Robert Mondavi…….A look Back
June 5, 2011
I just finished reading a book written by Robert Mondavi. Yes that Robert Mondavi. It’s an older book, written when he was about 85 years old. Its called Robert Mondavi, Harvests of Joy. It was published in 1999. Sadly, Mr. Mondavi passed away in 2008 leaving a legacy of one of Americas greatest ambassadors. And Not
just the wine arena
I won’t give you a critique on Mr. Mondavi’s writing style or his punctuation. But one thing I wanted to talk to you about was the one thing I extracted from the book. Mr. Mondavi was the ultimate driven guy. And what usually drives a man (or woman)?
Passion
. Plain and simple.
Mr. Mondavi quite literally, carried the California Wine Industry on his shoulders for many years. It was through his dedication and passion about his craft that the international wine community finally took wines from the new world seriously. I am sure that eventually the European Wine community would have looked at the wines from “The New World” as rivals but back in the 60’s it was blasphemous for them to even think that. Through countless hours of repetitive “Selling” (for lack of a better word), Mr. Mondavi “talked” his way into the hearts and minds of many important wine people around the world. He used every opportunity he came across to ambassador California wine to the world. He was always promoting the soil, the climate, the grapes and techniques for making wines. Tireless and to a sometimes to a fault, Mr. Mondavi’s relentless pursuit of making world class wines drove him achieve what now one thought could be done. Now that’s Passion!
It got me to thinking that maybe what your restaurants could use is a little passion. Establish your staff as “Ambassadors” for your restaurant. When they are out and about they should be “Selling” you place and your wine programs. It certainly takes commitment but if they truly believe in it, it should be easy. But it would be hard to get your staff excited about it if they don’t feel your passion. So be passionate!
The world would certainly be a better place with Mr. Mondavi in it, but through his children, Michael, Tim and Marcie, he has left us a great legacy and example to follow.
By the way, they do make great wines! A Tavola!
Wine Menu…A Wine Tool to Increase Wine Sales
October 31, 2010
The right wine menu can make all the difference to grow your wine sales….
I have seen many a wine list while traveling the globe. Some of them are as simple as a small insert card on a food menu while others need to be carried out on a cart with two big and burly servers to lift it on your table.
I can not speak for either end of the spectrum such as the previous examples but I will say they are probably not very good wine sales tools.
Your wine menu is the number one sales tool you have, besides the server. It is an important element in your wine sales process yet too many restaurants spend little effort maximizing the effectiveness of the tool. Why is that?
I think that most restaurants are afraid of their menu. Let me explain. Unlike tomatoes or shrimp for a food menu a vintage bottle of wine changes quite regularly. Wine as you know is not in everlasting supply. The production may end, the vintage changes, your cellar may be depleted. These are factors which make keeping the wine list current a hard task to complete. Not to mention the printing of new menus.
I believe you should look at your wine list as part of your wine marketing and treat it as an extension of your program. If your program is basic keep the menu basic. Congruently, if your program is extensive, your wine list should reflect the programs depth and diversity.
Let’s face it, the server can not stand at the table for long periods of time and answer every question a guest might think of. Your wine list should help answer questions for your guests. Make the wine list work for you. Here are some notes that may help you develop a better wine list.
1) Make wine list legible-
Using the right font, color and paper can make a big difference. Test a few different combination for ease of readability, factoring in the lighting at different times of the day. Then select the one that reads easiest.
2) Make wine list concise
– Most guests will skim through a list and look for keys such as a bottle they know or a price point they are comfortable with. Don’t make it to hard for the guest to find these things. Keep the descriptions from becoming to Wine Spectator like. And mix the pricing points around as to not make the list to linear.
3) Use boxing or highlighting to draw attention to featured wines. If you found a way to use your wine procurement to bring the cost of a feature down and make a little extra margin on the wine, feature it and give it a top billing.
4) Wines geographically correc t- Check for accuracy on the list. Usually keeping up with vintage changes is tough. The wine distributors are not very good about letting you know when those changes occur. You need to keep on top of the wines by checking them in against your current list and keep it current. Listing the wines in a geographic order helps define your menu for your guests and let them pinpoint wines of interest.
5) I believe a wine list can be too big
. For those restaurants that have a really extensive cellar, I recommend a list and then a Reserve Style list. The regular list is what you present to every guest with the offer to review the Reserve List if so chosen. Your regular list should be a manageable list that is easy to add or remove wines. Your Reserve List should include all bottles you wish to sell. This removes a little of the intimidation factor a big list can have and makes the guests who are not wine savvy a little more comfortable ordering wine.
Using your wine list as a sales tool is important to the overall health of your wine program and your servers should become familiar with the list in use. Test them on their knowledge of the list and soon you will have a winning combination of a great tool and great servers!
Wine Success is a terrible thing to waste!
September 26, 2010
I continue to watch the market on wine and although prices seem pretty stable I still believe that it’s harder to find wines that fall into the category of “Value” wines. I think I have figured out the problem. Good wine
! Hold on a minute, I know what you are thinking. How can good wine be the culprit? Let me explain.
You see, I think the wine industry suffers from its own advances. It suffers from better wine making, better farming techniques and grapes. It suffers from its own marketing machine and most certainly suffers from itself. Not there is anything wrong with this but it certainly makes it much harder to find values that nobody else knows about.
