For The Love Of Port

Are newsletters a thing of the past? I miss reading them!
I hope Roy will find the time in 2019 to reprise publishing four per year.

You are not. There has not been one this year.

Andy Velebil wrote:You are not. There has not been one this year.

For me, it's slightly disappointing (and that is an understatement!!) there is none until now, even more so as Roy promised several times (in July, August, September and October) it would be a matter of days before the next one to be published. I was going to believe I'm the only one who is disappointed (I really like Roy's Newsletters and look forward to his 2016 Vintage Forecast), although I couldn't believe that!

I sincerely hope Roy is not writing because of health reasons!

The previous years there has been 4 newsletters per year with November & December rounding of the year. Also a buy OP or two. This year nothing so far, which is disappointing.

I think a clear statement of what we can expect as subscribers going forward would be in order.

Thomas V wrote:The previous years there has been 4 newsletters per year with November & December rounding of the year. Also a buy OP or two. This year nothing so far, which is disappointing.

I think a clear statement of what we can expect as subscribers going forward would be in order.

Really very, very disappointed that no one of the "FTLOP-staff" reacted to this post, especially ofcourse Roy. I hate to say this, but we shouldn't forget we pay for the benefits of the FTLOP-membership, the biggest advantages being the Newsletters and the Buying opportunities. The latter are very rarely valid for EU-members, leaving only the Newsletters. To put it very bluntly: this year I paid for nothing and that is a shame. Sorry, but that is how I feel it!!

Paul C. Metman wrote:

Thomas V wrote:The previous years there has been 4 newsletters per year with November & December rounding of the year. Also a buy OP or two. This year nothing so far, which is disappointing.

I think a clear statement of what we can expect as subscribers going forward would be in order.

Really very, very disappointed that no one of the "FTLOP-staff" reacted to this post, especially ofcourse Roy. I hate to say this, but we shouldn't forget we pay for the benefits of the FTLOP-membership, the biggest advantages being the Newsletters and the Buying opportunities. The latter are very rarely valid for EU-members, leaving only the Newsletters. To put it very bluntly: this year I paid for nothing and that is a shame. Sorry, but that is how I feel it!!

Hi Paul,

I appreciate and understand your disappointment, but really the only person who can respond is Roy. Andy and I have little to no insight into the newsletter production.

That said, I'll be seeing Roy this weekend and so will ask him about the newsletter then.

Thank you Glenn. I am very curious to find out what Roy has to say about the newsletter not being published this year.
Cheers,
Robert

Glenn E. wrote:

Paul C. Metman wrote:

Thomas V wrote:The previous years there has been 4 newsletters per year with November & December rounding of the year. Also a buy OP or two. This year nothing so far, which is disappointing.

I think a clear statement of what we can expect as subscribers going forward would be in order.

Really very, very disappointed that no one of the "FTLOP-staff" reacted to this post, especially ofcourse Roy. I hate to say this, but we shouldn't forget we pay for the benefits of the FTLOP-membership, the biggest advantages being the Newsletters and the Buying opportunities. The latter are very rarely valid for EU-members, leaving only the Newsletters. To put it very bluntly: this year I paid for nothing and that is a shame. Sorry, but that is how I feel it!!

Hi Paul,

I appreciate and understand your disappointment, but really the only person who can respond is Roy. Andy and I have little to no insight into the newsletter production.

That said, I'll be seeing Roy this weekend and so will ask him about the newsletter then.

Hi Glenn,
Thank you very much for your answer. Ofcourse I'm not really blaming you or Andy and it's very kind of you that you will ask Roy, but......Roy undoubtedly has seen this thread and could (read: should) have reacted himself. The greatest disappointment is that until now he didn't !!

Hi Paul and all other subscribers and FTLOP'ers reading this.

Speculation that I have seen and ignored this thread is vastly wrong. I was on last on Dec. 1st to make a 2 sentence post and then gone. I did not see this thread until 2 a.m. last night and decided to head to bed to sleep on it. Right now, I must head out for a few hours but promise to come back after my appointment and provide a detailed explanation and full apology.

