Premier Cru (US retailer)

This is just a heads up in case anyone has prearrival (or instock) wine at Premier Cru in Berkeley.

I started buying wine at Premier Cru (in Emeryville at that point ) in late 90s -based on recommendations from WLDG and alt.food.wine. Often best pric es in nation, reasonable shipping charges, good condition bottles. Most of what I bought was instock, most prearrivals arrived in a reasonably timely manner. I had a couple of orders that they alerted me there was a problem w ith, but reasonable substitutions were made.

In about 2005 I (and several others) mentioned PC as a good source on AFW. A longterm Bay area person contacted me to say he had a friend who had been shorted a top Burgundy when price had skyrocketed in late 80s. We had a di sagreement over whether I was morally culpable by continuing to buy at PC, but after that I noted others' poor experiences whenever I was asked about PC, though I had always had everything delivered.

About this time there seemed to me to be a shift in percentage of great dea ls - previously they had weekly blasts with good deals, with once a month o r so some real steals. Mostly those deals were instock. But now Bordeaux fu tures and pre-arrival trophy Burg seemed to dominate the real steals. And w ait times people reported seemed to get longer. By the 2007/2008 financial crisis I didn't want to be an unsecured creditor, traded my couple bottles of overdue PA stuff for instock (at a substantial loss to current value of PA stuff, but a plus for my peace of mind) and started limiting my PC buyin g to an occasional instock wine (and only did limited prearrival anywhere, primarily with stores where I knew owners personally like Grapes the Wine C ompany and Chambers St Wines). And started advising others to do same. When PC bought own building and moved to Berkeley in 2010, many pointed to it a s a sign of financial health. But I wondered would bank really understand e xtent of PA owed- PC's business was unlike any other.

Things churned along, and the % of PA to instock kept shifting in offers. T hey'd do 20 and 25% off sales, but you'd scroll past 50 or 60 prearrival it ems, and there would be 4 or 5 instock (and the more expensive instock were in small quantities). Last few years (especially last 6 months) in debate on another forum I've been a vocal "doubter" (along with many others, parti cularly some in the business who know realities of pricing) as sales offers went past my ability to suspend disbelief. Others defended, based on idea that "in the end they had always delivered." Rumors of slow payments, deals that were never consumated because PC didn't pay, etc convinced me that th ings were not well. Then the volume of sales emails picked up, and the hard

-to-believe PA stuff dominated. Things like futures of 2014 Bdx at 10-15% u nder negociant cost, prearrival recent Fourrier and Ponsot at 25% less than lowest WS Pro, and prearrival of things like 2002 Comtes, '89 Clinet, '90 Petrus (in case or 2 case quantities) at less than auction net to seller. I only had some (not very expensive) instock bottles that were ordered over 2 years (finally enough to ship) but decided not to wait for October. When Betsy went to CA, got stepson to pick up my bottles (and pay sales tax) an d and Betsy checked a case when she returned. I offered a couple of weeks a go to bet a friend that PC (at 3:1 odds) would be in bankruptcy within a ye ar. He accepted, but we never set terms, and I am glad about that, as I wou ldn't want to take his money or wine, and think at moment I'd give 10:1 odd s

Because info that emerged over last week is far worse than what I expected: A lawsuit by Lawrence Wai-Man Hui for almost a million dollars in undeliver ed wine (with repeated missed deadline) Several other lawsuits, including one from Dr. Shirlin Wong for more than $

200K (apparently now with a writ of attachment) A few other smaller lawsuits A past due property taxes of $125K. A lien from the Board of Equalization (sounds like sales tax)

Tax liens, writs of attachment, lawsuits of customers seeking to become sec ured creditors is not good news. It's possible there are multiple container s of highend Bdx, Burgs, and Champagne about to arrive in Port of Oakland a nd everything will be cool, but it's also possible that I'll win the Megami llions drawing even though I buy maybe one ticket a year. I wouldn't count on either. I'd encourage anyone who has wine at PC to think about getting i t shipped or picked up ASAP. If anyone has pre-arrival wine, possibly think about contacting your credit card company now. Or maybe converting to inst ock.

Hopefully this is wasted typing, and no one here is waiting on Premier Cru to deliver!

Reply to
DaleW
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Seems like a similar situation to what happened to 1855.com in Europe. It did not end well.

Reply to
santiago

Yikes. Not over yet, I suspect the formerly lionized founders of 1855 will end up in the hoosgow. Funny the 1855.com site now leads to a spiel about the classification... ;)

Sorry to hear about PC, was always a Bay Area standby.

Reply to
Emery Davis`

t Premier Cru in Berkeley.

te 90s -based on recommendations from WLDG and alt.food.wine. Often best pr ices in nation, reasonable shipping charges, good condition bottles. Most o f what I bought was instock, most prearrivals arrived in a reasonably timel y manner. I had a couple of orders that they alerted me there was a problem with, but reasonable substitutions were made.

