Sec Wines in Portland

WINE TALK
21

Wow, you’re scaring me with this talk about getting ‘banned’.
I buy pretty much equally from Vinopolis and Sec. They overlap on some items, but on a lot of things I find them very complimentary. Vinopolis has good pricing and service as well, and on overlap items they tend to price pretty close to Sec. Both have been great about holding wines for months until I pick it up. I certainly would not want to make a choice.

Between the 2 stores, I find I am totally covered for Oregon wines.
For other things I buy - Loire Chenin, Beaujolais, German Riesling - there is less overlap. Vinopolis probably has more selection for bojo and certainly riesling, but Eric has very interesting stuff as well.
Neither has great pricing or representation for the N. Rhones that I buy, but I imagine that is an OR distribution problem.

I’m not getting the Garagiste connection - totally different operation, and to my eye almost no overlap - Huet maybe. Sec had (has) better pricing on both the 2009 and 2010 Huet Secs. But Garagiste had a couple interesting offers on Moelleux and Moelleux Trie this past year that were not widely available. As i’ve said on the (endless) G thread, Garagiste is very niche for me now - only great offers on stuff I know I want.

22

Jim – I am pretty much following your model, but I give Eric the first right of refusal on just about any purchase I may make elsewhere. Yes, I could support a local shop, but it just makes no financial sense (I recognize there are long-term educational and relationship issues as well, and I am working on that with Eric). I bought some pinot from Eric last week for $34 that is selling at Pike and Western, for example, for $53. As great, kind and knowledgeable as the Seattle retailers may be, I am a little surprised how far out of the pricing spectrum they are, even when I factor in shipping from Portland. For every single bottle I’ve price compared with Sec or Vinopolis, there is a premium that well exceeds the shipping cost I pay to UPS. I guess it is distributor thing (whereas in OR I think the retailers buy directly from wineries, at least for the OR pinot I buy), and their extra margin plus the shipping makes them unable to compete based upon price. Plus, if I buy in WA state I have to pay tax. Basically, for any $25 bottle of wine, sales tax in WA and shipping costs from Portland are a wash (no sales tax). Thus, I can pretty much compare wines in that price range and Seattle never comes out ahead. There are times when I am looking for a specific wine for dinner, or one I’ve read about that I may want to buy in volume, and I will go to a Seattle shop to try it out.

23

Thanks for all the comments. It seems I have nothing to worry about ordering from Sec. FWIW: I am a happy Vinopolis customer also.

I ordered 4 bottles of 01 Marques Murrieta Ygay Grand Reserva from Sec. Delivery TBD.

David [drinkers.gif]

24

Also wanted to voice my enthusiasm for Eric and Sec wines. I’m another low-margin customer-- couple of mixed cases a year but feel I get great recommendations, price and service from Eric. Never had anything shipped so can’t speak to that. Give him a call or email and he’s always been very responsive and helpful. Enjoy!

25

My comment regarding Garagiste was why buy and have shipped when I can pick up locally? I am buying mostly WA wines from Full Pull, but checking with the local purveyors as well. StoryTeller Wines is another good local source that I use and is willing to deal.

26

To be honest I had never searched for WA wines on the Sec site before. Quite a selection at great prices.

27

I wonder how much of this is WA distributor markup and how much is overhead that the Seattle shops have that Eric doesn’t due to the fact that he doesn’t stock the wine (so doesn’t need a retail outlet, staff, etc etc.) I’ll have to check Sec, since one of the reasons I don’t really buy OR Pinot are the local prices.

28

Yeah, I don’t know. I was about to post on the WA 1183 thread about how broken WA wine retail is. I know that OR wines are available for far less in OR, and that includes full service shops like Vinopolis, Liner & Elson, etc. But the killer is much, much better pricing on all the WA wines (not that i’m a buyer). If you use wine searcher on say 2008 Betz La Serrene you will find that both Sec and Vinopolis are like $9-10 below the 2 main ONLINE WA sellers. And that is before WA sales tax. BTW if you buy a mixed case from Sec you’ll get another 5% off. Something is broken here.

29

Glad I’m not the only one who has pondered this issue. I thought somehow I was missing the boat. Have many of the people that buy wine locally investigated the costs of buying in Portland and shipping it up? If you’ve decided to buy locally, is it just a “price doesn’t matter that much to me” thing?

30

I’m glad to see that Eric has transcended the business “model” of his former employer, where we little guys were treated with disdain.

31

I gotta say this post is pissing me off. Every time I scroll by I reading it as “Sex in Portland” and I stop… just for a second to read it correctly.

Try to find a few bottles in 375s so you can have a little Secs around the house.

32

“Sex in Portland” is a new series about to come out on HBO. It’s about four single redheads from Portland who ride their bicycles and public transportation from one glamorous artisinal brew pub or coffee house to another, bedding young bohemian dreadlocked artist guys while gabbing loudly about global warming and how unenlightened the rest of the country is.

33

What was happening, Bob? Also, isn’t the shop under new ownership or should similar concerns still apply?

34

If it’s under new ownership it’s news to me. That’s not to say it’s untrue, just that I haven’t heard about it.

35

Received my wine yesterday in perfect shape. For shipping I selected wait for weather and Eric did exactly that. Sent me an email noting that the weather would be favorable between Portland and Tucson and shipped my wine. I didn’t have to contact him. He handled it and I’m impressed with the service. One for one with Sec and I will shop there again.

David [drinkers.gif]

36

Eric @ Secwines is a class act and is very highly recommended. He is a guy you can trust - Eric is more interested in your friendship and long term business than making a sale…

-mark, I live in Portland.

37

Had this wine a couple days ago: stunning wine. If the 2001 is structured like the '78 we had at the same dinner (and I believe it is), then you should just forget about 'em for 30+ years.

38

A fellow walked into the office the other day with a paper bag asking for me. “Sec Wines for Dennis”. So I asked, “are you Eric?” No, “just a courier”. Now that is personal service! I would have been happy to pick the wine up on the way home.

39

Sorry to bump this old thread, but I just had a great experience and thought I’d record it for posterity.

Made an order that included two bottles of 2010 Vieux Donjon. Eric replies a day later saying the distributor just ran out, and he can’t get the bottles. No big deal, that’s the business model, it’s a hot wine.

The next day Eric sends me another mail saying he got his distributor to part with two bottles of his personal stash as a favor, so I can have the bottles after all.

This is the second case I’ve bought from Eric, so it’s not because I’m a super customer. I will definitely be doing more business with Eric in the future.

Michael

40

[pillow-fight.gif]

David, don’t you think it’s been a bit warm here in Tucson? Did you have them send by air or ground?

Oops, see that our post was from last November! Disregard. [cheers.gif]