Lot18 Picks Up Pieces Of TastingRoom.Com

Lot18’s spin machine went into high gear with their promotional emails tonight with a $20 voucher and headline that read: “TastingRoom has partnered with Lot18. To welcome you to Lot18, we’re giving you the above voucher to apply toward your first purchase on Lot18.com.”

PARTNERSHIP. REALLY?

Partnered? That wasn’t the impression last night when TastingRoom.Com sent the following to its members. Sure, TastingRoom.Com used the partner word, but the reality appears to be anything but.

It has been a pleasure serving you and sharing with fellow wine lovers our samplers and wines from producers around the world.

Unfortunately, we wanted to let you know that the TastingRoom website is no longer available. The great news is that we have arranged a partnership with Lot18, the premier provider of artisanal and boutique wines on the web. To get you started, we will be providing you with a voucher that can be redeemed on the Lot18 website upon account setup.

Watch your inbox for an email announcement from Lot18 that will include:

The voucher that will provide Lot18 credits
Instructions on how to redeem your voucher for any wine offered on Lot18.com.
To ensure your voucher reaches your inbox, please add today@lot18.com to your address book. Your voucher should arrive on January 24th. We have done our best to make this process as seamless as possible, since your satisfaction is and always has been our top concern. While this closes a chapter for us, we look forward to communicating with you in the near future about plans for a new TastingRoom.com.

Thank you.
TastingRoom

Partnership implies a relationship between equals. This is hardly a partnership. At least for now. We’ll need to wait and see if TastingRoom.Com makes the hoped-for comeback. They have an enormous reservoir of well-deserved goodwill that very well could fuel a resurrection.

FORAY INTO FULL-SIZED BOTTLES THE DOWNFALL?

I had gotten word of layoffs at TastingRoom.Com over the holidays and, quite frankly, chose to go ice climbing and mountaineering in the Eastern Sierra. And knew that nobody would be reading my emails anyway.

My understanding is that TastingRoom.Com’s expansion into selling full-sized bottles instead of the tasting samples was their downfall. Their customer base did not spend money on that as fast as TastingRoom.Com spent it.

I tweeted TastingRoom.Com’s demise last night, thinking that there might be a complete news release or announcement today. In lieu of that, this post.