Trouble at a Restaurant

 

I've mentioned before how I have issues when I go out to restaurant.  Usually I like to stare at what other people are bringing to a BYO.  But, I have another issue, that has happened to me more than once at establishments that own a liquor license.

I always pick out the bottle of wine.  That's my thing and my husband lets me handle the selection.  Sometimes I will ask him to choose or get his opinion, but the bottle selection is in my department.  I had a boss in the advertising world who always let me pick out the wine with clients.  She didn't drink, but she trusted me to always pick out a selection in her budget that would impress. 

When I select a good bottle of wine, I'm also looking at the vintages.  I tried to order a 2001 Brunello at a posh restaurant in Ramsey, NJ owned by David Burke years ago.  I will never say a bad word about this guy.  I've had the pleasure of hanging out with him once and he is a real down-to-earth, nice, fun-loving guy.  His restaurant is so unlike him.  It's very snobbish.  At least his waiter was.  He tried to bring me a 2002 Brunello.  Now, what a 2002 Brunello is doing on Burke's list is a mystery. I'm going to chalk that one up to a wine director who was not paying attention when he received his shipment.  2002 is the worst year for Brunello and this waiter was trying to pass this crappy bottle off on me.  Except, I called him out on it and he was shocked.  So, I asked for the wine list back again.

Recently we went out in Kenilworth and I was first looked at the wine list online, only to find out the menu was different when we sat down.  I spotted a 2001 Barolo, much to my delight.  We were celebrating our anniversary and that was the year we were married and it's an exceptional year for Barolo.  Of course, when I ordered, the server brought over a 2004.  I told him that I ordered the 2001.  He said, "oh, is that what the menu said?"  I said yes.  He ran away and over came the wine director.  No 2001, so I went back to the wine list to find a delicious alternate selection.  2004 was a great year, but my sentimental meaning was now lost.

But, do they do this on purpose?  Am I just some dumb woman who doesn't know what I'm doing and they think they can pass off other items on me?  Little do they know that I'm paying attention. 

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Chianti Classico has a New What?

My days off to me from the retail world are very precious.  So, what did I do on my last one?  Volunteer to work a wine tasting!

This one paid me, gave me free lunch and let me taste the wines.  It should have been a way to give me a few extra dollars in my pocket if not for the train ticket and the parking ticket I received at the train station.  The day was a-wash money-wise, but I had a lot of fun.

This tasting was extra special.  The Chianti Classico Consortium, the 600 members who make the wine laws,  decided for the first time in history to introduce a new type of wine, the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione.  The wine is made exclusively from a winery's own grapes from its best vineyards.  The grapes must be aged for 30 months and also have 3 months of bottle ageing.  The Gran Selezione is comprised of 9 communes and 30 wineries debuted their new wines in New York this past week.

I was more excited by the guest list.  It comprised some of the wine world's best of the best from distributors, importers, winery owners, restaurant owners, wine publications, wine authors, wine educators and so on.  

There is a woman I have always held in high regard....that is until the tasting.  This wine author and well decorated educator with a lot of initials after her name, was a complainer.  When she checked in and saw her name tag she sighed and said, my name was spelled wrong and you have the wrong company name.  I told her it was no problem and that I would make her a new badge.  The tasting booklet was highly organized by commune, so that if you followed the tables, you could taste from north to south and the pages were exactly in order.  Except, this author couldn't figure it out.  She couldn't find one winery.  I told her where it was.  She complained.  I got the organizer because I could not leave my station.  Later, when I did the tasting, I wondered what her problem was since I had absolutely no problem tasting in order of the book and the room layout.  So, my view of her is now, not in such high regard.

One poor winery owner was getting a lot of flack from tasters.  His wine was oxidized.  When I approached the table, a taster was asking the owner to smell his glass.  He did and shrugged.  I smelled my wine, looked at the other taster and said that is was oxidized.  He agreed and said that was what he was trying to tell the owner.  Later on, I saw the winery owner with bottles in one hand and luggage in the other, storm out of the room before the tasting was over.  Hey, if your wine is not showing well, don't serve it!

Out of 30 wines, the ones to watch are 

1) Fotodi

2) Gabbiano

3) Fattoria Viticcio

These wines from the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione are not yet available for purchase, but they will change your mind on how you view Chianti's.  Keep your eyes out for them!

