Shane MacGowan, Henry Kissinger, and Scott Sampler, oh my…

Hola Free Rangers,

First, in case anybody is concerned- from the subject line- for his well being, our winemaker buddy from Santa Barbara, Scott Sampler, is alive, well, and as gregariously cantankerous as ever. For the geologically brief time we’ve known each other, I feel a notable kinship, but we’ll get back to his current plight shortly.

So, on the last day of last month, our chalkboard out front of the shop read:

RIP 

Shane MacGowan
 ______
Rot in Hell

Henry Kissinger

This elicited mostly positive and whimsical reactions. Many heads popped in to laugh with us, cheers us on, quote Pogues songs, and even to recite a Robert Burns poem or two (no, we are not conflating the Irish and Scottish- just stating the facts). And we definitely bent a few too many elbows and swallowed a bit too much whiskey. And then a middle aged white lady burst through the door, yelling at Wesley (who happened to be closest to her), “You’re an anti-semite, you should be ashamed, and someone should throw a brick through your window! So don’t be surprised when that happens!” As the author of the offending message, and staunch defender of our crew from all attacks, I approached and replied, “I’m Jewish. I said my haftarah at Temple Emanu-El, and Henry Kissinger was responsible for millions of deaths.” Loud Lady seemed genuinely surprised at the first part of that (not sure the latter point landed at all), and didn’t have anything further to add. I wish I had been quick enough to think and say, “A brick through our window? Like Kristallnacht?” But instead my parting quip was less funny, more toothless, and meaner, “Enjoy your bitter little life somewhere else.” Not my finest moment, but her bar was pretty low.

Now: 1) Equating speaking ill of a single human with condemning an entire people is an absurd notion on its face. 2) I had genuinely forgotten that Kissinger was born Jewish. And that day, The Majority Report reminded me of an old quote of his, saying that if he weren’t Jewish he would have been antisemitic, and that if a specific group has been persecuted for 2,000 years, there must be something to it. Henry Kissinger was a cold academic who shrugged off the culling of populations without even the slightest nod to the humanity of those people being slaughtered. He was also instrumental in extending the Vietnam war to get Nixon elected, in a blatant act of treason against the then current administration. Nobody should pretend that this man wasn’t a monster just because he’s dead, outliving millions whose lives he destroyed, in a profound miscarriage of Karmic justice. #NeverForget

Back to Scott Sampler’s story, already in progress. Normally we don’t enjoy calling out a long time distributor by name, but when you treat one of our favorite humans this way, T Edward, we aren’t going pretend that it’s at all cool. Due to NYSLA publishing regulations, someone at your company had 100% already unilaterally put Scott’s wines on closeout- ahead of an unforeseen separation notice, clearly already in the mail- when one of you sat down with him to erroneous discuss the future of his wines and a new strategy for promotion and growth. This was profoundly disingenuous, and just a shitty way to treat anyone. Besides the unapologetic lying straight to the face, closeout pricing (often colloquially called F-U pricing in the industry) is generally detrimental to one’s brand, as well as to short term profitability. But since this was happening regardless, with Scott’s blessing we ordered a metric shit-ton and will be offering unreasonable discounts ONLY HERE VIA E-MAIL on three delicious L’Arge d’Oor wines. All very low intervention, long maceration expressions, yet balanced and complete in the glass and on the palate. We are of the belief that these are of the highest quality and intrigue per dollar wines that are likely to pass your lips this year. Many of you recently tasted that ethereal L’Arge d’Oor Grenache (fleshy crushed stone fruit shot through with citrus) when Scott was pouring here in the shop, and now at lowest ever pricing, you can have/host your own tasting of the L’Arge d’Oor line. This week only, we’re offering 35% OFF all L’Arge d’Oor Wines! 6+ mix & match gets you 55% OFF + FREE tote + 1 FREE Magical Mystery Bottle (which could be literally anything)!

(!) Click here for hidden sale page (!)

                                                                 sale:            retail:
L’Arge d’Oor Skin Contact White    $17.55-25.35         $39

L’Arge d’Oor Red Blend                   $18.90-27.30        $42

L’Arge d’Oor Grenache                    $20.25-29.25        $45

** Online only! **
** This week only! **

Cheers,

Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
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