Many times on this site I have extolled the virtues of the online wine flash site Wines Til Sold Out (WTSO). Shadowood labeled wines that Defendant Newman recommends different food pairings for these wines even though they are, on information and belief, identical except for labeling and pricing and made by the same producer.. ), OhmygodPart 10 Just When I Thought I Had Seen It All, OhmygodPart 24 A Couple of Nights in Jouarre Part One, OhmygodPart 25 A Couple of Nights in Jouarre Part Two, OhmygodPart 30 Getting to Dinner in Epernay, OhmygodPart 31 An Early Night in Epernay, OhmygodPart 47 Just Another Day in Bruges, OhmygodPart 48 Dinner on the Markt (Part One), OhmygodPart 49 Dinner on the Markt (Part Two), OhmygodPart 52 Oh, Thats What Its Called, OhmygodPart 54 On the Road to Gent (Part Two). Ive been purchasing wine from WTSO since 2009, and am very satisfy with almost all my purchases. I have to say that, along with Last Bottle, WTSO sets the standard for customer service in the online wine retailer business. Thanks for the comment and the insight (and sorry it took me so long to respond!). These cookies do not store any personal information. And if Im not a fan of the bubbles, Ill use for sparkling sangria or mimosas. So you hate capitalist drive when it interferes with big companies profit? Most of these wines are reviewed by Jonathan Newman (and no one else). The plaintiffs, in conjunction likely with their lawyers, decided to make the case a class action lawsuit, thus involving many more litigants and considerably more potential dollars. Perhaps in the future I should just visit Total Wine for any deals, and buy directly from the wineries Im familiar with. Unfortunately, it appears that some of these rebranded house wines wont have any reviews at the other sites (Cellartracker, etc) mostly because theyre freshly rebranded and nobody has had a chance to try them. But it is okay for capitalist drive to commit fraud? MOORESTOWN, N.J., Aug. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Wines 'Til Sold Out (WTSO) debuts a new kind of . WTSO.com (Wines 'Til Sold Out), a family-owned business, offers wine at the best price online (up to 70% off retail) with free delivery options. (100+ posts! Borden's decision to file for bankruptcy was, in part, because it can't afford its current debt load and also can't meet its employee pension obligations. Required fields are marked *. @jebdunnuck @JamesSuckling @JeffLeve @AntonioGalloni. I have bought many, many wines from this company. Not only were the lawyers still getting too much money, but the miniscule [sic] reparations that, to add insult to injury, have to be spent on more products that will just provide additional profits to those who hurt us in the first place, wrote Chris Paladino of Austin, Texas. OhmygodPart 58 Another Day and Another Bomb Scare, A Lawsuit Against Wines Til Sold Out (WTSO), the Settlement, I published an article about the lawsuit against the online flash seller, Wines Til Sold Out (WTSO), Wine Blog Daily Thursday 11.15.18 | Edible Arts. I have purchased hundreds (yes hundreds) of bottles from the site and I have always been impressed with both the quality of the wines and the companys customer service. A Lawsuit Against Wines 'Til Sold Out (WTSO), the Settlement Posted on November 14, 2018 by the drunken cyclist In this space back in May, 2016, I published an article about the lawsuit against the online flash seller, Wines 'Til Sold Out (WTSO). Subscribe to our blog below, and follow us on social media by clicking the icons at the top of our page. In November, America's largest milk . Im pretty sure you just wrote the plot for the next John Grisham novel. Say what you want about the stupid institution and the system it serves, but I got the impression that in Mr. Newman Pennsylvania (finally) got the gift of somebody that actually knew wine in a position to do something about it. I believe Invino uses ratings by unknown people or should I say unknown to most people and they seem to be in its pocket giving astronomically high ratings. Kerry Condon looked nothing short of sensational as she stepped out at the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.. At no cost to me. Are you implying that Newman had those two bottles side by side, tasted them and wrote different descriptions and different food pairing recommendations with deceiving purposes? The couple took in her son's football game at a park in Los Angeles with Gwen's parents Dennis and Patti Stefani. I have always loved WtSOs customer service. Johndrow Vineyards LLC alleges Wines 'Til Sold Out owes $178,529 in wine and interest, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Any ideas? My question is why did they stop delivery to Texas 6-8 weeks ago? The credits are good for one year and can only be used in increments of $2 per bottle. Hardly. Maybe its just insecure people who feel duped because they didnt get the screaming deal they thought they did. I do research the wines I purchase from WTSO and consider all factors. Judge Bumb agreed. Not at all. That has since changed, so the cash is no longer an option. Ive purchased from WTSO for several years (put it on hold when we moved last March and was waiting for my wine cellar to be completed before buying moreit is done!) While I still remain a happy customer of WTSO, there were nonetheless some disturbing allegations: Personally, none of these allegations really affect me all that much since frankly, I diligently research wines before purchasing them. WTSO has no competition in my opinion. I want to make that clear. An update of this story, which outlines the settlement, can be found HERE. Shhhh! Headlines So may be we need to start suing producers for not been able to taste an advertised raspberries or violets in the wine, when the back label clearly states that they should be in that wine? Both Total Wine & More and BevMo offer winery direct wines (and spirits) that are labeled exclusively