I have actually visited two retail wine shops with my friends. However, I will mainly focus on one, which is Heights Chateau.
This is me in front of the Heights Chateau. Don’t mind Irene’s face on the side.
Heights Chateau is located in 123 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn. It takes a couple of minutes to walk from the school to get to this retail store. It has very good reviews online and the employees spoke politely to me on the phone when I gave them a call for an interview. When I first arrived in the retail store, I was surprised by how nice the placed looked with rock music being played. The beverages are organized neatly by their country and regions. An employee named Dave greeted me and answered all of my questions that I had for him. He included interesting information about Heights Chateau. Dave told me that Heights Chateau used to be located in another place, but they moved here for more space. Currently 15 staff members are working here. Dave also mentioned that the younger crowds of their customers prefer American wines, while the older crowds prefer France wine and Scotch whiskey. The older crowd prefers their alcohol on the sweeter side. In the back of the store, there is a tasting table for customers. Dave commented that people who are planning events usually go to the back to taste wines so they can use it for those events. After interviewing Dave, he allowed us to look around the store.
This was displayed in front of the counter. The sign recommended which alcohol to try/buy.
The wines are organized by their countries and regions. Shown above is France wine.
Shown above are wines from Rhone Valley.
Here are the questions that I asked Dave:
Which wine did you sell the most? Like what is the most popular wine you are selling?
“I can’t think of the most popular wine on top the of my head, but the cheapest and most popular bottle sold is the $7 Astica Malbec wine.”
What wine is your all time favorite? Like what wine do you recommend?
“My favorite wine is from Italy.” (After saying that, Dave showed me the wine)
Dave’s favorite wine from Italy.
How would you guys compare your prices to other retail stores?
“I consider our prices to be good pricing. We have many loyal customers who help us spread our popularity by talking about our store to their friends and acquaintances.”
Does your staff taste every wine in the store?
“Our staff tried most of the wines and whiskey.”
Where do you buy your wine?
“We actually buy our wine from a lot of places. The ones that I could think off of my head are Opici, Winebow, and Wine Universe.”
These are $13 wines from Marlborough, New Zealand. The vintage year is 2017 and the grape variety of this wine is Sauvignon Blanc. The producer is the Babich.
Closer look of the New Zealand wine.
These are $14 sparkling rose wines from France. The producer is Rene Briand. The vintage was not mentioned nor was the region. This is also mentioned to be brut rose (dry).
This is the shelf for dessert wines.
This is the shelf for Sake. It is located across from the dessert wine.
This is a $67 red wine from Rhone Valley, France. The producer is Domaine Louis Clerc and the vintage year is 2010. The grape variety of this wine is 100% Syrah.
Closer look to the $67 red wine.
There are maps of regions shown next to wine bottles. The maps show regions and appellations of those regions. Doing this can teach customers where their wines come from and how the regions look like.
Overall, I had a great time and learned a lot from this store. The employees are polite and I gained connections from this place. Once I turn 21, I would definitely come back and buy alcohol from this place.
The second retail store I went to was Gnarly Wines and Spirits located in 350 Myrtle Avenue. I wasn’t too fond of this place since their customer service were not so great. My friends called and made an appointment for an interview for this place, but the employees forgot and acted as if we were a nuisance. They acted as if they wanted us to hurry up and leave. The employee didn’t really know how to answer our questions. In my opinion, the only good thing about this place are the varieties of the wine and how there are descriptions about the wines near the bottles. Those descriptions are useful and interesting. Heights Chateau didn’t have any description of their wines near their bottles so maybe they should do the same thing so people can understand their wines more.
This is a $27.50 Apricot liqueur from Austria.
This description explains information about the Apricot liqueur. This is considered a “shelf talker” that explained how treasured the fruit apricots are. It explained how Austria has an annual summer fest dedicated to the fruit.
The pictures on your blog is very descriptive on the price.
Beautiful pictures !
Nice pose! Even though we went together, I didn’t notice you took this many photos.
I went to the same store as you, I like how they label everything with the countries’ name and from which village
Your analysis provided beneficial information about the store and about Wine itself. The Italian wine he likes is a good everyday wine.