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My First Wine Gift at Work

 

Over the years, I have watched my colleagues be rewarded by customers with gifts.  The beer guys always received items like cigars, growler glasses, beers you can't get locally, etc.  The liquor guys received bourbon, ties, scotches, etc.  

The wine people?  We get shafted.  I can't say I've received nothing.  I have received cash tips from a few customers in my early years in the wine business, but it was mostly from hosting their dinner or event.  I had one customer who gave  me a really nice cash gift for Christmas years ago and I had a customer who gave me a bracelet off her wrist after I gave her some top-notch customer service and I remarked how pretty he bracelets were.  It was like a $2 hand-made beaded bracelet, but I wear it frequently and cherish it.  But, no customer had ever walked into the store with a gift specifically for me.  

Until yesterday.  It's weird how much high-end wines I deal with.  I've always imagined that after I delivered one of my guy his wine wroth $120,000 that he wold reach down and grab a bottle worth $200 and say, "Thanks.  This is for you."  But, that's never happened except in my delusions.

Yesterday a customer came in to pick-up a special order.  He wanted  a Cabernet about $12 that I ordered just for him that he had at a local wine bar.  His wife told him before he got there, to give me a bottle to try.  Appreciated?  Elated!  He purposely came in with an agenda to do something nice for me.  And, he will go down in history as the first customer to ever give me a bottle of wine from his personal stash.

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I Work for Free Wine

 

I had the most amazing experience yesterday.  A few weeks ago I saw an ad on my former school's web site calling for volunteers to work a wine Competition.  There were promises of free lunch, free parking and free wine.  I'm in, right?

When I arrived at 9am, there was a small room filled with hundreds and hundreds of wine bottles waiting to be judged.  This was even more glorious than I imagined.  I started off by opening dozens of bottles of wines with the not the best corkscrew, but I persevered.  Shortly thereafter, I was introduced to another volunteer who I would be working with.  This was her 7th year participating and she was just as anal as I was.  We made sure that all the wines were organized for our panel of judges, wines opened, paper trivet's labeled (the thingy's that go around the bottom of the wine glass with labels identifying the wine) and we were ready to go at 10am.

There were 6 tables of judges and each table or panel had their own volunteers and wines to judge.  Most of the judges were buyers in the industry.  They were able to judge on price, varietal and country.  Everything else, was up to them.  If they wouldn't buy it, the wine did not get a medal.  If they would buy it, then they had to decide if it was a bronze medal, silver medal, gold medal or double gold medal.  A double gold medal was awarded if everyone at the table agreed that it was superb.

I don't know why, but I had a ball.  Pouring, organizing, delivering the wine to the judges, hearing their scores and then going back and starting all over again.  It reminded me why I went into the wine business in the first place - for FUN!

We broke for lunch and we were able to talk with the judges and other volunteers.  I was surrounded by amazing people.

After lunch we started the process all over again until we finshed at 2:30pm.  I'm sure our judges were exhausted.  They had started with all the reds, moved to rose, then white, sake, fruit wines and dessert wines.  They had wines from Kentucky, Minnesota, China, Japan, Nevada, California, Australia, etc and it was an interesting array of wines.  And this was just OUR table. 

When it was all over, it was our turn to taste all the wines.  Being in the business, I was able to pinpoint the high end stuff first and start there.  We all tasted the winners and the losers weren't so shabby either.  Once all of the tallies were in, the judges came back to look at their wines and taste other panels.  The big winner at our table was a $8 Malbec from Argentina. I was shocked to see that some of the "better" items did not medal at all.  

After some time, it was announced that all the volunteers could take home one case of wine - unopened wine!  I pounced on the good stuff first and grabbed some winners from my own tasting.  As I said my good-byes, the Director told me that I should take a case of opened wine.  I told him that I couldn't carry it all to my car so he offered me his hand truck.  I could not pass this up!

2 cases of wine later, I headed home with the biggest smile on my face.  What a great day!

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The Art of the Wine Event

 

I love running wine events – dinners, walk-arounds, tastings, you name it.  They are very stressful, but I get an adrenaline high from them.  I have done everything from a 2-person wine dinner (awkward) to a bar-type wine tasting for 150 people.  I would love to tackle a larger tasting, such as one for the trade or a customer grand tasting.  This is strange coming from the woman who didn’t want to plan her own wedding.  I wanted to elope.  It would have been easier!

