ALICIA ABAD

Retail Beverage Shop Analysis

The wine shop I went was Grand Wine and Liquor at 30-05 31^St Astoria. I contacted the store in advance to arrange an appointment with the Manager, but they told me the staff would be able to help me, so when I got in the store I met one of the staff members his name is Michael, who was a very welcoming, knowlegable and pleasant to show me everything and answer all my questions. He starts showing me the wine section from each country, region he knew all grape varieties and what to pair with. The store has large variety of wines and small section of liquors, the store is very organized very clean and the wines shelves is labeled in a small selection of wines from different regions, Something interesting for each wine section have little cards notes are written positive feedback from customers another notes are details about wine  where new customers can see clearly.

The store has two long wines racks each side are distributed American wines from California, New York, Washington, Oregon and the other side of the rack are French wines Italy wines are distributed by region Burgundy, Bordeaux, Loire, Tuscany, Campania and more. I have also realized something very interesting, all wines are display in each shelf from upper are the higher price from lower shelf lower price. The other long Wine racks are Greek wines also are distributed by region grape variety and price. The small racks are display wines from Argentina Chile and Australia they have different variety of red and white wines, and the sparkling wines, champagnes.

I liked at the back of the store they have big section of white wine, champagnes and the Zinfandel wines in the fridge ready to go, I think it is very good for the customers when they need something ready for especial occasion. The store has something interesting every 3 days of the week for few hours the manager choose each week 3 to 4 different wines from different variety and country so the customers have the opportunity to taste the wines.

The store is located in a great neighborhood people from different parts of the world, but especially people from Europe, Greece, and French. The most popular wines here are red wines from Greek, also the French and Italy red and white wines are the second selection, the most expensive wine can cost $400 or more, it was very interesting to visiting this store have a lot to offer their customers.

Over the weekend, my friend Jessica and I visited two Brooklyn wine cellars; Slope Cellars and Scotto’s Wine Cellar. Scotto’s Wine Cellar is located at 318 Court Street and Slope Cellars is located at 436 7thAvenue. Both cellars are located in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, which was perfect for me to commute from one to the other with any hassle. Upon arrival, I assessed the outside appeal of both cellars. Scotto’s Wine Cellar had a rustic, yet modern feel to it. However, Slope Cellars had an old soul. Slope Cellars was slightly larger than Scotto’s. I personally feel like it was because of the way they had their wines set up and displayed. Scotto’s was more cluttered. I noticed that in both stores, there were more reds on display than any other wine. At Scotto’s, I introduced myself to Kim and we started to chat right away. Kim’s customer service was exceptional. She was very interactive and extremely helpful. She’s an excellent salesperson. So excellent that she even got me to buy a bottle of Moscato. At Slope Cellars, I was greeted by a gentleman named Ben, but he told me that he was kind of busy to answer questions at the moment. While I was taking a few pictures of the display, a guy named David came over to me and told me that he’ll help me answer any questions I had regards to the store and wines. David was also helpful and good at answering my questions. And I really appreciate him for coming over to me and allowing me to give him a brief interview because he was in the back of the store and didn’t have to do that at all.

As stated before, at Scotto’s I was happily greeted by Kim. Kim was happy to answer all of my questions. I found out that Scotto’s opened in the year of 1934 and has been in the same location ever since then. Kim has been in the wine industry and working at Scotto’s for 12 years now. She started out working part-time after school, and then started to really get involved with the business going to several wine tastings and other events. At this point, her love for wine was at an all-time high and she started working full-time. Now Kim is the Manager at Scotto’s Wine Cellar. At Scotto’s, the most popular wine being sold are Rose. This is because of the time of the year that it is. In the winter, Red wines are mostly brought by consumers. At this wine cellar they have a wide variety of wines coming in from all over. For example wines from France or Italy to California or New York State. Here the amount of Old World Wines and New World Wines are equal. When I asked about the discounted wines, Kim told me they are on sale because the distributer wants to bring in a new vintage of their product. Right before I left the store, I asked about storing wine and Kim showed me a gas called “Private Preserve” that can be used to preserve wine. I found that really cool.

