boatload, well-regarded

In the end, retailers are recognizing they can get some good deals for customers. At Woodland Hills Wine Co., a wine merchant in Woodland Hills, Calif., the store's wine buyers cut back on inventory last year and are now buying wines selectively. Recently, for example, they negotiated with a distributor "sitting on a boatload" of a well-regarded Argentine wine, Achaval-Ferrer Quimera 2006, and offered it to customers for $29 a bottle, down from $40 previously, says wine buyer Kaj Stromer. "We probably sold two pallets worth of wine in a week," he says, "so people are responding as long as they know they are getting a bargain."

Definition

boat Show phonetics
noun [C]
1 a small vehicle for travelling on water:
a rowing/sailing boat
a fishing boat
We took turns to row the boat up the river.

2 INFORMAL a ship:
Are you travelling by boat or by air?
I'm taking the boat from Dover to Calais.

boating Show phonetics
noun [U]
We decided to go boating on the lake.
a boating accident

boatload Show phonetics
noun [C]
1 the number of people or the amount of something that can be transported by a boat:
a boatload of refugees/tourists

2 INFORMAL a large amount:
They made boatloads of money from that project.