The following Retail Beverage Shop I visited was called Heights Chateau. It is located in Brooklyn on 123 Atlantic Ave.

This is a visual of the the outside of WIne Shop. “Heights Chateau”. Taken on Atlantic Avenue.

They had this post-stand outside of the store on a Friday, that stated there were those drinks during those hours that they were promoting.

Another way this wine shop promotes their beverages is by holding tasting events. Which I witnessed that day of, there was an employee advertising to customers about Gin.(even me, but I kindly said no.

At first, this project made me quite nervous because I have never been to a Wine Shop before. Afterwards, I found that it was not as bad, because we have discussed over the questions that could be asked at the Wine Shop. Other than that, I found that the process was not very difficult at all. The first reason is because the employees are very customer friendly. A couple employees came over and asked if I needed any assistance a couples times. Another reason was that I found the store very cozy and calming. The interior design of the store appearance kind of stunned me because instead of aisles of groceries, they were many many different types of wine.  I was very fascinated about how organized and how each category of wines were placed. Correct me if I’m wrong, I think the store placed their wines very distinctively according to the locations, in a specific order.

I was very excited, when I noticed the wines of the countries our class has spoken about such as New Zealand wines, South Africa, Europe, places in the U.S.A., or even the wine variety names such as Sauvignon Blanc, Sparkling Wines, Zinfandel, and numerous more. I did acknowledge that within a country, there are different variety of grapes produced, therefore there were different wines coming from that specific location.

Heres an example of how they label the type of wine or origin of the wine. They also show a sample of how to distinguish whether the wine is Biodynamic, Organic, from Washington/ Oregon, or from New York

There was an employee who kindly answered my questions. With no hesitation she answered my questions without even having to think. She appeared to explain with very understanding way, so I understood her.

The first question asked was,

• Which wine is most popular and why? The employee explained to me Italian wines because the owner of the shop is Italian and also because of the local customers. She also, stated that the shop was family owned.

Another question asked was

• How much is a customer paying for a bottle of wine everyday? She stated around $15-$20. I thought to myself, “Wow, this industry must make a lot of income.” There are also, weekly specialized deals as low as $12.99.

When I asked,

• What temperature do you store/ serve a certain wine? She said our store does not serve wine and they mention because we are “off-premise” which triggered my wine vocabulary. It is a regulation that they are not supposed to serve wine. However, they hold events where you can taste beverages.
• As for the temperature, they have a cellar underground which they keep at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the temperature of the store is around 68 degrees.

As for, How do you choose the wine you sell?

• She stated, “We taste them first.” I believe that would be firsthand knowledge to know your stores beverages in order to sell them to customers. To precisely make decisions in promoting your wines especially during on-premise locations or special events.

I kind of regretted that I forgot to ask for the employees name and a little about her for me to share. With her experience, she knew what I came here for, she also asked what college I was from. I thank her very much for answering my questions.

I would definitely introduce the shop Heights Chateau to my classmates and maybe to others who are interested in wine to go there.

For my Retail Beverage Shop Analysis, I decided to go to a wine store I had never visited before but had heard a lot about from some of my fellow wine-loving friends: Union Square Wines and Spirits.

Union Square Wines and Spirits is located just a block from Union Square at 140 4^th Ave. (bet you didn’t know there was a 4^th Ave. in NYC!).

Here is what the entrance looked like as I walked towards it:

The store has been around since 1995 and one can tell just how much those working there appreciate what they do just by speaking with them about their offerings.

The space is quite large, with wine selections from all around the world:

They often host a variety of events including free wine tastings on Saturdays, which I thought was a great supplement to their retail offerings. Not only that, but they even have Enomatic wine machines, which allow them to offer patrons a taste of expensive wines without having to finish the bottle for fear of spoilage.

One of the store’s Enomatic wine machines.

Speaking of expensive, the wines at Union Square Wines and Spirits have surprisingly high price tags compared to those I’ve seen in other wine stores. The lady I spoke to said that this was because they offered only the highest quality wines, but that they also had cheaper selections for those on a budget (the cheapest one I saw was about $10). In fact, there was a sales bin at the entrance offering discounted options for less selective customers. They also offer a section of featured wines to incite their customers to try something new.

A selection of wines from Germany with their (steep) prices.

One thing I particularly liked was that not only did they organize their wines by region, but also by grape variety. You will see an example of both in the photo below, with Sauvignon Blancs, Merlots, Cabernets, Syrahs, and Zinfandels in the background, as well as Australia, Southern France, Rhone and Bordeaux wines in the foreground:

Along with regular wines, this store also offers a great selection of spirits, as well as a wide variety of kosher wines for its Jewish clientele. In fact, they have a kosher wine specialist who researches, buys and helps customers choose their kosher wine in-house.