Spirits at Scotto’s

This is a gas used at Scotto’s Wine Cellar to preserve wine.

Scotto’s Sparkling section

Scotto’s Wines of Spain

My next stop was Slope Cellars where I spoke to David. David told me he started in the restaurant business then merged into the wine business. He said working with wine is much less stressful than working in the restaurant business. David said the fastest wine that they sell surprisingly to me is the Yellowtail Syrah. He said this is because it is cheap and still tasty. At Slope Cellars, they have a larger section of Old World Wines than New World Wines. He said this is because they are more food friendly. The coolest thing David said to me was that wine is “Drinkable Art” and I agreed with him 100%.

Rose selection at Slope Cellars

Red wine Display at Slope Cellar

Spirits at Slope cellar

Visiting these two different wine cellars was a great experience and I’m kind of glad I had to do this assignment. It gave me the opportunity to speak to two different wine professionals that comes from different cultures. After today, when I do drink wine I won’t just drink it, I’ll now drink it and be a critic at the same time.

The Heights Chateau is a fine wine and spirits shop. It is located on 123 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn New York. The store is not a large store, although they use up the space they have to their ability. .The Heights Chateau offers a wide variety of wines, from your reds to your whites. They also offer liquor. They use wooden stands to hold the bottles of wine.It creates a barrier and allows space for more wines. By dividing the wine like this, they are able to house over one hundred different varieties of wine.The Heights Chateau makes it easy to find the wines you are looking for. They have the whole shop arranged by country/origin then by the location inside the country. This picture shows wines from France. Each wine is then divided by its region. This way I was able to find a wine within seconds.They also carry champagne, of which has its own section in the store. They range from prosecco to Cremant de Bourgogne Rose Brut NV.  As I was talking to the store clerk, she informed me that just about every month they get new types of wines. They discount the oldest ones to make way for the new wines. The newest white wine they had received is La Cala from Stella and Mosca with a vintage of 2014. The wine is said to have a full body taste. The newest red wine to hit the shelf was a Malbec from Trilogie with the vintage of 2015. This wine is said to have flavors of ripe plum, and chocolate. It leaves a graceful mouth feel.

The photo above shows their kosher wine selection. The kosher wine is made through the same process as regular wines, with the exception that it must be kept away from chametz. In order for the store to carry the kosher wine, they are monitored by an authoritative rabbi . The rabbi checks to make sure the wine is handled and taken care of properly so his people can enjoy it. Ironically, not only Jewish people buy the kosher wines. The clerk informed me that because most kosher wines are made with labrusca, they are often sweet.

 This is a key that I found on the side of the Syrah wines. Some of the bottles are labeled with each symbol. The symbol stands for if its biodynamic, organic, made in New York, or Washington/Oregon . The Heights Chateau has so much to offer. It has something for everyone and will be my first choice at going to buy wine.

Retail Beverage Shop Analysis/ Comparison

Upon my visit to the Chambers Street Wines store, I had the pleasure of meeting the manager Angela who answered some questions I had for her. The first question I asked her was, “What are your popular wine varieties?” she responded “Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Prosecco” I then asked her “What are some popular selling regions?” Angela answered “The popular regions people usually ask for are Spain, Italy and France” The last question I asked Angela was “In the last year was there a change in sales based on regions of wines sold?” she replied “there sales are pretty consistent, however recently there has been a focus on the European region. She then informed me about the tastings they offer during the week and that unfortunately I was a day early for a tasting. Angela then gave me a card and suggested I look up events they will be having on their website calendar.Angela then let us walk around the store further overlooking the layout of the store.

chambers street wine

In this picture you see some bottles of Barolo Red wine. I find this bottle in the middle the most interesting because I never saw a wine bottle this big and it was also covered with wax.This particular wine bottle has a retail price of $499.99 in the year of 1990 from Italy. This particular section of red wine was extremely high in prices. When I asked why this was so, Angela replies “the Barolo is a vintage style wine being produced in the year of 1990. Also the older the year the higher the price of wine.”

