The 17th Reason I Like Being a Wine Importer -- You Meet Lot's of Famous People!Just this past Saturday, for instance, I was conducting a tasting at The Wine Connection, a fine store in Pound Ridge, NY. Who should walk in but Nino Magliocco! That's right, Nino Magliocco, the owner of Peerless Wines & Liquors, one of the largest wine and liquor wholesalers in New York!Who is Peerless, you ask? And why should I be impressed by Joe Dressner meeting Nino Magliocco, Peerless' owner? Peerless Importers has some of the most beloved liquid assets around. The company, founded in 1943, distributes wine and spirits in New York and Connecticut. Its spirits catalog includes blends, brandy and cognac, cordials and liqueurs (including Baileys Irish Cream), gin, rum, scotch (including J&B), and vodka. Wines are imported from Australia, Chile, and Western Europe. Unfortunately, Peerless Importers does have peers and has, in the past, lost business from liquor giants Diageo and Bacardi Limited to New York rivals like Charmer Industries. The Magliocco family (through its Quaker Equities holding company) owns and operates Peerless Importers and its Johnny Barton subsidiary. The firm ranked Number 417 in the Forbes Private 500, has 1,200 employees and billed over $600 million dollars in 2000 (according to the ever-reliable Hoover's News). Although I knew Peerless was a big company, I had no idea what they actually sold. Nino was quick to inform me of all the above, and also pointed out that they sell Louis Jadot wines, wines from Paterno and various other imports. I told him that I always get confused between the big companies and can never keep straight which one is actually Hublein and which one is actually Somerset & Schieflin. This is a little know fact about the wine/liquor trade: two giant behemoths, the aforementioned Hublein and Somerset & Schieflin control every company with the exception of Louis/Dressner Selections, Mark Whitmore's Vineyard Expressions, and the Shiverik portion of Langdon/Shiverik (although the late Louis Langdon long sold out to Hublein). Prominent national importer Andrew Scott, for instance, is a Hublein creation and paid agent, who maintains the elaborate pose of being an independent agent. This allows Hublein to get favorable reviews from Robert Parker. More recently, these two mega-firms conspired to destroy Seagrams, which is now being dismantled by the notorious Vivendi company, a well-known French Freemason Front with long-standing ties to Somerset & Shieflin. Rumors have it that Hublein will get Captain Morgan but Somerset & Schieflin gets all the rest (including that well known Angerville brand). Anyhow, Mr. Magliocco told me I should give him a call as even Neal Rosenthal had recently called Peerless about helping him distribute some of Mr. Rosenthal's excellent wines. I was rather taken aback that Mr. Magliocco would make such a strident offer, as I was tasting with one of the principals in Douglas Polaner Selections, a seemingly independent New York/New Jersey distributors who carries many of our wines. Much to my relief, Nino Magliocco had never heard of Polaner. Anyhow, 10 minutes later, who should walk in but Tom Brokaw the NBC newscaster! Brokaw was looking for enzyme-treated New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs (although I will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he did not realize that they are enzyme-treated and actually enjoys all that gooseberry taste. Despite Brokaw's proclivities, I did manage to get him to taste a Clos Roche Blanche Sauvignon Blanc 2000 which he claimed to like and actually purchased.
i get leters from nigerian oil money all the time, they rape that country than try to put the money into "clean": bizz--avoid or you will rot in hell
Do you suppose his name is some sort of antisemitic joke?
Joe
No.
how much money do you have to send him to either a) confirm your bonefide interest or b) help with the paper work?
he's got a great business, eh?
I've already taken care of the paperwork and received a huge sum of money in return. All strictly legal! By the way, who are you?
You know, Joe, the Internet has taken a great deal of charm away from letters like this. I've vetted seven similar letters for the company I used to work for, all from Nigeria, and all with wonderfully complex descriptions of how the officer of the company could participate in a fund of money, usually something in the oil world, but in two cases old college chums.
The charming thing about the good old days was that these letters were all certified or, in two cases, registered, with at least $4.00 US of beautiful Nigerean stamps and several postal markings, sometimes going through two or three countries on their way to New York City.
My payment for vetting the information and sending letters of response -- none of which was answered -- was to keep the envelopes for my personal stamp collection.
I hope you enjoy the windfall and, if you would like to negotiate a reasonable purchase price, we might be able to provide you with a remarkable and authentic souvenir of your great good fortune.
Regards, and congratualtions, Bob
[Bob Ross, New Jersey]
Bob:
Joe, you need a much younger lawyer for a case like this. Daughters, foreign countries, US military ID numbers ... this could (and probably would) go on for many years. I'll be glad to give you the names of some really good and hungry young lawyers who will be able to get you justice ... and send their kids to law school on the refreshers! Regards, Bob
sabrina is a wanna be heiress.
i was just contacted by the bank and based upon dna testing completed just yesterday, i am the illegitimate son of Schultzman...he never married...and many thought him to be gay, but i am apparently proof positive that he was either not gay or bisexual.
In any event, I have decided to transfer the entire sum out of Nigeria. I thanked the bank officer for alerting me to the existence of the funds and bought him a great dinner and nice bottle of wine.
My thanks to all of you who provided information on the internet and helped me to avoid anything more than the cost of the simple dna test.
Don't mention it!
I just got a letter about this Schultzman dude too.
What do I do?
Go for it!
Joe, |