For now, I would like to say, I am sorry for NOT seeing this for the 2 weeks it sat here, but it is not right to think I would have ignored this topic while my self-inflicted wound further festered publicly. That being said, please be patient for a few more hours and upon return, I will respond in great detail and transparency!

Roy

First, let me apologize for not having seen this thread until late last night. I am not sure how I missed seeing this thread, to which I would have responded more quickly. An honest oversight, but given the nature of this issue, I wanted to begin by apologizing for the delay in responding.

I realize that I have failed to deliver ANY newsletters to this point in the year. Watching long-term friends and subscribers cancel their subscriptions has been a constant and painful reminder. I wanted to provide some background and details here, and discuss the plans for subscribers moving forward.

Mid-last year (2017), I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome, which began making typing at my computer uncomfortable, and then painfully impossible. I visited the doctor who recommended either surgery (which I opted not to do) or implementation of several immediate restrictions on activities to help improve the problem. Typing and even use of my mouse were severely limited. I began using my iPhone a lot more for reading purposes, and posting to social media where it was easy to create posts or respond to others largely using the voice capabilities and photos captured on my iPhone (thank you, Siri).

After returning from both Port Harvest Tours in early October, my condition was improved some, and I started to slowly put together the first newsletter of the year. Unfortunately, in mid-November, I was hospitalized due to kidney stone attacks, which lasted sporadically through the end of the month.

I am taking this all very seriously and I am very sorry for not communicating all of this earlier to subscribers. I kept believing that this would get resolved and I would be able to get back to writing. That being said, I am promising you that I will have the newsletter that I have been working on out to subscribers prior to the end of this month (December 2018). I am also testing out voice activated software for my computer that will assist me greatly when it comes to producing more regularly released newsletters in 2019.


Here is my commitment to Subscribers for 2019:

* Continued access to our Tasting Note Database, which currently contains over 3,700 (and growing) of my professional tasting notes and scores, as well as many thousands of user tasting notes from our community.

* At the end of the first quarter, there will be a newsletter (in March 2019), and then additional newsletters in July, October and December.

* The first newsletter in March will include a Buyer's Opportunity with a well-known importer. The buying opportunity will be available for subscribers on record as of January 31st. Also previously discussed, is access to a Buyer's Op made available with an importer/agent in the UK, and I will check, but believe they told me that they are able to ship throughout some other parts of Europe. But I will get this all clarified, (and specifically which countries) and it will be mentioned in the newsletter to come out this month. There will be some overlap of products between the USA and Europe, but until that is discussed with multiple parties, I can't provide any specifics at this time. However, this is not a new effort and basic agreements were started months ago.

EDITED: 12/29/18
* Emails from subscribers felt that this was not clear enough, so I have come back to make sure this is not confusing. Please email me if you have any question, but this should be very easy to understand now.
Lastly, in the very first newsletter of 2019, I will announce the remedy for remaining subscribers on record as of January 31st that do NOT discontinue their subscriptions at any point between January 31st 2019 up and through the launch of newsletter #97 -- released by March 31st 2019. I will decide how to best make up for the 3 missed newsletter issues from 2018 and make sure that it's clearly posted as stated in the newsletter. IF newsletter #97 is late and not released before the 31st of March 2019 ... you are then entitled to cancel your subscription immediately and still receive the full remedy!


All of that said, my sincerest apology for:

a. disappointing both friends and friends who are loyal subscribers!!

b. making the mistake of not getting in front of this and communicating this earlier, when I finally realized the extent of my own predicament. In hindsight, I do realize my mistaken thinking!


Finally, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me privately at roy@fortheloveofport.com if you have additional questions, concerns or would like to discuss any of the commitments above.


Respectfully,

Roy

Roy Hersh wrote:I am promising you that I will have the newsletter that I have been working on out to subscribers prior to the end of this month (December 2018).

A gentle nudge: there are only a few days left to deliver on this promise

And I have already arranged with Stewart the launch date for the newsletter to keep this promise. Obviously, I am not going to let FTLOP go down the drain by missing the aforementioned deadline.

Well I am glad this thread showed up... I was thinking I was the only one missing out.
Patiently waiting (with a 1995 Smith Woodhouse).

