The store that I chose to visit for this particular assignment was that located on 123 Atlantic Ave called Heights Chateau. I had called prior to my visit to make sure that the associate would be able to help me with the questions that I had, in which they said I could stop in at any time before 9:30 (closing time). I found that very welcoming, and I did not feel pressured to be there at a certain time nor that I had be on a time crunch. Once I arrived, the associate who helped me out was very nice. I didn’t get a chance to ask for his name but he started off telling me about the history of the store. Heights Chateau just moved to their present location not that long ago, 18 years to be exact. They used to previously be located three buildings down, which is now a bar in present day. The associate continued telling me about the way that they section their wines; they section them by country and within that country they section the wines by region. They do not section their whites, or their reds in different sections. Rather, they keep both their whites and reds within the country/region that they belong to. I found this interesting and asked what type of wines do most clients ask for. He answered that most people like wine on the more inexpensive scale, and such is the reason that Heights Chateau does not carry big named wines. In addition to that, the associate said that most wines that come from a well known wine supplier tend to cost more than that of a not so known name.

I continued by asking if they sectioned their wines within the country by the sweet wines as opposed to the more dryer wines. He said they do not, and that if a client were to come in to ask for such a wine, that the associates would have to know the difference. He gave me an example by showing me some German wines like a Riesling and explined that it is semi-dry, not bone dry. He continued by saying kabinett is not very sweet or very dry, and that if we wanted a dry wine would have to look for trocken, which means really dry (He showed me a trocken riesling, as an example). He explained that most people are intimidated by German wines till present day. He explained the types of wines people in the area liked, using cherries as an example. Using his words; “California, Latin America, and South African wines, tend to be more like bing cherries, European wines are like the cherry no body wants. Because it has a tang to it, and they’re better food wines.” He explained that California wines for example are more drinking wines, although they can be paired up with food, for certain dishes it would be hard to pair the wine, such as a pasta, because of the sauce.

The associate said that Rose has taken up a lot of popularity in the last 3 years, and he proceeded to show me the sparking wine from Italy, and the champagne from France. He did mention that most people come for wines in France, particularly those from Sancerre. I ended by asking if they had any wines that could be aged and they said they did but that they kept them downstairs in the cellar. He allowed me to take as many pictures as I pleased and I noticed their wide ranged variety of wines that included Greece, Portugal, Chile, Austria, New Zealand, Argentina, France, Italy, Germany, USA, Kosher wines, and

-The inside of the store.

Sparkling wines from Italy

As a student interested in pastry, this section interested me.

Some champagne.

French wines categorized by region.

I felt the moving wooden stairs gave the store an old school, classic look

The reason for this alignment is overstock,.

USA wines.

The outside of the store.