Chambers street

In this picture of Sauvignon Blanc, year 2015 white wine from New Zealand, with a retail price of $13.99. Compared to the red wine the price has a major difference for several reasons. One being the red wine is a vintage, from being aged for many years and the white wine is only one year old. Another is the region there is a major request for Italian wines and New Zealand does not have many requests from customers.

chambers street

In this picture is a poster of Champagne production.The Chambers street slogan for Champagne is no tank methods used they promote organic producers.” Help put back Terroir back in Champagne”

Chambers store

In this picture you see the layout of the Chambers store that has several posters of maps representing the many different regions that they have in their store. Also if you look you will see a green dot on the tags this provides customer with a choice of organic wines. Angela informed me,organic wines are in high request from customers.

After not being able to visit one the wine shops listed, a friend and I decided to visit the Midtown 38 wine shop, located on 38th street between 6th and 7th avenue. Upon entering the store I noticed that it was spacious and organized. Youssef, one of the workers in the store, immediately asked if we’d like assistance. We told him that we were visiting for an assignment and we were hospitality students from New York City College of Technology, and we’d like to know the selection of wine they had and how the store operates. He proceeded to answer our questions and give us a tour of the establishment.

He informed us that the store receives shipments and replenishments from sales representatives every day. They would also offer tastings of new varieties that they think would serve the store’s clientele. The average price for a bottle of wine sold ranged from $35-$90. To me that sounded a bit a high but then I’m only used to buying Barefoot and Yellowtail brands.

On the right side of the store, the wines were neatly organized by grape varieties, beginning with red then moving on to white. This is was all on a 12ft wall that occupied almost half of the store. Youssef informed us that because of the store’s location they mostly catered to a more commercial group than residential. And the most commonly bought red grape variety was Pinot Noir. Because it was versatile enough that it satisfied a wide range of their customers. And Merlot was a close second. Next was the sparkling wine section that was located closer to the rear of the store, with some selections being in a refrigerator. Of the sparkling wines Prosseco was the most bought by clients who had to entertain during meetings. On the left side of the shop was their vintage wines organized by countries such as; France, Germany, Italy and Spain just to name a few. The rest of that wall was stocked with the spirits they offered.

After my visit I decided that, this is a store I’d love to patronize. Some wine shops that I had visited before were cluttered and had somewhat of a stuffy feel to it. But here at Midtown 38, it was spacious and airy, and that accompanied by the service would make for an exceptional shopping experience.

front view hard to tell from across the street if it’s the right store because it does not have a sign infront of the store.

The store that I choose for the retail beverage shop analysis /comparison post was Chambers St Wines located in 148 Chambers Street. The reason I choose this shop was,I did a little research online and in their reviews it said they were widely knowledgeable of wines and it was also the nearest store in the option on my daily routine. I called two weeks ahead prior to my visit and email the manager named Rihana. On Wednesday March 16 she received me at 1 pm the store was busy staff were accommodating the new wine she gave me a walk around the shop since the cellar was not available due to the new shipment. But she let me take a quick look from down the steps it was climate control with wooden floors and fixed shelves so they could lay the wine. Then the store tour started at the the front of the store they have located all the New World Wines by region and by grape type. The back of the store is arrange the same way but broken down into more categories so it would be by Country, Region, Red or White wine,village wines, grape type and finally by organic farming or biodynamic. The sparkling wines are categorised by Brut,demi sec,extra brut altogether as well as Spirits. The manager also told me as well that all there value price wine is put in the front by the register because all that wine put on display is from the old season. I would recommend this shop for all wine drinkers they have very flexible prices and just like there online reviews. I told the manager to give me some suggestions to take home some Italian wine since it’s the wine we are discussing this week in class so I bought home with me one Primitivo(red wine)organic farming and one Gavi (dry white wine) biodynamic. I was fascinated a meet expectations in what I was looking for in my wine preferences with her suggestions and hopefully visit soon again.

White wines from Italy bottles are layed for display for better storing.

Wines from Côte du Rhône classified by region.

Biodynamic and Organic farmed grapes, the signs have a green sticker to identify easily.