Many members have inquired of me, and have been actively pursuing, avenues of opportunity to purchase wine bottles to satisfy their bottling needs for this year. They are interested in obtaining good quality glass at affordable prices. As you may know, bottles can cost $12 per case when purchased in small lots, but can cost as little at $8.40 per case when purchased in quantity. I am posting this Blog to ask all members to post a response to the following list of questions to give us a better handle on the overall bottling needs of the members for 2010.
NOTE: I do hope that every member posts a response as it will help us greatly in planning for future needs.
The obvious effort here is to consolidate all member needs and to seek out the best possible resource for all of our bottling needs, for not just this year, but hopefully beyond.

Please post your response even if you do not have any bottling needs for this year.

1. Do you have a need to purchase wine bottles this year?
2. If your answer to #1 is no, in which year do you anticipate a need?
3. What type of bottles do you need? (for example, Bordeaux (for Cabernet, Zin, Merlot, etc.) or Burgundy (for Pinot, Syrah, Chard etc.)
4. How many cases do you anticipate you will want to purchase?
5. Do you prefer to buy each year’s quantity as needed, or would you like to store extra cases for future years?
6. If you have purchased bottles in the past, please share with us your resource?
7. Do you have any particular bottle specifications? (dimple or not, clear or tinted, etc)
8. Would you be willing to participate in a bottle purchasing committee?

It is the hope that this survey will be completed by all members quickly to allow us to be able to report the results to members at the July Q3 meeting.

Bill Massarweh
June 29, 2010