Wine merchant finishes big with Burgundy purchase

Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:32

As far as cornering the market goes, a downtown New Canaan “corner market” has scored a whopper.

Francos Wine Merchants co-owner Rick Franco has purchased every available case of 2006 Louis Jadot Burgundy in the country and is offering it back to the community. “Even though I’m not that big a [distributor], this was a huge deal,” he told the Advertiser this week, “one of the biggest for Burgundy in the United States and certainly the largest of my career.”

“The wines are very good, but they did arrive following the beyond-belief 2005 [vintage] and also showed up as the economy was plummeting,” he explained. “Restaurateurs and retailers across the country canceled their orders. The wines were left languishing in warehouses. I was one of the few who honored their commitment.”

A cross section of Village, Premier Cru and Grand Cru levels, some of the wines are in substantial supply while there are only “a case or two” of others. The first cases showed up at the shop on Elm Street on Tuesday and will continue to arrive in waves as they clear interstate legal restrictions. The total batch should be in by the beginning of December.

The 2005 vintage for Burgundy was an exceptional year by all accounts — “the most beautiful Burgundies I have ever seen,” said Franco. Thus, no matter how good the 2006 wines were, they were bound to suffer “second child status” upon arrival. When the economy took a nose dive last year, a perfect storm materialized.

The wine merchant began to see an opportunity early in the summer.

“I knew there was definite weakness in June when a tasting was scheduled, as the wines should have been long gone or at least the majority should have been,” he said. “I knew it was too soon to do anything because it’s just too hard to sell wine like this in the summer. Plus, it’s too hot to ship anything, so I waited until the fall.”

In early October he sent e-mails to Louis Jadot headquarters in France, as well as the Manhattan-based wine marketers Kobrand Corporation and its Connecticut distributor, offering to buy their entire stock of 2006 Louis Jadot Burgundy.

“Suffice to say, it made immediate shock waves,” he said. “It took until yesterday to finally put [the deal] together. Along the way, it fell apart three times. I just made sure the lines of communication stayed open and never showed any frustration.”

Franco said the wines have been priced according to what he paid and are “pretty close” to the 2002 vintage prices.

“I do need to move a bunch fast, so I’m passing the deal along,” he said. “Whether you drink Burgundy or not, I think this situation is too good to pass up.”

What began as a local grocery store in 1927 — shifting more to its present incarnation upon the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 — Francos Wine Merchants has, over the years, become an Elm Street institution. Franco, along with his brother and co-owner Carl Franco celebrated the shop’s 75th anniversary last December.

Some of the Louis Jadot Burgundy will be available for sampling and the shop is planning a broad in-store tasting soon. Rick Franco said he is available for guidance or recommendations on these and any other wines purchased at his store.

He likened the entire transaction to a wild ride, one which gave him a visceral thrill unlike any other in his professional career.

“I like big deals and I’m not afraid of numbers,” he said. “I must admit, however, that a few times along the way with this one I thought I was literally going to be sick to my stomach. It’s a lot of dough and a lot of wine, but I loved every minute of it.”

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