On September 27, 2018 I went to Astro Wine & Spirit store located in “De Vinne Press Building” (399 Lafayette St. (at East 4th St.) New York, NY 10003). I went to the wine store with two of my classmates, that is Ellie and Preeya. We arrived at the store early in the morning, as they were still setting up the store and restocking the products.

It was still early in the morning there was only a few customers who came into the store to by wine. Since, it wasn’t really we were able to get a chance to speak with the store “sales manager” named Doug Yacka. He was kind enough to spare us some time and answer our questions regarding the store. During the interview Mr. Yacka took us to an open wine cellar where people can go in and look around. In this cellar it contains wine that needs to be store in a cool temperature (the cellar temperature was 55 ℉), and as well as there were some display of vintage expensive wine bottles.

Some of the question that I ask about the store was mainly about the distributor and how they design the store.

The first question that I ask Mr. Yacka was, “When designing the store, how do you categorized the products? or where to place the products?”

Mr. Yacka replied; that we usually categorized the wine products by “country”, than it is sub categorized into “region”, and than by the “grape variety”.

The second question was “Who is your main distributor for wine?”

According to Mr. Yacka Astro Wine & Spirit store have more than 30 distributors. The distributor that they bought the wine from are mainly small producers (local), that mostly produce organic and natural wine.

However, when ask “what factor do you consider when buying wine products?”

Mr. Yacka wasn’t able to go into the detail as he said that it is operated by the marketing team of the store. Mr. Yacka said, that the marketing team are the ones that choose where they get their wine.

For the last question that I asked Mr.Yacka was for people who are newly starting to drink or get into wine, what are some advice that you would give to those people?

Mr. Yacka replied that “for people are are new to wine and is starting out they should try wine that is mostly one flavor (wine with predominately one type of grape variety) rather than wine with complex flavor.  

After answering to all our questions and explaining the structure of the store Mr. Yacka proceed to go back to work, and we spend our time in the store a little longer to look around and maybe buy some wine from the store.

Shelf Talker

This Shelf talker described the characteristic, the taste, the origin and the cost of the wine.

Red wine from Spain

La Rioja Alta, Vina Ardanza reserva 2004 is a red wine from the region of Rioja, Spain. The grape varieties of the wine are Tempranillo (80%) and Grenache (20%). The wine is produced by Vina Ardanza. One bottle (750 ml) of Vina Ardanza cost $44.96 plus tax.

Sparkling Wine not from France

Brut Cuvee, Vintage 2010 is a champagne or sparkling wine from the country of England. The grape varieties of the wine are Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir. The wine is produced by Wiston Estate. One bottle (750 ml) of Brut Cuvee cost $54.96 plus tax.

Red wine from region you didn’t know make wine

Yakut, Kavaklidere, vintage 2017 is a red wine produced in the country of Turkey. The grape varieties of the wine are Bogazkere and Okuzgozu. The wine is produced by Yakut. One bottle (750 ml) of Kavaklidere cost $10.96 plus tax.