The kosher wine selection (left) along with some of the spirits on offer (right).

In conclusion, my visit to Union Square Wines and Spirits was a very productive one. I finally got to visit the store that all my oenophile friends had been raving about and see what all the fuss was: this store offers a truly fantastic, well-organized selection of wines, allowing you to browse, taste and explore the wonderful world of wine with the help of their knowledgeable staff for hours on end. Albeit at those prices, one may only want to buy for very special occasions.

Ryoko Yamaguchi

HMGT 2402 / Professor Goodlad

Retail Analysis

DESPANA VINOS Y MAS

I went to a wine store, DESPANA VINOS Y MAS, located on 410 Broome St, New York, NY 10013 and I was able to talk to an assistant manager, Joseph Delgado, who has 10 years’ experience in wine stores and studied wines at international wine center. Mr. Delgado found himself in the wine world after studying urban farming across the United States, and traveling through Europe and Scandinavia as well as being The Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) certified.  The store is offering their customers the best selection of wines and in 2011 they decided to take another step forward and open Despaña Vinos y Más store set right next to Despaña Fine Foods & Tapas Café on Broome St. The store, they only sell for Spanish wines but they successfully provide an opportunity to pair all customers’ Spanish delights together in one place. The feature of customers, people stop by from just neighborhood after their work like 6pm and their budget they ask around $30. Their budget is little bit higher than I expected but the neighborhood is in Soho, so now it does make sense. Mr. Delgado provided me his recommendation of wines and the most popular wines (red, white and sparkling) in the store, also he explained those wines taste and feature.

(The left picture) The store where wood displays and shelving for wine bottles that really organized and the wood display gives us a good atmosphere and a conformable mood. Also placement is good to grab attention because too far back and no one sees it. There is integrating bottles into their wine display that is attractive.

(red wine) The right picture what the most popular in the store.

Alejandro Fernández Tinto Pesquera Reserva  $19.99

Variety: 100% Tempranillo

Appearance: Clear, medium garnet

Nose: Clean, medium intense elegant black fruit notes; leather & toasted vanilla notes

Palate: Dry. Elegant, with good acidity, pronounced tannins & a persistent finish

Vinification: Aged 24 months in French & American oak, 12 months in bottle.

Recommended Food Pairing: Grilled red meat.

(The left picture) Displaying wine or any bottled good requires extra strong shelves that hold a variety of wines available to display.

(white wine) The right picture what the most popular in the store.

Variety: Verdejo

Appearance: Clear. Medium lemon. Nose: Clean. Medium intense citrus notes with herbaceous notes. Palate: Dry. Medium-bodied

Persistent, fresh acidity with bitter, herbal notes

Vinification: Sourced from fruit grown in three villages in the province of Valladolid

Fermented in stainless steel

Recommended Food Pairing: Grilled white fish.

(The left picture) There is ease of both visual and physical selection. Their wines rack ideally stand high enough for comfortable. When a customer has made a selection, the display of the wines is simple to see because they display wines shelves that offer individual sections for each bottle

(Campaign) The right picture what the most popular in the store

Varieties: 50% Macabeo, 30% Xarel-lo & 20% Parellada

Appearance: Clear. Medium lemon with fine bubbles

Nose: Clean. Medium intense white fruit & autolytic notes, brioche

Palate: Dry. Medium bodied with bright acidity & subtle yeasty flavors

Vinification: Organic

Hand harvested from up to 36-year-old vines

Vinified from only free-run juice with primary fermentation taking place in stainless steel over a period of 15-20 days & secondary fermentatin in-bottle over 60-70 days

Aged in bottle, on its lees 2-5 years

Recommended Food Pairing: Eggs & sausage.

The red wine Mr. Delgado recommends

Varieties: Tempranillo & Graciano

Appearance: Clear. Medium ruby, with purple tones

Nose: Clean. Medium intense

Red fruit with floral notes; strawberries, raspberries, cherries & violet scents

Palate: Dry. Medium-bodied with cherry & plum flavors with spicy hints and fresh acidity

Vinification: Organic, biodynamically farmed. Hand harvested & whole-bunch fermented

Bottled unfiltered, without added sulfur

Recommended Food Pairing: Pork.

They provide the tags with each wines which is the most amazing part for me because description tags are very important in wine display. People can see bottles and they might be very attractive, but what attracts a shopper the most is the fact that they can get a short, quick description of the wine. They are giving wines are hitting the hundreds of new wineries and vineyards every year because it’s hard to make a choice out of such vast selections to us. Description tags are the best attracting customers to their wine display. They give us short, descriptions of the wine which is very easy to see for customers.

