No matter, everyone I shared it with loved it–and that was before I showed them the bottle, told them what I paid for it, or told them it was natural. Bonus. Now maybe they won’t bring me any more Cote Zero …

KT - Unfortunately, you’re not crazy. And that sucks. My recs get you better service probably because they impress the store people. But that’s not OK. You shouldn’t have to impress a SERVICE INDUSTRY EMPLOYEE, that’s E-M-P-L-O-Y-E-E, to get good service. I will mail you a glove with which you should bitch slap them.

Milly - Probably cuz they’re lazy or in a rut. Do you recognize many labels from the grocery store there? I bet you do…. They probably stick to big distributors that carry nothing but BRAND wine.
r.u.s. - you can tell a lot about someone based on what they think about other someones. I think Joe’s fucking awesome. If I had his wines, I’d flaunt it too. No these wines aren’t hard to find, you just might not want to start at the grocery store and you might have to ask.