TastingRoom.com, TimBucher, Trattore Wines

From an article in today's NYTimes:
TastingRoomArticle

TastingRoom.com

Anybody had any experience w/ these TastingRoom.com wines?? They apparently buy wines, take a few bottles and transfer the wines into 50ml sampler btls (in an anaerobic environment) and then sell you this 6-pack sampler (of various different wines) to try, with the hopes you'll reorder from them. Even though the transfer is done in an oxygen-free environment, I'm not totally convinced the 50 ml samples would be true to form of the wine you get in the 750ml btl.
The mind-behind is TimBucher, a former Apple exec. He also has a wnry, Trattore ("tractor") in Healdsburg. Focus seems to be mostly on Rhone varietals. Anybody have any experience w/ his wines. Winemaker is KerryDamskey.
Tom

[Jenise]

No experience as a purchaser but I have seen advertising for the tasting room concept. Best I remember the wines were maybe one 'name' for bait and the rest unheard-of. Recall thinking something along the lines of "yeah, SURE", not unlike my skepticism of other subscription wine clubs which are probably flogging close-outs yet which claim their usefulness to be the ability to get sought-after wines the public doesn't have access to. My skepticism was rewarded just two nights ago when friends who recently joined Virgin's (yes, Branson's company) wine club and poured for us the most dilute Cotes du Rhone I've ever tasted which they crowed "would sell for $15-20" where they paid $7. No way, of course, that wine would have ever sold for more than they paid for it.

[James Roscoe]

No experience as a purchaser but I have seen advertising for the tasting room concept. Best I remember the wines were maybe one 'name' for bait and the rest unheard-of. Recall thinking something along the lines of "yeah, SURE", not unlike my skepticism of other subscription wine clubs which are probably flogging close-outs yet which claim their usefulness to be the ability to get sought-after wines the public doesn't have access to. My skepticism was rewarded just two nights ago when friends who recently joined Virgin's (yes, Branson's company) wine club and poured for us the most dilute Cotes du Rhone I've ever tasted which they crowed "would sell for $15-20" where they paid $7. No way, of course, that wine would have ever sold for more than they paid for it.

Isn't that the point of the samplers Jenise? Of course if they had any balls they would give some samplers away as a one-time deal for just the shipping. Then I might buy into the program.

[Jenise]

The point of the sampler program I recall looking at seemed just to sell the samplers. I mean, yes they said they wanted to sell you more of the wine you liked, but they were making a nice profit on the samplers too. They were priced at something like $5-6 per sample before shipping. I'll admit I didn't look at Tom's link to see if this is the same or similar, but I suspect it is.

[James Roscoe]

I should probably rephrase my initial rhetorical question to read, "Shouldn't that be the point of the samplers?" If the point is to sell more samplers then let's fly back to the '80s when you could get those little bottle on airplanes. If the point is to sell the "real deal" then maybe the samplers would be a good idea. It seems to me the samplers should be the bait and very cheap and one per customer.

When it comes to the original question though, I have no idea about how the quality is affected. I might have my concerns as well. Maybe one of our chemists or winemakers could enlighten us on that.

Isn't Gary Vanynerchuk involved in this somehow. I know he did a bit on it on his "show" a while back.

I'm not pro taster so I don't know how much info I'm going to get out of 50ml. I get most of my mileage out of reading what you lot drink or by what gets put in front of my face from my longer serving wine nerd friends.

Isn't Gary Vanynerchuk involved in this somehow. I know he did a bit on it on his "show" a while back.

Yup....GaryV/RajatParr/MarioBattali/JacquesPepin/others all have special "selections" of samplers they've made up.
Tom