Wine Store

[andrawes76]

Hello there. I've been meaning to pop in here and I don't want to give the impression of being defensive. What I read below is both disheartening and also understandible. There are a good amount of you who are looking at Wines.com now as a wine retailer vs. a wine portal, which in WW's case caused him to leave. To loose someone of this prolific nature is saddening, and I hope he reconsiders since he's a businessman himself and surely understands on some level that Wines.com is a business and requires hundreds of thousands of dollars to build and maintain. The decision to increase ecommerce was made by Jackie and myself as we have always felt that it was a shame to have Wines.com and only be selling one wine and one wine club. We both agreed that the Wine Board should stay and should not be influenced by business. I would agree that the homepage is not very inviting into the Wine Board, and we're going to change that priority one, in a few days. In August when Wines.com will relaunch a new interface that highlights (appear first) the forum, wine news, encyclopedia, and even better allows retailers in other states, especially states that prohibit wine shipping to sell wines or list their services. The new interface will also allow wineries/wine enthusiasts to upload wine videos that they record. We will incorporate a new wine wikipedia that us users can update because the wine world changes, and its nice to update on the fly. Again, the new layout for Wines.com will feature a more prominently displayed forum from the homepage and blog which will essentially pull data from forum. Whether that wine is available for sale or not via Wines.com will not matter, nor has it ever mattered. It is rare to see me posting new wines for sale on the forum. If we were purely capitalist pimps, would we want to see other's post hot deals from other retailers? I think not. Do we send you mass emails trying to sell you things? No. I will never consider charging or requiring detailed registration to use the encyclopedia or forum. Its always been a free and easy way to access Friends' wine info on the Wine Board. This Board is untouched by our team and Jackie specifically told me this Board is a tribute to Jerry. Whether you choose to buy something from Wines.com is your decision and we respect that, but we are a Wine Company, and we have employees who work hard right here in the US (we don't outsource anything from a development standpoint internationlly). If our hard work on Wines.com does not meet your standards and if we are doing things wrong, then please tell us so we can make it better for everyone. My cell phone number is (512) 698-5762 and I work 24/7. I take criticism well. I want to say that I care about this Wine Board and everyone who has contributed to its growth, including Verne. Sorry to have lost you, Verne, please reconsider.

[This message has been edited by Personal Wine (edited 06-28-2009).]