As the industry has matured, many new and important changes have basically over- saturated the market with good wine. There are plenty of good producers making very nice wines in every part of the globe. I know wine is not Kleenex. I mean how many ways can you make a tissue that different, right? But right now there is just too much wine being produced. Better yields per acre, better production methods and certainly a strained economic environment have helped to create this glut. Granted, not all wine is good. Some of it is down right undrinkable. If you have looked at your distributors catalogs lately you will see the enormous amount of wines actually being produced. It seems like it takes an hour just to get thru the whites. And that’s just one distributor. But it really comes down to one thing right? Price! Your guests think so. People are pinching wherever the can. Wine is near the top of that list. It is our own fault. We have ignored what our guest think. We haven’t listened to what they have been saying. But really, in an economy that is crippled we all need to do a better job putting wine lists out there that make sense.
It’s all well and good that you have a list full of the highly sought after wallet busters but what good is it doing for you if you are not selling it. People are dining with price as the central issue. You have looked at your dinner menus and made adjustments now it is time to look at your wine lists. Take the time to review your lists and make some tough decisions. Put wine back in the affordable range. I can not tell you how many people I speak with that are really put off by restaurant wine prices. They would love to enjoy a bottle with their meals but most restaurants make that cost prohibitive by using cost multipliers that are too high. I know a restaurant around here that is actually selling large quantities of wine with just a Retail markup philosophy. Some others are using a retail plus system and are doing quite nicely. The point is by making wines more affordable you are expanding your internal market of wine drinkers.
To long we have worked within the old adage that “I would rather sell one item for a million dollars then a million items at one dollar” Come on get with the rest of the world. Wine is still a luxury item to most diners. I want people to be able to enjoy wine with their meals. I believe you can actually increase this important revenue stream by lowering
your pricing. More buying at less is better then few buying at none!
Pieces and Parts To A Wine Tasting
September 1, 2010
Wine Tasting
If you are not so inclined to hold full scale wine dinners, maybe because you don’t have a full kitchen or room for many people to sit, you may find it just as lucrative to hold smaller, more intimate wine tasting’s.
Many of the same rules apply as with a wine dinner. The only thing that changes is the style of food served and the seating arrangements. Wine Tasting’s can be formal or very informal. You will find that most people attending a wine tasting are there not only for the wine but for some sort of education also. The education could consist of the wine maker talking about this particular vintage or his actual wine making method. It could consist of reviewing a specific region or particular wine. Anyway you do it, try to educate the guests as best you can.
Make up a review sheet for them complete with a section for notes but tasting and education. This way they can catalog the wines they have tried and keep a tasting book going thru future tasting’s.
Give the guest the opportunity to purchase the wines they drink directly at the function. Have an order sheet ready with bottle and cases pricing available. The obvious reason for doing this is sales but it also helps you gauge the level of interest in the wines. Ask your guest for suggestions to help improve future tasting’s, which wines or regions they might have a interest in. Get the customers involved.
I want to stress the level of importance of offering education as the back drop of the tasting. The better you help educate your customer base the easier it will be to have them include wine with their meals when they come in outside of a wine dinner.
Here to you wine tasting future! Salute!
Wine and Cook-outs on the 4th of July!
July 4, 2010
06:38:31Today is the 4th of July. Besides the fact that I am actually taking the time to write here on this day, which is incriminating enough, the special day reminds me of summer. Since we were kids the 4th of July meant something special. Family, friends, fireworks and cookouts! This is where my dilemma comes in.
As a wine advocate, someone who expounds the virtues of wine at any given opportunity, I would be remiss if I did not comment on the subject of which wines to pair with a cookout menu. If you were invited to a cookout which wines would you bring? Being rather warm in this part of the country around this time, one might typically think that this would be more of a cold beer or ice tea type of function. Nothing wrong with that! I too love beer and especially on a hot, beat down hot, type of day. So if you were so inclined, beer would be a good answer. The problem lies in the fact that I am “the Wine Guy”. You know that guy. Everyone knows that guy. He is the guy that shows up with wine at EVERY occasion. Weddings, funerals, holidays, birthdays, frankly any days.
So which WINE would you bring? Well you might start by trying to find out the menu. Call the host and ask what they are making, a simple question but sometimes hard to ask.
All cookouts are not alike. Gone are the days of just Hamburgers and hot dogs, replaced by skewers of chicken satay, grilled seabass, roasted corn cakes and more.
So I guess you might say that the same intriguing wine parings you normally are drawn to are applied here exactly the same way. Recently I went to a cookout with friends and found out the menu consisted of grilled flank steak, brats and lots of cold salads, some dressed in mayonnaise based dressings. Lots of choices here! Grilled flank steak usually means a marinade of some sort, so I picked a wine that could with stand the acidic nature of marinades and still balance the meat. Pinots can be overwhelmed, cabs can be to bold, so this time I picked out a Merlot. Not my favorite as you know, but the fruit and tannic base can stand with the acid and complement a brat also. I also brought a wonderful rose, with a great blend of fruit and mineral components that can crisp out mayo based dressings. Plus doesn’t summer just scream for rose?
