I used to buy a bit of III Associates direct, when they had the special sales, they still call me occasionally.
But I've had issues with more recent wines, particularly the Sparkling Squid Ink. The batch I bought direct pre-vinomofo days had a problem with a couple of bottles in that they had weird "chemical" flavours and were quite unpleasant drinking.
When the first Sparkling Squid Ink appeared on Vinomofo, advertised with the old glass printed label and arriving in a cheap paper lable and lesser quality bottle I was concerned that it was a made for VM batch as it wasn't as good as I thought it should be. I tried to procure a bottle from the winery to compare, but they sent me a Giant Squid Ink instead and I gave up and sent the Sparkling Squid Ink back.
I only bought the Black Bay as a friend whose palate I trust liked it. I tried one of my recent buy last night. Unfortunately it wasn't as he described it, more along the lines on that reported by wine-muller above. It started off reasonably well, nice nose, reasonable fruit, a bit subdued even after decanting via an aerator, but there is a line of fresh acid that worked Ok for a while with food, but by the last glass had turned into that weird "chemical" flavour/texture I remember from the original Sparkling Squid Ink, it really wasn't like drinking a normal table wine. I don't remember striking this character in any other wine than from III Associates and I'm completely baffled as to the reason for it. But I'll be sending it back rather than try another bottle.
Also, the friend that liked the Black Bay didn't like the Sparkling Squid Ink so much, finding "There is a hardness in the middle that I dont like much, its slightly bitter, and a bit sour. " Not what I found at all. I will try another bottle of this, I have 11 left and 6 going to a friend, so I need to confirm my first impressions.
Life's too short to dwell on these sort of things, a wine gets one chance to impress, that's it. Next time they call I'll ask to be taken off the list.
Update: I just received an email saying my access to the MVIII Accociates site has expired, someone is watching!