Divorce Court: Marquis vs. Philips

[Jenise]

A mailer from a retailer announces a half price sale on the wines of Australian winemaker Sparky Marquis and American importer Dan Philips: Just 4 years after rocketing to stardom, Aussie winemaking superstar Sparky Marquis and his now-estranged US partner/wine importer Danny Philips have found themselves in a nasty and bitter parting of the ways. While not as well publicized as the Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston break up, the fallout from this one will be felt around the wine world for quite some time. Everyone is dying to know who did what to whom and why. Juicy stuff indeed - much like the wines they make.

Marquis and Philips are at each other's throats in the courts battling over issues that no doubt include brand ownership, who owes whom money, etc. From this angle, it's impossible to tell whose ego got in the way of this former runaway success story, but the net effect of all the hullabaloo is that we have deal of epic proportion for you.

[Robin Garr]

nasty and bitter parting of the ways.

I can't remember the particulars, but wasn't Grateful Palate involved in *another* noisy breakup with an Australian producer a couple of years ago?

Got the same mailer, but was wondering if it is worth it a half the price these days? Have seen many negative remarks about recent vintages.

[Jenise]

nasty and bitter parting of the ways.

I can't remember the particulars, but wasn't Grateful Palate involved in *another* noisy breakup with an Australian producer a couple of years ago?

Robin, you're probably thinking of the break with Rolf Binder of Veritas. Rolf supposedly dumped the GP because he was opposed to the rapacious prices Philips charged wherein Philips got the lions share (an objection I would share were I him), and then he formed his own importing company with a few other wineries and charged the same rapacious prices. Or so it looked to me.

Carl, I know very little about these wines except that the few examples I had epitomized everything that most Americans (MP being an export-only product) somewhat unfairly stereotype all Australian wines as being. The $200 top of the line wine whose name I can't recall except that it was one word that started with an 'I', was a thick alcoholic syrup. The bottle said 15%, but Sparky Marquis personally admitted to the retailer who poured it for me that it was more like 17%. Which the retailer strangely seemed to think was a benefit, I might add, never mind that I was about to pass out from the fumes.

The dispute was reported in the Speck back in March; you have to pay for the full article, but the intro reads: "The Marquis Philips partnership, which has produced highly regarded mid-priced wines from Australia , is over. The Marquis Philips label will live on, but without Sparky and Sarah Marquis, who are launching....." Grateful Palate is waiting for the results of a hearing on July 20 [or so] to make formal announcements.

Parker announced some time ago that Sparky and Sarah Marquis would not make "Marquis Philips" wines after the 2005 vintage.

eBob has some hot discussions going on these days on this discussion.

I see that Gavin Trott is also heavily discounting Marquis Philips wines -- he writes for the first time a number of them are being offered in Australia.

Regards, Bob

Here's a link to the new winery set up by Sarah and Sparky Marquis: http://www.mollydookerwines.com.au/

Regards, Bob