Newsletters 2004 - 5

Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 11:55 AM
Subject: Orangewood Wines News - 5

 

To Our Wine Aficionados,

 

Introduction

Summer is here.  Last year we sustained volume by getting new accounts.  That’s our hope for this year, too.

 

Box Score

New restaurants:         0

New retail outlets:       0

New sales people:       0

New wineries:             1

 

Contents

Upcoming Events

May 15th - AJ’s, Arrowhead

May 21/22 - Red Kangaroo, Chandler

New Winery

Event Feedback

Cave Creek Wines

Red Kangaroo, Scottsdale

AZ Wine, Carefree         

Rambling

 

Upcoming Events

May 15th - AJ’s @ Arrowhead, 1:30pm - 3:30pm

I will be pouring wines from Chateau Benoit (Muller-Thurgau and White Riesling) and Vino Noceto (Frivolo and Sangiovese).  We have been working with Archie since he was at the Moon Valley AJ’s and someone ordered a case of Noceto (thank you again, Kevin).  This must be 2 years ago now.  He had not started carrying any of our wine at Moon Valley.  When Archie moved to Arrowhead, Bill took over the account and has chipped away, first with the Chateau Benoit wines and now with the Noceto.  I think there may have been some customer pull on this, so thanks to any of you who asked for it.  Now that we have 4 wines there we can sustain a tasting - a first at an AJ’s.  Come along to enjoy these summer wines.

           

May 21/22 - Red Kangaroo, Chandler, 3:30pm - 6:30pm

            Once again, Dick has crept onto the calendar of Roger and Injy.  We’re not sure what the format will be, but we will include the Vino Noceto Rosato di Sangiovese.  This new to Arizona offering from Amador County has all the appearance of a White Zinfandel, but don’t be fooled by appearances!  This guy has a bouquet, taste and finish that will satisfy real wine drinkers.  Laurie and I test drove some beside our pool the other day. Yum!  Come along to find your antidote for the long summer.

 

New Winery - Ventana Vineyards Winery, Monterey CA

I keep getting calls from wineries asking me to carry their wines.  After I explain how small we are, some of them continue to be interested.  One such is Ventana Vineyards.  Their tasting room is in Monterey and their vineyards are located on route 101 at Soledad.  I must have driven by there on my tour last summer.  Doug and LuAnn Meador have been in this region for 30 years - leading the local wine industry with research and fine wines.  Terry Lannon has recently been hired to spearhead the national distribution of the wines.  It was Terry who called and emailed and finally brought along some wines for us to enjoy.  As a result, we have purchased modest quantities of the wines and will be trying to place them.  Terry will be along next week, not only to help with our placement efforts, but also to get us more familiar with the wines and their backgrounds.  Look in particular for the earthy Syrah and the Due Amici (Two Friends), a 50-50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese.

 

Event Feedback

Cave Creek Wines, AZ Wine (Carefree), Red Kangaroo (Scottsdale)

I have been feeling a little jaded writing recently.  The newsletters seemed to be too much fill in the blanks and Laurie was complaining, too (about the newsletter content that is).  So, I thought I would group these three events into one and skip over the “I poured this” and so forth.  Here goes…

All three of these locations have the kind of liquor license that allows them to serve wine to drink “on premise” as well as to sell bottles to be taken away for drinking “off premise”.  Up to now they have been mainly wine stores with the capability to taste wines.  All three are trying to move towards being more of a neighborhood bar.  These recent events give a hint as to how they might turn out.  All were well attended.  The attendees were good at drinking wine and showed interest in what I had to say about the wines (this is not always the case!).  In addition, because the attendance had reached a critical mass, they became a social event in their own right.  Strangers began talking about their opinions of the wines and their wine experiences and offering to show former strangers the etchings they had upstairs.  Outside of these events, the places are pretty quiet - but it doesn’t have to be that way.  Take a friend and stop by to see what wines are available by the glass. 

 

Rambling

I mentioned earlier that we thought the newsletter quality was below par.  Some of the letters were getting quite long, yet I was unable to say all the things that I wanted to say.  I was pondering this as I listened to Ziggy Stardust singing that song about Major Tom, the astronaut.  We learn about the astronaut’s launch, flight and disaster all in a few verses.  Obviously, my prose is not tight enough.  I’ll be working on this.

On a different subject, Laurie and I decided we need some professional help (hold on, I haven’t finished the sentence yet) selling wine.  We talked to two wine sales professionals who gave us some suggestions about what may be needed.  We have started by moving our commission structure to be in line with industry norms and adding some “on premise” by the glass discounts and “off premise” volume discounts.  Some of our wineries encourage this by subsidizing such discounts, but we had not taken advantage of such encouragement so far.  We also needed to ensure that we had a sufficient supply of wine for hardworking sales people to sell.  We hope this month’s addition of Ventana achieves that.

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

Richard and Laurie