Should you stock more or fewer wines with non-cork closures? And what kind of closures should they be? [level-members] In the US, consumers still prefer cork by a wide margin. (In marked contrast to the situation in the UK.) But while screw-caps are gaining favor, synthetic cork seems to be on the downswing. What does […]
Archive for October, 2017
Reports of Wine Cork’s Death Have Been Greatly Overstat
October 17th, 2017Wine Industry News for October 16, 20
October 16th, 2017Not surprisingly, it’s all northern California, all the time … [level-members] Let’s start on a positive note: TheStreet.com gives us stories of resilience. And news of the fires at least beginning to come under control. For those fortunate enough not to be directly affected by the fires, there’s a lot of work to be done. […]
Food & Wine Pairing: Pumpkin Dish
October 13th, 2017We’re certainly not jumping on the “pumpkin spice everything” bandwagon, but there are definitely some delicious things you can do with pumpkins. [level-members] We’re not going to pretend to be experts here – we’re going to that over to Hawk Wakawaka and these recommendations: Oloroso sherry with pumpkin pie sounds almost as good as Sangiovese […]
Wine Stories Worth Sharing for October 12, 20
October 12th, 2017Wildfire smoke, chilling wine, atmospheric CO2 and alcohol levels, and supertasters and wine? [level-members] First, wine and hoops. There was a time when everyone wanted to be like Mike, so I guess someone wanting to drink like Lebron makes sense. Im not sure why you’d need science to save you from pretending you don’t like wine. […]
Wine Shop Marketing: It’s Not What You Want to Sell – It’s What They Want to B
October 11th, 2017Seems obvious to say it, but your wine shop customers may not want to buy what you think they should. That doesn’t necessarily mean, though, that the customer is always right.[/level-members] In fact, convincing customers to try something new – to not “grasp at familiar straws” as we read recently – is critical to your success […]
Amazon, Whole Foods, and Your Local Wine Sh
October 10th, 2017Amazon has been nibbling around the edges of the wine market for quite some time. With that toe-dipping came concerns of impending cataclysm for main street wine shops. Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods was viewed as perhaps the final nail in local retail’s coffin but it may in fact provide a reprieve. [level-members] As this Wine […]
Wine Industry News for October 9, 20
October 9th, 2017Bad news from France interesting news from Italy, paying more for wine and liking it, and just how big is the American wine industry? [level-members] Not really news – or not really a surprise, I guess, but the harvest in Bordeaux did not start well. Kind of caps off a crappy year. The news from […]
Food & Wine Pairings: Cabernet Fra
October 6th, 2017With this lovely piece from the WSJ on Cabernet Franc and its beauty at this time of year, we offer a few suggestions for pairings. [level-members] We start with an earthy delight: lamb meatballs. If that’s not your thing, perhaps grilled Portobello mushrooms are. And if you’re looking for a way to keep the Cab […]
Wine Stories Worth Sharing – October 5, 20
October 5th, 2017What your choice of cocktails says about you. Yeast in winemaking, the Finger Lakes, Zinfandel, and hidden treasure within Degas sculptures. [level-members] If you’ve got that one friend who you just can’t seem to get along with from time to time, maybe it’s because you have different choices of potables. It’s not just for bread and […]
Versatility as a Marketing Poi
October 4th, 2017A Swiss Army knife isn’t going to replace a whole workshop full of tools, but it can certainly be a very handy and useful tool all by itself. And sometimes that simplicity – one tool to cover whatever comes up – is really attractive. Even in the world of wine. [level-members] As this Washington Post […]