There is the expensive look of the box and the wine itself are an easy and quick way to catch the customer’s attention. They are able to the best wine display cover a few important details: season, price range, and accessibility. Create wine displays throughout their store that reflect the current season. They offer discount wines as well as mid- to top-shelf price ranges as well in their displays.

I went to a couple stores, I could compare between those and I saw each stores had different customers, different budget also, different their focus or target. Some stores provide variety of region of wines or like DESPANA where they only provide for Spanish wines because they have confidence what they sell. Also I realized that how staffs are professional and knowledgeable about wines because they study wines so hard and I was able to see their passion about wines and how much they love wines. The experience was just amazing!

It always surprises me that whenever I have an assignment to do for school I end up discovering something new and most of the times very valuable. When I was told I had to visit a wine store for my assignment, my mind went to my local wine store in Astoria called Cypriana. Which is literally a block away from my house. But before I made the decision, my professor had already outlined a specific one in my area called Grand Wine & Liquor. Mind you, I have been in Astoria over 20 years and I always pass by this store as it is literally located conveniently on 30th avenue at my train stop but never had the courage to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I am happy that I did. As most of you know this or not know this Grand Wine & Liquor is one of the biggest if not the biggest wine store in Astoria. I remember it that it looked rather old and the interior outdated just looking from outside. But they had recently renovated it. So I said one weekday to go with a few questions and with the interest of buying a nice bottle of wine for myself to be a “good customer” and visited the store. My first impression when I walked in was how clean and organized everything was. The high ceilings with clear signs that indicated the countries from where each wines came from and where they are located was easily an amazing attribute. Especially for those people that are looking for specific regions. Another very good attribute of this store was how spacious the rows of shelves were between each other which was about 2 yards apart. That gave plenty of room for you to walk with other people and not feel that the store is overcrowded. This gave you the sensation that you were at a huge department store like Macy’s with less of the hassle. Which is something a buyer really desires, to be comfortable while shopping. Another fascinating feature was the variety of wine producing countries this place had and not only your usual suspects like France, Italy and California. There were wines from Romania, Chile, Greece, Australia, South Africa, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Montenegro to name a few. I had assumed that this was to cater to the majority of Eastern Europeans that lived in Astoria. The customer service there was excellent. I had been greeted at the door with a smile and asked if I needed any help finding anything. I had told the manager there that I would be taking pictures of the store and wines for an assignment and he said that it was fine and if I needed more information I can gladly ask for it. So that is when I thought to purchase a wine and then be more confident to ask the questions that I already had in my mind for my assignment. So for the record, I had bought a bottle of Amarone Della Valpolicella 2012 from Italy. So when I approached the manager I had initially asked him if he has seen any differences in the wine retail sales over the years. His response was that people have become more savvy in choosing a wine to buy whereas back in the day they would choose more blindly with the price factor mainly in mind. This savviness has made wine sales increase dramatically and has made the consumer more educated about wines he mentioned. My second question was if he sees a specific grape variety being sold during the winter or summer more often. He replied with a very short answer, “there is no pattern”, he continued to tell me that people can buy deep reds like Cabernet Sauvignon in the summer because they are having a barbecue with steaks, and in the winter buy a Sauvignon Blanc for the grilled fish they are doing at home on a cold night. Yes it is truly that diverse he said. The final question I asked him was what is the most significant factor a consumer should consider when buying a wine, and he replied, “value and taste”. He explained to me that the stores like to sell wines of great value as people sometimes do not realize how great a wine is but only if it is offered to them at an enticing price. And the fact that if a person feels that he has not tasted a great Malbec or Cabernet they should always give it a shot and try that wine people are talking about. My only negative about the store was that despite the fact that they have so many regions I found that they just did not have the plurality of wines from California in their store that my other wine store Cypriana has. Maybe this was due to the fact that there are thousands and thousands of wines and it would be impossible to have them all and that they also conduct their wine sales online too which might be the key factor here. I did not want to mention it as a first time buyer but maybe in the future I will. Overall this was a great experience and I am thankful to our wine class and professor for allowing to me to discover Grand Wine & Liquor.

From the outside you can tell how large this store is which is conveniently located on the corner of 30th ave. and 31st street in Astoria.

The store is very spacious with rows of shelves about 2 yards apart. The signs of the regions clearly hanging from above.

A small corner dedicated to Greece with all its famous spirits like Ouzo, Retsina, Metaxa Brandy and some very good wines from Santorini and the Peloponnese.

The various wine producing regions of France are indicated making it easier for the buyer. Notable regions like Bordeaux, Loire, Burgundy and Alsace.

For those special moments of celebration. You have your Moet & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot which are champagnes and you have your Prosecco from Italy a popular sparkling wine.

These are the finest wines the store has and at high prices as you can see.

It is actually cool to have some great wines at cheap prices for those not ready to spend a lot.