Pinot Law

Most small, farm wineries have enough things to worry about: the heavy hand of federal and state regulation, confusing shipment laws, and now even the weather. But be sure to add one more thing to the list: scam artists.

A few weeks ago, our winery received an e-mail from Mr. John Nelson. Claiming to be an American living in Seoul, South Korea. Mr. Nelson said he came across one of our wines at a Christmas party, loved the taste and wanted to have some shipped to Seoul for his birthday party.

Being raised in New Jersey and having gone to school in the Bronx, my radar immediately went up.  Fortunately, after typing a few search terms into Google (i.e., “John Nelson” Seoul, wine) I came across this website from a winery in California.  The blog entry — by Mary Baker of Dover Canyon Winery — confirmed my suspicions: Mr. Nelson and his wine request was nothing more than a major scam.

Mary Baker’s entry is well worth the read and goes into this scam in far greater detail than I ever could.  But the bottom line for all of us out there is this: if it sounds too good to be true, and/or just a tad bit suspicious, it probably is.