The wine shop I visited was “Grand Wine and Liquor”. This shop is located in 30-05 31TH street Astoria, NY 11102. This wine shop is in a good location because it is closer to the N/R train station and it is distinguish by their big blue canopy. The front of the store advertises different varieties and popular brands of spirits on their windows to attract the attention of clients.

Upon entering to the store, I saw a cashier whom I introduce myself letting her know that I am a wine student from City Tech in Brooklyn. I ask her for permission to take pictures inside of the store and she kindly said “Yes, no problem”. This store has monthly calendar days of wine tasting which I think is fantastic as it attracts new clients that will purchase some wine, and also an opportunity for students like us to explore and learn more about the wine industry. The store also uses plenty of advertisement offering lower prices on their products, displaying them inside and outside of the store.

The store had a very interesting layout; on the entrance they have two fridges containing white wines and champagne bottles. These fridges are located there for one reason. The clerk explains to me that some clients want their bottle ready to consume as soon as they get home, saving them time cooling off their purchased product.

It was a surprise for me to see that this store is offering more variety of wines than spirits. The layout of the wines started on the right side with the France section, advertising Loire in a post. The france section started with different AOC such as St. Emilion, Margaux/St.Estephe, Merdoc and Cahors. In this section, I recognize the wines from Bordeaux with different appellations. It was really interesting and helpful having some tags posted on the aisles for example a France bottle from Rhone Valley where the tag has the description of the color, the aroma expected, and the balance on the wine.

On the same aisle, after the France section it continues with the California wines which are the biggest section in this store. They divided the California section from the variety of grapes, the first section started with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Sirah and Zinfandel.

Other wines are located in the back area, displaying wines from different countries such as Australia, their most popular brand Yellow Tail. One interesting fact is that this wine is produced by Casella Wines Pty Ltd based in Yenda, Australia, which has a population of approximately 1400 people. Also wines from Croatia, Romania, Hungary Bulgaria and many other countries.

On the left side they have located the Italian wine section which is identified with an Italy map in a poster. I was excited because this was our passed lecture in class, in which I could identify wines from different regions and learned a variety of wines such as Tuscano and bottles labeled with DOC’s.

Another section in the left side is the Latin-American section and it was identifiable with an Argentine map in a poster. I know we will be studying this area soon during class. Based on The Sommelier book, “Argentina ranks fifth in world in terms of total wine production”. That is amazing.

The last section on the left side was located the Spirit section. This section was identifiable with different post promoting Gin, Tequila and Rum. One interesting and expensive spirit was a “Remi Martin Louis XIII” with a price tag of only $999,999.99!! Unfortunately I left my credit card at home.

I notice that this shop has a wide price selection ranging from $9.99 and up. Besides the advertisement outside of the store, they have flyers inside offering special discounts and also business cards for their clients. Also, their website which is really convenient because you can choose a wine from the variety of grapes or the types of beverage you wants. www.grandliquors.com

I think one area to improve is perhaps having a shelf full of wines located in the middle of the store displaying a variety from different countries. One of the sale assistant told me that the reason for not having that shelf is because they don’t have more space, for that reason they have to mix it, even though the shelf is label by the variety of grape.

It was an amazing experience to visit this shop and do this assignment. I really enjoy seeing how wine shops organize different sections. Also, understand and differentiate the appellations, AVA’s, DOC’s. Thanks professor Goodland for this assignment!