for their stores. But saying that the wine is even comparable (either in quality or price) to the wine that the winery actually bottled is disingenuous at best. Almaden's Heritage White Zinfandel . We think it tastes like a wine three times what we are selling it for today. Or something to that effect. I still shop the site (although not as much as I once did), and inexpensive bubbles are a really good thing! I am enjoying the Domaine Besson Chablis Premier Cru 2018 from the Vaillons vineyard of Burgundy, France. Take, for example. Stretto Winery Not the nicest guy in the world, but. As quoted directly from the complaint: On information and belief, many of these wines offered on WTSO.com, albeit with different names, are in fact exactly the same wines as others offered on WTSO.com, but simply labeled differently., Again, from the complaint: On information and belief, many of the wines are in fact produced specifically and only for Defendants for sale on the WTSO.com website. Just realized that if I go into the My Cellar section, I can re-order a good number of wines I had in the past apparently, those wines are still available. Wines Til Sold Out | WTSO.com @WTSO. That is why I steer clear from those offers and only consider actual brands. Disclaimer. I generally purchase about 300+ bottles a year and will continue to do so. In various years the harvests are so big that wineries have too much wine. I continue to buy from WTSO and find their information about the wines to be pretty good, and I realize that the pricing is subjective. Im in total agreement with most of you. And so what, if they sale the wine with a different label ? I agree that the vast majority of lawsuits are bogus, but that does not mean that there might be a modicum of truth contained within. The site is at least tangentially connected to Jonathan Newman, who was the former Chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB). After some quick math (I used the median of $1.225/bottle), I figured I would be receiving somewhere around $500 from WTSO, and even though I really did not feel defrauded in any way by the company, 500 bucks is 500 bucks. WTSO is claiming they are paying out $10.8 to their customers. I was first made aware of Mr. Newman when he was still at the P.L.C.B. It is the custom to sell them under a different label so they can cut the price. I agreehe did a great job in an impossible situation with the PLCB. However, I know that there are buyers out there that do not follow your advice (and some are in my family!). This is Jackson's third year taking part in the annual wine competition and auction. Hmmm, you know more than many others that wine is subjective. It specializes in selling cheaply wines that haven't sold through other channels. The Crown star, 54, donned a flowing floor length orange frock for the event celebrating film . Pingback: What We Have Been Drinking3/6/17 | the drunken cyclist. ILL check my cellar to see which ones I have in stock, and look for an address of each winery. Having said all that, I will reiterate the position I stated above: I am a fan of WTSO and will continue to purchase wine from them in the future, but this lawsuit, while perhaps not all that surprising, nonetheless causes me to pause. Giskan Solotaroff & Anderson LLP has filed a complaint against Wines 'Til Sold Out (wtso.com) for deceptive pricing practices, most notablyan [sic] inaccurate or fabricated "original price" of the wine being offered for sale as compared to the so-called and supposedly discounted price at which the site is offering the wine for sale. Private label wines selling for @ 50 cents on the dollar. Whether you are a returning member or coming across WTSO for the first time, you've come to the right online wine shop for flash wine sales that will change the way you shop for your wine. I miss it as wellno end in sight, however. I was in Paris and I purchased wine there that was inflated in pricing. I also agree that people have the freedom to buy or not and caveat emptor. I am just relaying what is alleged in the complaint. The pioneer in online wine sales delivers a series of luxury labels with virtual tastings. Wines 'Til Sold Out Lawsuit Shawn Farrell of Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC highlights details of the online wine retailer facing claims from a previous winery partner. Where does it all go?I imagine some goes into the vats of large producers, but some has to go straight into bottles and sold under a different label. Save on fine wines with daily flash deals including shipping in most locations If at the end you ENJOYED the wine. Thank you for writing this article. So although I agree with every point you madeincluding the fact that he turned a pathetic system into one where some value could be hadI doubt, even if given the opportunity, I would ever ask him to share a bottle. Drinking wine shouldnt come with problems so make sure if you did receive an error, you take the time receive some compensation for your troubles. I have purchased from WTSO a few times, and will do so again. Im a certified wine educator, have done many wine programs and know well to research via wine searcher, other reviews to ascertain real valuations. The hearing is set for Monday, June 4, at 10 a.m. at the U.S. District Court in Camden. When I first heard of the lawsuit,I really did not register any concernsince there was that term class action attached to it. I have been a WTSO customer for years. Everyone is always trying to get everyone elses money in their pocket. Why so much interest? This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). That is one of the problems with crowd sourced reviewsuntil there are several scores (I would say at least a dozen from different users), one score can easily skew the overall. I realize that some of the ones that are sold are , shall we say , exclusive. Maybe they have more information than I do. I know what we like, we are casual wine drinkers, not too sophisticated, but WTSO gives me enough information about the wines and were happy! Buying wine is not a perfect science and knowledge is vital. No one went to jail for all that banking fraud, whereas in Iceland a bunch of the bank fraudsters went to prison. By saying that the normal retail is, say $80 and they are selling it for $25 is shady. Yes, some of the wines are private label ( not all), and some of the wines can be different bottlings of the same wine. