The wine store I chose was the Wine Outlet located in Secaucus, New Jersey. This store has been opened for many years, and my family and friends highly recommended it to me for this project. I must admit, I was not impressed by name of the store. The word outlet did not give me the “feeling” that this was going to be a good store.

I strongly believe the outside of the store needs a little update and also brighter and fresher signs. However, once I got inside of the store I was in shock as I was not expecting what I saw. There is a lady at the entrance welcoming people, very kind, and friendly. I love the fact she did not follow me everywhere I went, she simply told me “let us know if you need any assistance”.

The store is definitely divided in different sections. I love the fact they have the wines divided by country. This helped me tremendously as I am currently learning about wines based on each country. For a beginner like me, it was pretty amazing!!! Then, each country has its own wines further sub-divided by red, white, rose, sparkling, and in the case of France there is a section for Champagne.

Some of the countries that truly captured my attention was Spain and Chile. I was informed by the store manager that these two countries are producing and selling more and more wines everyday. He also told me that even though France is/was the number one wine producer, consumers’ tastes have changed drastically. Actually, I thought the most interesting aspect of his explanation was that many consumers dislike how complicated wine labels are. Many do not understand what AOC stands for, AOP, terms such as Chateau, Cote, Cuvee, etc. It is not even about the fact is in French, but most wines from France have too many “words” on their labels.

It is not that wine consumers have become lazy neither, but they simply care about more flavor, price, year, and color (red, white, rose). This was so interesting to me! For instance, in this picture you can clearly see that says Spanish Summer Wines, Light & Refreshing. I believe that if more signs like this are created, there will be more wine drinkers. Again, people dislike when they do not know about a product and when it gets too complicated.

The picture below shows the Italian wine section. I also think the store can do a little upgrading inside. They do have the wines also separated by grape style, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, etc, but more clear signs will not hurt them. It truly caught my attention the fact they have their Italian wines in the same section as the ones from Australia.

Something that I’ve learned during this store visit was about Organic Wines. I did not know this type of wine even existed. The store manager explained that these are wines that are made in accordance with principles of organic farming; they are free of any chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. This type of wine is also growing in the United States and also overseas. There is a full section of organic wines and they use the same grapes for other types of wines.

Besides the store set up, different grape types, countries, and all other complexities that wine can bring, what I truly learned and concluded from this project is that people are interest more about wine than before, and that many individuals prefer wine labels that are easy to read and comprehend. Also, that price does not necessarily equal quality from a “consumer” point of view.