RELATIONSHIPS DISCOURAGED ““ ONE-NIGHT STANDS ONLY!
I have a love-hate relationship with the LCBO’s Vintages department. I like how it provides us with a big range of wines, however each wine is only around for a short period. Vintages is the wine equivalent of speed dating. Unless you’re lucky, you have only one chance to purchase the wines. Should you want to further your relationship with a purchase, there is every likelihood it will not be around when you look for a second date. Sure the LCBO “˜product search’ (dating site) will suggest drives to Newmarket, Cornwall or Chatham for those head-over-heels in love with “˜that’ wine. But no thanks. What if the first encounter was just a flash in the pan.
Romantics who wait on the pier in the hope that their lover might one day return, are unaware that the heartless bosses at the LCBO Vintages seldom allow a wine back into their stores. And what about the brokenhearted wines! Do you think they likes one-night-stands! I doubt it. A winemaker once told me he’d never send his “˜babies’ to the LCBO. ” They cannot make someone happy in your one-shot system.” I agree. Just think of all the wine relationships not happening thanks to our cruel LCBO police!
P.S. Vintages have to rotate in order to offer variety, but in a free market a collective of independent stores would not only offer more variety, but the opportunity to have a “˜relationship’ with favourite wines. It would be as simple as saying “I love thes wine, get me more.”
Good point, but they will, after a certain amount of time, have bottles shipped to your local store free of charge. I do it once in a while, but you’re right. The system should permit private wine stores. As for beer, the situation is so awful there was even a piece on it in the NYTimes today.