Even when I planned my mother’s 70 birthday 4 years ago, it was exciting.  Things went wrong – the decorations didn’t arrive in time and I had to scour every party store in 10 miles for luau decorations in the middle of winter.  The DJ I hired stepped out of the room during the big “surprise”, so that people weren’t aware she was walking in and then my star act got stuck in traffic and people didn’t want to stick around and stay.  It’s ok though.  Mom had Elvis all to herself and he serenaded her all night long.

With wine tastings/dinners you have to cost out the wine and the food to come up with ticket prices, advertise, get out on social media, get your guerilla marketing on, send e-mails, post flyers, send press releases,  get entertainment or a speaker, possible charity coordination, buy the food, get the wines in the fridge, make tasting sheets, etc, etc.

The most stressful and frustrating thing that happens is when people wait until the last minute to sign-up.  I’ve run $100 per person classes that sell out weeks in advance, I’ve had dinners I have had to cancel 24 hours before because I didn’t get many people to sign-up and then 2 hours later, 24 people want to sign-up and I’ve had tastings where 30 people walk in the door and pay extra without batting an eye.  I hear this from people who send out invitations to their weddings – people either wait or don’t respond at all.  This is just a wine tasting/dinner so, whatever.  I guess it's the sign of the times.

I was doing a class once for about 40 people at $60 per person.  I was the speaker and ill prepared, but I bumbled through it.  I had one guy who came in, sat down, proceeded to drink every wine at his seat, eat all the food on the table and once I started speaking, got up, created a ruckus and left.  I’m not very good when I get interrupted except when Chef Jamie Oliver interrupted me once, but that’s another story.

When the event happens, people usually, except for the guy I just mentioned, have a great time.  The more they drink, the more they buy and the happier everyone is.  But, on the day of the event, I get wedding day jitters.  I get nervous.  It’s just the last minute preparations that get me going crazy, barking out orders to everyone so that when the event finally starts, it’s like Mr. Rourke in Fantasy Island.  “Smiles everyone!  Smiles!”  And then…it’s all over and you clean up and hopefully like that one time, there is no puke to clean up and everyone gets home safely.  Yeah, I love running wine events.  Can’t wait for the next one!

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The Life of a Retail Wine Goddess

I just posted about how much I love the wine business and that same day when I went to work, all hell broke loose.  I fought with my boss, customers were asking ridiculous questions and I wanted to turn around and leave.  The wine business is not all it's cracked up to be.  People think it's glamorous and all you do every day is sit around and drink wine.  I mean, we do that, but there is a lot of spitting involved.

The retail business is even tougher.  You can't plan your life.  Your schedule is different every day, every week.  Today is Friday and I still don't have a clue when I'm working next week and what day I might have off.  Now, I just said day, instead of days.  Next week is a holiday week.  Passover starts this weekend and next weekend is Easter.  We have mandatory 6 day work weeks, with longer than normal shifts and NO EXTRA PAY.  That's right.  A 60+ hour work week for the same pay.  When you are a salaried employee, it is the owner's right to abuse you.

And holiday weeks bring out all the crazies.  And we have to deal with them with a smile on our faces.  These are people that never buy liquor, but they need it this week because they have to have it for their guests or they need to bring it over to someone's house.  They will be rude, demanding, and ignorant about wine.  When someone holds up a clear bottle of white wine and asks you "is this white or red?" you know it's a holiday week.

So, when you're out there this weekend and next week and you're shopping for your holiday brunches. please be kind to us - all retailers who are serving your needs and being abused by the system all in the name of a holiday. 

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Was the Wine Move a Mistake?

I sometimes ask myself if I should have stayed in advertising.  I miss the money, the perks...did I mention the money?  I have been in the wine business full-time now for 7 years.  I thought by now I would have moved further into my career than I have.  I thought by now, someone would have noticed how special my talents are and that I would be a real hot-shot in the wine industry.

But, despite all that, and despite people in my life who might try to squash my dreams of becoming a star in the industry, I remembered that it really was all worth it.  I love wine.  I love talking about it, learning about it, seeing how it's made, sharing it, finding new wines and of course, drinking it.  Despite all the nonsense that comes with my job role, I still love the business.  I'm still looking to be a superstar, but for now, I'll keep educating myself and my customers and keep reaching for the stars.

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