. A longterm Bay area person contacted me to say he had a friend who had be en shorted a top Burgundy when price had skyrocketed in late 80s. We had a disagreement over whether I was morally culpable by continuing to buy at PC , but after that I noted others' poor experiences whenever I was asked abou t PC, though I had always had everything delivered.

eals - previously they had weekly blasts with good deals, with once a month or so some real steals. Mostly those deals were instock. But now Bordeaux futures and pre-arrival trophy Burg seemed to dominate the real steals. And wait times people reported seemed to get longer. By the 2007/2008 financia l crisis I didn't want to be an unsecured creditor, traded my couple bottle s of overdue PA stuff for instock (at a substantial loss to current value o f PA stuff, but a plus for my peace of mind) and started limiting my PC buy ing to an occasional instock wine (and only did limited prearrival anywhere , primarily with stores where I knew owners personally like Grapes the Wine Company and Chambers St Wines). And started advising others to do same. Wh en PC bought own building and moved to Berkeley in 2010, many pointed to it as a sign of financial health. But I wondered would bank really understand extent of PA owed- PC's business was unlike any other.

They'd do 20 and 25% off sales, but you'd scroll past 50 or 60 prearrival items, and there would be 4 or 5 instock (and the more expensive instock we re in small quantities). Last few years (especially last 6 months) in debat e on another forum I've been a vocal "doubter" (along with many others, par ticularly some in the business who know realities of pricing) as sales offe rs went past my ability to suspend disbelief. Others defended, based on ide a that "in the end they had always delivered." Rumors of slow payments, dea ls that were never consumated because PC didn't pay, etc convinced me that things were not well. Then the volume of sales emails picked up, and the ha rd-to-believe PA stuff dominated. Things like futures of 2014 Bdx at 10-15% under negociant cost, prearrival recent Fourrier and Ponsot at 25% less th an lowest WS Pro, and prearrival of things like 2002 Comtes, '89 Clinet, '

90 Petrus (in case or 2 case quantities) at less than auction net to seller . I only had some (not very expensive) instock bottles that were ordered ov er 2 years (finally enough to ship) but decided not to wait for October. Wh en Betsy went to CA, got stepson to pick up my bottles (and pay sales tax) and and Betsy checked a case when she returned. I offered a couple of weeks ago to bet a friend that PC (at 3:1 odds) would be in bankruptcy within a year. He accepted, but we never set terms, and I am glad about that, as I w ouldn't want to take his money or wine, and think at moment I'd give 10:1 o dds

ered wine (with repeated missed deadline)

$200K (apparently now with a writ of attachment)

ecured creditors is not good news. It's possible there are multiple contain ers of highend Bdx, Burgs, and Champagne about to arrive in Port of Oakland and everything will be cool, but it's also possible that I'll win the Mega millions drawing even though I buy maybe one ticket a year. I wouldn't coun t on either. I'd encourage anyone who has wine at PC to think about getting it shipped or picked up ASAP. If anyone has pre-arrival wine, possibly thi nk about contacting your credit card company now. Or maybe converting to in stock.

u to deliver!

I quit doing business with them a number of years ago. Too many "errors" a nd issues.

Reply to
Bi!!

New story

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... iness-over

I noticed last night for first time in at least 6 months I didn't get a "fa ntastic" (in multiple senses) weekend PA offer (or 3).

PC's total in stock SKUs are less than 300. Of that, 3 BOTTLES (not SKUs) a re over $100- 2 6L Silver Oaks for $650 and a low fill Ridge Rudy Cabernet for $199. The long promised Champagne container (1st quarter 2015, then spr ing, then Sept/Oct. then Nov "In port waiting loading") is now not coming t ill "next year."

I doubt they make it to 2016. I also expect criminal charges. The big quest ion is what the final estimate on debt/undelivered wine will be. I'll guess $40 Million. I've heard one estimate of $100Mill!

Reply to
DaleW

Wow, what a clusterfuck. I feel bad for everyone involved. BTW, your link didn't come though intact. I guess that Google strips some of the info to discourage spamming.

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

Thanks for pointing out. If anyone interested, here's a shortened URL

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Yes, I feel bad for everyone involved (well, except John Fox)

Reply to
DaleW

Beginner question:

"Feng, who had planned to flip the wine once he received it …"

What does this mean, please?

Paul Magnussen

Reply to
Paul Magnussen

"Flipping" is a term for buying a commodity (often a house) and then rapidly reselling it at profit.

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

Ouch. Has gotten worse. Apparently now not allowing orders (at least under

2 years) to be converted to store credit. And this was posted on a wine boa rd: Have 9 bottles of Billecart NV Rose' on pre-arrival (among others). Low and behold, I see 16 bottles in stock for sale @ $76. Call and ask (then deman d) they fulfill my 2 yo pre-arrival order before selling. I was told these are not my bottles, but are new ones bought at a higher price to sell. They refused to fill my back order with these bottles. Only offer was to to cas h out my bottles (@ $46) and re-buy at $76.

Now that sucks.

Reply to
DaleW

PC filed for bankruptcy Fri. Mindblowing numbers: Assets of $7M, liabilities of $70M between 5000 and 10,000 unsecured creditors

I'll assume criminal charges will be announced soon

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Reply to
DaleW

I find it interesting that it's a Chapter 7 filing. I am not well versed in the subtleties of bankruptcy code, but this seems to be a measure of last resort.

Mark Lipton

Reply to
Mark Lipton

Well, I think with assets 10% of debts would be pointless to file for Chap 11

Reply to
DaleW

A summary of story till now

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Reply to
DaleW

John Fox reportedly to plead guilty to fraud today

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... -to-fraud/

Reply to
DaleW

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