On NYE, I will open a magnum to drink at home that evening with friends, in celebration. The newsletter will be in your hands prior to that day though.

Well, I learned from the owner of the USA-based import company, that their agent in the UK, with potential to ship to other European countries, has quit. I did not know that until earlier this evening. USA subscribers will still have the ability to have the buyer's op as previously mentioned. The importer said it is likely that the agent could not be replaced until 3rd quarter. So my dream of having a cohesive US/EU and other European country buying op, will not only be impossible for all in March, but I will have to do a separate one for European subscribers later in the year.

* EDITED: 12/29/18 - While this may preclude some European subscribers from supporting FTLOP and the newsletter and especially those who would've had to either re-up or not, it might be better to wait until 3rd quarter when these potential past subscribers can monitor how I have done in keeping promises stated in the above text from a couple of weeks ago before making their final decisions, (as compensation will be coming your way before then).

The best laid plans.

Roy Hersh wrote:Thing of the past, ended today. Finally!

Alas, I hoped for that! Unfortunately, that is not the case: subscribers were promised to have Newsletters end of July, end of October and end of December. You would expect Roy to keep that promise after all the fuzz and disappointment of 2018. Well: he didn't! On August, 12, I 've sent a very short message, saying "end of July is rather late this year". He responded that a rare situation occurred: two feature articles instead of one and that it would take another week to finish the Newsletter. Today we have September, 4, and nothing is there, without any notice. It seems Roy didn't learn from 2018: if it is - for whatever reason - impossible to keep your promise, the least you can do is inform your subscribers. I said it before and I say it again: we are paying for our subscription so we are entitled to receive the "product" we are paying for and get it on time! Until now, nobody complained on the FTLOP-website, so maybe I'm the only one to see it that way, but I hope not!

Dear Paul and other subscribers,

You are 100% correct. Late again. No excuse to be made here. I am positive you are NOT the only individual to see it the way you accurately have portrayed it, Paul.

Trust me, I did learn a VERY costly lesson last year and with the best of intentions, not only have I been on time up until now in 2019, but I even included one extra bonus newsletter in good faith. There still will be an October newsletter (#100) that will include the 2017 Vintage Port Report and several other features including one on SFE, that is already completed. There will also be one other newsletter this year, right around the holidays, including a buying opPORTunity, which has already been figured out (minus the pricing) with the Port producer. I will be visiting in person in 12 days and will be discussing if there is a way to make this work in Europe, at least some of the key countries where FTLOP's subscriber base is located.

I apologize for this lateness. Truly, I do. Prior to beginning the newsletter I was hoping to get one of my articles published in The World of Fine Wines. That being said, it will be included in the issue that will be in your hands either tonight or at the very latest by Friday; but likely sooner. I depart for Portugal in 3 hours and will either finish it on the plane, or when I get to Madeira. I have six flights between now and Friday, and will get it done no matter what. I am only on the island for 14 hours and then return to Lisbon and finally back to Porto. The only thing left is polishing off some tasting notes on a fine Quinta do Noval article. They need a good tweak and I discussed that with Stewart last night. The rest has been complete, but that matters not. I am not happy with my 2nd article and that was scuttled last Friday and will appear in the October edition, but there is plenty of other content and lots to read in this, the 99th issue.

My word and my apology may not be enough for some, but I realize how this looks and am deeply saddened to disappoint yet again. I have solid reasons, but they will only sound like excuses to those that don't know the back story, so there's no point to even go there.

Paul you had every good reason in the world to expect that what I said to you, was going to happen. To you in particular, I am sincerely sorry!

Respectfully,

Roy

Roy Hersh wrote:Dear Paul and other subscribers,

.......My word and my apology may not be enough for some, but I realize how this looks and am deeply saddened to disappoint yet again. I have solid reasons, but they will only sound like excuses to those that don't know the back story, so there's no point to even go there.

Paul you had every good reason in the world to expect that what I said to you, was going to happen. To you in particular, I am sincerely sorry!

Respectfully,

Roy

Hi Roy,
Apologies accepted and - as far as I'm concerned - matter closed. Have a nice trip and all the best,

Paul