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Simply put, I will not buy any wine on WTSO that either I dont know or doesnt have at least a good handful of positive reviews on Cellar Tracker. In fact, in the past couple of weeks, I saw a $10 bottle of California rose that . If you subtract about 4 to 5 points from his numerical rating, you get it about right. Interesting to see what will happen now that the bulk market has been drying up and wines are back to @ 80-90 cents on the dollar. That is a really great synopsis of my feelings as well! State AGs, DOJ oppose controversial Wine 'Til Sold Out settlement ORGANIZATIONS IN THIS STORY By Michael McGrady Mar 2, 2018 CAMDEN, N.J. (Legal Newsline) - A controversial class action. Your email address will not be published. So if you are eligible, file a claim by April 19, 2018 to receive your potential award! Remember: either way, the lawyers always win. steve. Im curious if the same law geniuses are planning to go after Amazon (some of their original price makes no sense) or Costco, Trader Joes and many of the wine clubs who are offering private labels They have some nice wines among the chaff. The lawyers for the plaintiffs were awarded. Ive purchased perhaps over $4000 of wines from WTSO and been largely quite satisfied ROI Subscribe to the Beverage Industry Enthusiast newsletter for the, The Future 40 Tastemakers & Innovators of 2022, Go Here, Not There: 3 Alternative Destinations to Popular Wine Regions, 8 Bucket-List Drinks Spots Around the World, Wine Enthusiasts 2022 Wine Star Award Winners, California Privacy Rights Do Not Sell My Information. The only part to add is that I met Jonathan on several occasions and even though we share an alma mater (and a good friend of mine was Newmans brothers roommate), he came off every time as, well, a complete ass. What I personally must consider for myself is the convenience of delivery. The state (encouraged by the retailers in the state) feels the Granholm decision of 2005 that said that shipping alcohol between states was unconstitutional, only applied to wineries, not retailers. So this news, frankly, disturbs me. In life you have a choice to buy or not to buy, no one forced you to enter your card # your address and submit an order. Before I headed over to the website, I checked Cellar Tracker to see how many bottles I had purchased from WTSO during that period. Lol!!! Your email address will not be published. Some of the wines potentially affected were from Bell Canyon Cellars, Canyon Creek Winery, Clifford Bay, Curlew, Herringbone, John Williams Vineyards, Kingsford Manor, Iron Door and Pruet. Contact Anthony for media/advertising. So it is not entirely clear what the results of the lawsuit are for me personally, yet. WTSO is perhaps the original wine flash site. They offer a single wine at a time, at a discount* until it is sold out, when they then offer another wine. It has nothing to with lawsuit but rather the TABC law in Texas. Pruet Earlier this year,I received this (A legal notice outlining the potential settlement that had been reached): The postcard indicated that there would be a credit issued for wine purchased from WTSO at any point from March 15, 2010 to November 1, 2016. Those credits would vary between $0.20 and $2.25 a bottle, but the postcard did not elaborate any further, stating that additional information was available at www.winesettlement.com (a website that no longer exists, apparently). I signed back up for their emails back in June or July. Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the credit card, cd, savings offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which HustlerMoneyBlog.com receives compensation. Indeed. I have purchased from WTSO once, I think? I only buy European wines and doubt they can interfere with production or pricing of wine from there so i guess this does not really affect me.. Legal Our previous blog post about Wines 'Til Sold Out explains the case where the Plaintiffs alleged that because certain wines were not sold anywhere for the purported "Original Price," the discount advertised by WTSO was not real, and consumers were not buying wines at a discount after all. For all of these years I have been completely satisfied with the quality and customer service. The repetitious, unknown winery brands which you cite that they offer plus the obscure ratings of Mr. Newman have smacked of the typical phony marketing practices you mention, and they may well justify the lawsuit. Thanks for your input! Let Goldman Sachs and all the other bank fraudsters rip off the world, and cause several million Americans to lose their life savings because that is better than letting some attorneys who work 80 hours a week and invest a fortune into suing big companies make a profit? While I have yet to get a bad wine from WTSO, some of them are nowhere near what I would expect from a 92 pointer. Their wines are generally not so good, never a great deal. All I want for Christmas is to order from WTSO. However several times a week I find quite legitimate deals on very good wine such as the amarone that was posted today. From a famous vineyard we cant name would be more honest, but sounds more cheesy. I have about eight months remaining to use the credit, but it is only good for $2/bottle and certain wines are excluded (but there is no clear indication on how that will be communicated other than once one tries to buy the wine). 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