What's up with this?

A few days ago this appaered on the "Upcoming Chairmans Selections"

Two Hands Ares Shiraz, Australia 2006
97+ Points in The Wine Advocate, February 2009
96 Points in Wine Spectator, October 15, 2008
Quoted at $200.00... PLCB Price $79.99... Save $120.01
ETA April

I searched the item number and it's already in stores at the CS price. Looking at the quantities, they've either been there for a while of some educated consumers recognized the discount price. Link here.

http://www.lcbapps.lcb.state.pa.us/webapp/Product_Management/psi_ProductInventory_Int er.asp?cdeNo=27451

I noticed that as well. In fact, often when there are upcoming selections/"coming soon", I always check availability as there is typically some product already avialable somewhere.

BTW - Ares is some phenomenal stuff. Had the 2005. Anyone who is a fan of the Bella's should love this.

I checked the code number from your thread with admin and noticed how low the price was on it. This sounds like it's right up my alley. I foresee a 6-pack of this wine ending up in my cellar.

We've had several conversations with various PLCB folks regarding this issue, as it has been on-going. A recent example was Two Hands Bella's Garden '07 which was only moved onto the "Currently Available" list in the last week despite being available for nearly 6 months now.

A couple things:
1. We have a link on the PAWineTalk wine detail page "Try to find some now anyway" to search for it even if it's on the "Upcoming" list. If there's a wine you're interested in it's always a good idea to check this. You can also set up one or more PAWineTalk notifications for the wine which will send you an e-mail when it's in a particular store regardless of which list it's on.
2. Bring it to our attention and we'll notify the PLCB, and they're usually pretty good about correcting any problems.

The lowest price on Wine Searcher for the Two Hands Ares is $187.50!

Regarding the "Coming Soon" that's a catch-all phrase as it's really hard to predict. Even the "ETA" times on the LCB web site are not always right. A given wine could hit stores in Philly a couple weeks before or after Pittsburgh.

I stopped by Store #214 today, and after searching for 20 minutes, located the Two Hands. From the discussions I had with store personnel - all of which were quite helpful - the six bottles in stock have been on the shelf for several months at $171.00. The PLCB reference (27451) was the same, so the Chairman's prices did apply at checkout.

The store manager indicated that he thought in this case, the wine was part of "normal" stock and that his original stock were not part of the Chairman's program. However, when a close out purchase was made, they used the same reference number, hence selected availability way before the actual delivery date of the Chairman's purchase. Makes sense to me.

DT,
Were they on the shelf or in the special temp control room?

More importantly, did you buy all 6?

Shelf - I left two.

J2K's question makes me wonder - how do they decide. At $170 a bottle they were way more expensive than most of the stuff in the cool room. In fact there were $40-$50 bottles of other Two Hands' shiraz in the cool room with the Ares on the shelf.

Judging by typical PLCB mgt standards (and that's a better run store than most) I'd guess the determining factor is space & the distance the stocking employee must reach. Price doesn't guarantee equivalent quality but as a merchant you'd want to assure the $170 investor he/she is getting something that may have been handled properly, plus it would make it much easier to find if the controlled room was $100 & up or whatever

Apparently you made an impression. There were a handful of bottles left today but they were underneath the main racks in the cold storage room.

Now the $64 million question: Is this drinkable (I hope) or did I drop 79 bones for a glass of Shiraz in 2012??

Two tasting notes on Cellartracker -

Tasted by smithsi on 1/6/2010 & rated 97 points

Tasted by rbazinet on 2/2/2009 & rated 95 points: Lucy's comment after her first sip sums it up "ooooohhhhhh". This is great juice.

Not sure how long I will wait to open the first bottle. At my age, 2015 is a bit risky.

I have a bottle of the 2005 Glaetzer Shiraz Amon-Ra Barossa Valley that got a 98 from Parker. I suspect I will open it and the Ares at the same time and see if I can find the one point difference...

I would be happy to assist in that endeavor!

This wine is unbelievable. Big red was dead-on. If you bought one of these, I suggest trying it. It will age very well, but it is ridiculous now also. I rated it a 97 in cellartracker. Here's my writeup:

Jesus. This is fantastic wine. After I poured it into the glass, I noticed the dark purple color with some red around the rim. The nose punches you in the face with a blast of raspberry and blackberry. It's like someone pinching together a fresh, superripe raspberry against a tangy, juicy blackberry right below your nostrils. The wine glides across your tongue and down your throat with, of course, rich raspberry, blackberry, and ripe black fruits. Some milk chocolate and mellow vanilla mesh with the fruits at the end. The tannins are mellow, yet they grip your palate which leads me to believe there is significant life ahead of this wine. The finish easily lasts for 40 seconds and feels like it will last for years...In fact, this wine will continue to age gracefully for at least 10 years (and probably should), at which point it might develop too much alcohol to be transcendent. I love this wine. I didn't think I would find another Australian red I liked as much as the Mollydooker '05 Enchanted Path. But, I have. I found one I like just as much, if not better...

If you don't mind would you enter this excellent review -- or at least some part of it -- as a rating?

Thanks!

Heads up...shipments are hitting stores now. If you have the means (and desire) for 3 bottles, get in touch with your store and ask for a 3-pack crate, a very nifty wooden box.

Received today - that didn't take long.

This is a Chairman's Selection update notification for PAWineTalk user "dontime".

The following Chairman's Selections are no longer available on the web:
Two Hands Shiraz Ares Barossa Valley 2006, $79.99, PLCB Code: 27451

Got my three pack though.

Picked up my bottles as well. Thanks for the heads up Mark. Looking forward to trying this vintage. I still have one '03 Ares left; drew a 98 rating from Parker, and the one I drank was indescribably good. God I love good wine.