Gabriel Harris
As an inexperience wine student, I was looking forward to my first visit to a true wine and spirits store. As the assignment instructed, my group and I called a head of time to allow the store some time to get ready for our visit. We arrived on time for our appointment with many eager questions. However, upon entrance to the store, our delighted dispositions soon turned sour. The woman working at the desk in the front of the store was completely unreasonable with us. Apparently they were so understaffed that she wouldn’t be able to talk to us about any of the wines, at this point she tried her best to get us out of the store by telling us to leave our questions and email address and she would try and get back to us as soon as possible.
To say the least that my first visit to a wine store wasn’t what I expected. The inexperienced worker couldn’t stop us from exploring the rest of the store. As my group and I toured the rest of the store, our aggression seethed out of mouths and as it happened we stumbled upon another worker who was in the store. She introduced herself as Veronica and told us that she’d be more than happy to answer our questions for us. We were able to take ourselves on a small tour of the store. Veronica told us that we could ask her any questions that we had were….
- What are your most popular wines or trends you see?
Many of the popular wines that they sell are Pinot Grigio, Prosecco, Sparkling White Wine and one spirit by the name of Cognac Louis XIII.
- How many bottles of wine are sold in a day? Week? Month?
The manager explained that it all depends on the season and what wines they stock up on. On a good day they can sell up to 300 bottles, and within a week its up to 2100 bottles.
- At what temperature is it best to store an open wine?
Veronica explained that once a wine is opened, it must be kept in the refrigerator, it could be chilled and kept in 30 to 40 degree environment. She was able to take us into their wine cooler, which was a giant room where they stored all the wines. She explained that the floors are made out of rubber to reduce movement within the wines and that it is kept at a steady temperature of 40-50 degrees in order to keep the wine chilled properly.
It turns out that the employee we were talking to happened to be the manager. She was polite and gave the impression that she wanted us to be informed in all the information about wine. I would have to say that for my first visit to a real wine store, it was very productive. I was able to see what goes on behind the curtain with the collection and storing of fine wines. This experience also showed me how professionalism is within the real wine industry, although that one worker can not be held at the same standards as her anger, Veronica should reconsider her currently employees status at the shop.
This is the store Crush Wine and Spirits, when we originally walked by the store we couldn’t find it.
Wines from areas such as Syrah.
This is a cabinet of some of their expensive spirits.
This is the business card for Crush Wine&Spirits
Wines that include Bordeaux, Cab and Merlot
I went to that store also, I didn’t experience what you experienced. The person who toured me had so much passion on wine and beverages. He actually explained a lot of information about the wines and even the things that I didn’t ask about.
I’m sorry to hear that you had a bad experience at first but I am happy that you ended up meeting Veronica and learning so much about the store. I also noticed they have a very clever business card and an interesting color.
The customer service aspect of your experience is disappointing but a beneficial learning experience non the less.
Some of the temperatures mentioned seemed a bit too cold but still with-in range of “normal”.