Tahbilk Marsanne vertical...Bob H will be here shortly!

Sarah, the Wine Detective, is on the ball as usual.

http://www.thewinedetective.co.uk/regio ... -vertical/

Now that you mention it, Bob, I do vaguely recall that Bob H. might have mentioned the Tahbilk Marsanne once, long, long ago, in an idle conversation. And as I remember it, yes, I do believe he had a favorable opinion of it.

Right on, heck where is he today!!

I suspect BobH could put together his own vertical with more vintages than listed in the article!

Guys, Tahbilk is getting almost as rare here as hens teeth! I have no clue as to why, but Tahbilk seems to have trouble keeping an importer for the states. When I first became aware of them it was imported by Brown-Forman, and Hoke worked for B-F. Then it went to Broadbent selections, then it was picked up by Total Beverages, now it is imported by Epic wines. Tahbilk has not been sold in Ky since the 2002 vtg of the Marsanne, the 2000 of the shiraz, and 1999 for the Cab. I will get in touch with Epic, and see if they can get it back into Ky.

My last sighting of Tahbilk was two years ago, the 2006 vintage. We were in Hilton Head having dinner at Redfish, a restaurant and retail wine shop. Chatting with our server, found out the Marsanne had been on their winelist. Talked to the buyer the next day and ordered a case. Last year, they were still selling the 2006 so I took a pass.

I have never seen the wine for sale in Ohio.

For such a great brand, Tahbilk is having epic problems getting established in the American market.

When B-F had it, it was part of a four-brand Aussie package deal---and a pretty damned good package too--- but the major part of the package was a low-priced bulk-volume brand from Murray Darling (think Yellow Tail-ish), and after about five years it was determined that unless you got to gigantic volumes you simply couldn't make any profit out of the venture. So when that folded, the package deal folded; didn't make sense anymore.

I threw myself in as a go-between to negotiate Bartholomew Broadbent picking up the existing volumes of Tahbilk in the US and importing more. Trouble was, the volume was so low and slow, because those price points simply didn't move very well, and because Broadbent was not always as effective and focused as they could be in enough markets, that it didn't look good. Then Alistair Purbrick decided the prices had to increase even more significantly to stay in keeping with his perceived price points and status in the rest of his markets, and the bottom fell out of even that small bucket.

The Marsanne was the only one of the line that was even remotely approachable/marketable for retail volume and for on-premise glass pour, without which it is virtually impossible to gain grip...and Aussie Marsanne (even when it is as spectacular as Tahbilk Marsanne) just doesn't demand being on shelves and in wine lists, except in the very small stores and select restaurants.

So Broadbent made a business decision and sold the stocks back to Purbrick, and shipped the existing vintages back to Australia---where they sold for a very nice premium, by the way, and helped supply other markets with well-aged premium wine and library releases.

From that point, I lost track, so don't know about Total and their experience. Suspect it was much the same.

If there were about a thousand more Bob Henrick's supporting the brand across the country, it might be viable. Otherwise, a tough go for national distribution with this weird three-tier sales and distribution prevention system we have which militates against small brands.

I have nothing but the highest respect for Tahbilk, and for Purbrick. The wines are gorgeous, stupendous, remarkably fine, and with an astonishing maturity of style. They're just never going to be easy to find. And that is a shame; a rotten shame. I'm hoarding my small meager supply as best I can, because the wines seem to last forever. And not giving away any more either, as I so profligately did in my attempt to evangelicize.

I guess the moral of the story---if there is one---is "if you see Tahbilk, buy it while you can."

Thanks for this Hoke. I have not seen Tahbilk here since privatization took over ions ago. There are some enterprising agents here in AB but guess they are not interested?

Wine-searcher.com shows the `07 vintage is available in BC, at a couple of stores!

And not giving away any more either, as I so profligately did in my attempt to evangelicize.

Now you have me feeling guilty for failing to be enlightened by the 1994 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon you gave me. I remember it was a respectable and enjoyable wine, but I didn't make me want to harass importers into making the wine more available. Sorry!

And not giving away any more either, as I so profligately did in my attempt to evangelicize.

Now you have me feeling guilty for failing to be enlightened by the 1994 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon you gave me. I remember it was a respectable and enjoyable wine, but I didn't make me want to harass importers into making the wine more available. Sorry!

See? Profligate evangelicization. What I said.

Of course, you were in the pupa stage back then, and had not yet come to the full realization of your powers.

(Or the wine just didn't do it for you. Prolly should've given you the Shiraz.)

I guess the moral of the story---if there is one---is "if you see Tahbilk, buy it while you can."

Unfortunately the prices when I've seen them on the secondary market seem to be going higher these days. I don't see any recent releases of Tahbilk around, but I did notice that Flickinger has the '98 1860 Vines Shiraz at upwards of $100. Yikes.

(On an aside, what's happening with Henschke? They don't seem to be learning any lessons from Tahbilk - the wines are getting harder to find, apparently harder to sell and the prices on the top bottlings are just going up absurdly.)

I guess the moral of the story---if there is one---is "if you see Tahbilk, buy it while you can."

Unfortunately the prices when I've seen them on the secondary market seem to be going higher these days. I don't see any recent releases of Tahbilk around, but I did notice that Flickinger has the '98 1860 Vines Shiraz at upwards of $100. Yikes.

(On an aside, what's happening with Henschke? They don't seem to be learning any lessons from Tahbilk - the wines are getting harder to find, apparently harder to sell and the prices on the top bottlings are just going up absurdly.)

Hard to say, Salil. Could easily be their marketing strategy (create a perceived shortage, keep the stocks difficult to find, increase the prices as much as possible. You might sell half as much product as before; but if you sell it at three times the original profit, you're better off.) Or, they could be consolidating their sales into selected target markets globally (i.e., not depending on the US market, which has always been a gamble, but now maybe not as much), along with the aforementioned Plan A.

A lot depends on what their portfolio is (can they divert juice from Henschke brand to sub-brand B and make lots of money, but at a more moderate price in certain markets, and reserve Henschke for the high price/prestige leader, blah blah blah). Or do they feel that Henschke as a brand icon has reached a certain level, production/distribution/sales volume can't grow any higher, so they have to revert to 'high harvest" mode and milk that cow for all its worth at the high price---versus the other strategy, more common in Aussie wines, take the mature brand and steadily lessen the value and lower the price to harvest and kill off the brand fairly quickly...can you say "Rosemount"?)

Or it could be stupid, short sighted : we need money immediately to make our quarterly statement look good; raise the price and fire everybody!!!! You know, the usual briliant corporate strategy.