, this rule is for you. The casual wine drinker will probably not care too much about the flavor profile being more subtle or developed between the $15 and $30 bottle of wine. However, when you find yourself lost in the process of picking something off of the shelf, the simple descriptors between the $10 and $15 bottle will be what is important. It will taste better. It will be smoother. And, seeing as wine is a social thing at its core, it will impress more friends or loved ones.
From a wine geek perspective, I probably will stick to beer when I see the '2 for $12' sticker on the bottle that is being passed around a cocktail party. But at the same time, my casual everyday drinking wines, or the wines I try in tasting groups, or the wines I have picked for wine lists often fall in the $15 range. I'll be there to help you open the bottle and make sure the first few glasses taste right.
Furthermore, let's examine a wine that is 50% more expensive at any other range. Granted, the top price point of any comparison should have the ability to prove a better wine in a variety of attributes. For example, a $30 bottle of wine could be a killer collectible bottle at the low end of the threshold for serious wines. However, its $20 counterpart could be found preferential in many cases. Same goes with the $40 wine sitting next to the $60. Only when you start approaching extremes around $80 for the base wine does a wine purely sell for that much more because of prestige, history, or critical acclaim; all of which do not speak for your tastebuds.
After that, I'll let you decide for yourself what those most a bottle of wine could every be worth to you. A decently regarded White Burgundy usually starts at $150. First growth Bordeaux is going to sting you for at least $750. Screaming Eagle may set you back $3000. That's $4 a milliliter. And it's immediately consumable, unlike most anything else you would spend that kind of money on. One and done. But of course, that's why it is there. Wine is an extreme luxury.
Instead, transcend the luxury and get what you really want. For five dollars more, buy yourself a wine that tastes good.
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