Edit: Deleted
Winebid specifies the #28 which was the auction wine.
There was also a #27 GG Doctor which was not an auction wine.
Fortunately I save my back issues of MFW.
Doctor spatlese from Lieser has always been an auction wine. In 2016 there was a Doctor auslese that was non-auction, and in 2018 there was a Doctor kabinett that was non-auction. And the GG has been non-auction every year 2016-2019. I’ve tried all except the 19’s and the wines are a must buy for me. Very tight when young, although the Kabi was impressive early on.
A
Yes, but there’s no auction label on the picture
This…So perhaps the photo is not taken by Winebid because the sticker should be on there?
Damnit why
According to the photo there is a sticker on the bottle stating it was inspected by Winebid
Good evening all,
I can shed some light on this mystery.
The bottles were mine and have been listed by me with winebid.com. I am not sure why Schloss-Lieser did not put the auction stickers on the bottles. It is not compulsory- and indeed when shopping for older German wines it always pays to know your AP numbers since you can find auction bottlings without stickers. Still, it is unusual. And to confirm what others have said, 2016 was the first vintage and the Spatlese Doctor from Schloss-Lieser to date has been VDP Auction only.
I made many purchases in the 2018 Mosel VDP auction of the 2017 vintage- including these 5 bottles. In between the months I made the purchase and the delivery of the wines to the USA, I had the chance to taste a few other Lieser wines and decided while I liked them that it was not a producer I wanted to collect. And so I sold the bottles to someone else, and they were held in offsite storage in the Bay Area pending pickup by that individual. The original buyer did pay me, so no worries there, but for whatever reason has been non-responsive on collection- and after nearly 2 years of a friend ITB doing me a favor, I had no choice but to sell the bottles or start paying for storage. For my part, I was paid in advance- and so I have no beef with the buyer. Indeed I am concerned and hope all is well- but after this much time, I had no choice.
And so they are now on winebid. I can and will vouch for their authenticity and provenance. Once they are sold, I will refund the original buyer. FWIW, at the current reserve price they are right about where my cost was including broker’s commission and costs to bring to the United States. These were a hot item from the first vintage in 2016 and I think it is safe to say it will be virtually impossible to buy this wine- certainly 5 bottles at one time- outside of a handful of Germany-based wine stores at this point.
Sorry for the long and complicated story. The original transaction took place here, and so I felt it appropriate to put out all the facts.
Tom, This strikes me as the start but not the end of a multipart law school exam question.
You are very right on that point.
I actually consulted an attorney friend of mine first since I was not sure I technically had a right to sell the bottles. Given the total circumstances, I made that decision myself. Like any good attorney, my friend advised me of the possibilities but did not suggest a proper course since this was free advice. The fact is that, had I ignored the matter, the bottles would have been destroyed or retained to cover the cost of storage. I acted to prevent the loss of an asset, and also to avoid souring a longtime friendship and business relationship in the form of the person who was storing these for free which has a very real and tangible value.
The coverage legally, as I was advised, comes from the fact that the person to person sale is not technically legal and as long as I do not ultimately deprive the buyer of funds paid to me- then my proper original legal ownership stands. So I do have a legal right to sell the bottles, and whoever buys them via winebid- at the end of a chain of legal transactions- has clear title.
In any event, this was the first time in many years I offered something openly- and I did it at cost in the hopes that would minimize potential risk. While I do not think there was any mal-intent on anyone’s part, the time and hassle was not worth it, and given my strong relationships with brokers and auction houses I do not plan on ever again doing a person to person deal.
The 2016 Schloss Lieser Doctor Spätlese Auction sold for € 81,- excluding taxes in 2017 at the Auction. I have some…Don’t know about the costs of bringing them into the States, but the 2019 Schloss Lieser Doctor Spätlese Auction sold for € 130,- excluding taxes last Friday at the Auction. So the Winebid price for the 2016 is not bad at all!
Thanks @Tom for your openness and transparency on these wines. These are great wines and Tom is a valued customer and consignor at WineBid and as well as a long time member of the Berserker community. We actually have many Berserkers who consign through WineBid, and we (like most auction houses) do not reveal the identity of our consignors out of respect for their privacy. In this case, Tom has chosen to identify himself and provide the backstory on these wines. While these wines have a unique story, the “PSA” and “warning” language used to kick off this thread was unwarranted. WineBid does our best to inspect every bottle and provide as much information as possible about provenance and photographs- more than any other auction house or website, and many wines have unique stories that we can’t publish all of. Thanks Tom for offering it on this one, and thanks everyone for your enthusiasm for the site. Happy tasting and sharing for this fall season!