Vintages just emailed out notice that the VINTAGES Online Exclusives is live.
There's only one problem - it doesn't work on a Mac.
UPDATE: I was able to raise this issue with the LCBO and the company that produced the site and just received notice that the site has been updated with support for Safari and Firefox (Mac and Windows). That was a quick turnaround and more than I expected.
As has been mentioned in comments here and around the water cooler, the site still leaves a lot to be desired, but at least Mac users and Firefox users have access.
Pathetic, isn't it? And, even if you get past the front door a whole range of site features are broken or are just poorly implemented from a usability standpoint. For instance:
* try using your browser back button to navigate through the search results
* the menus on the search form sometimes switch to French
* the Home link takes you back to the splash page
If I delivered quality like this when my company launched websites we'd soon have no customers...
On a more positive note: did you get to the 2006 Le Clos Jordanne release last week?
Sean
Posted by: Sean Kozey | October 22, 2008 at 07:15 PM
It really is pathetic. I don't know of a new commerce oriented website that has been launched in the last several years that excludes so many potential customers and has been so clearly rushed to market despite being at least a year late.
And after quickly glancing through the wines on offer (on a PC that I rarely use), the wines offered seem to be the collection of wines that the LCBO failed to sell on Bordeaux futures, various Classics releases, etc. A better URL would be www.vintages-retread-online.com…
It simply reinforces once again how monopolies work. There is no incentive to compete and as a result, you can't attract people that are driven to do delivery great things that wine customers over.
I wasn't able to attend the 2006 Le Clos Jordanne release tasting but given some positive comments from a friend of mine, I did put in order on their new online system. I haven't received confirmation on the order yet but it is good to see LCJ expanding their distribution to make it easier for wine geeks like us.
Hopefully, I'll be driving out to Jackson Triggs in a week or so to pick the order up!
Posted by: Ken Bereskin | October 22, 2008 at 10:04 PM
Noticed the same thing regarding the new Vintages' online store selection being a re-run of products previously on offer.
I did make it to the LCJ release. I think the Chardonnays outshone the Pinots this vintage, which wasn't unexpected, given the conditions in 2006. The Chardonnays were very, very good, coming across as more Burgundian than those from previous LCJ vintages: less tropical flavours than before, leaning more to the minerals, rocks, and stone fruit (pears, peaches) spectrum, with great acidity present in the wines. The oak was very nicely integrated as well. My favourite Chards were the Claystone and Le Clos Jordanne (Le Grand Clos was very closed and wasn't showing that well at the release).
The Pinots were a bit harder to read. The best reds of the release were very good, definitely superior to anything else I've tasted from 2006 Ontario Pinot Noir vintage (comparing them to the likes of Tawse, Hidden Bench, Norman Hardie...), but I did detect a bit of greenness and disjointedness in some of the wines. It might be possible my take on them was a bit skewed that day: I burnt my tongue at lunch while having a too-hot bowl of soup :-).
The Village and LCJ were the two that showed the most greenness and gritty tannins. The Claystone Terrace was better but probably needs several months or a year to integrate better. The surprise for me was La Petite Vineyard. It was showing beautifully: nice round, ripe fruit, medium-bodied. Much more weight in this wine than in previous vintages, and more approachable than any of the other Pinots at this stage.
Le Grand Clos Pinot is a monster, but I have no idea whether it will turn out to be truly great, or just ambitious for the vintage. Thomas Bachelder's prediction was that it would come together with a bit more time in bottle and age very nicely for a few years. I bought a half case to see what happens with it.
Overall, I thought the 2006 Pinots seemed to lean more to fresh fruit flavours and tasted drier to me compared to previous LCJ vintages, but perhaps lacked a bit of the opulence and integration of the two previous years' wines at this stage in their evolution. This wasn't always a bad thing though: a couple of the 2005 Pinot bottlings have always tasted to me like they have more residual sugar in them (or at least, a perception of sweetness on the palate) than in 2004 and definitely when compared to 2006. And they have a fruit profile not dissimilar to some West Coast Pinot Noirs made with very ripe fruit (almost stewed, macerated fruit flavours, especially in the LCJ bottling; not my favourite thing in Pinot Noir-based wines).
Posted by: Sean Kozey | October 25, 2008 at 03:54 PM
I have ordered twice from Vintages Online Exclusives, and have had a mixed experience. The site says orders take 2-4 weeks. The first time, I was pleased to get a call from the store less than 2 weeks later that the wine had arrived. The second time, I had not heard anything in 4 weeks and called the number on the invoice. The person who answered said that they did not deal with online orders, and that I should call a number for the website technical assistance department. When I called there, they told me to call the first number, where another person answered and confirmed that it was the right number after all. She found a record that the item had already arrived at the store, and offered to call the store to confirm, while I held on the line. Several minutes later, she said she had been unable to get through anybody at the store, and would have to call me back. Later that day, she did call back to confirm that the store indeed had the item, so they must have neglected to notify me. I think this service is a good idea in principle, and could be an excellent option, but with the current monopoly situation, there is be little incentive for staff to provide good customer service even though some individuals are helpful.
Posted by: Michael | April 15, 2009 at 06:55 PM