Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 10:17 AM
Subject: Orangewood Wine News - 26
To
Our Wine Aficionados,
Introduction
It has been over two months since the last newsletter, so
the declared interval of “whenever I feel like it” really
applies. March and April were very busy months, more so since I had some
consulting work to do. Now that has settled down and it’s time to
pick up the pieces as we wind down for the summer doldrums. In previous
years we have managed to keep our sales up by breaking into new accounts or
selling additional wine to existing accounts. This year looks to follow
that pattern.
Box
Score
New Restaurants/bars: 6
New Retail outlets:
4
New Sales
people: 0
New
Wineries:
0
Contents
Events
May 19th - Vino Noceto wines with owner Jim
Gullett at AJ’s
May 20th - Wine education: Italian style wines
with Jim Gullett at AJ’s
May 20th -Young’s Vineyard 2004 Release at
Eccentric Gourmet
New Locations
Backstreet –
Capital Grille –
North –
Ruth’s Chris –
Terroir Wine Pub –
Rincon Market –
Sunflower (Broadway) –
Wildflower –
Rambling
Upcoming
Events
May 19th, 4:00 – 6:00 pm: AJ’s,
Jim Gullett, the owner (well, Suzy is an owner too, but she
won’t be there) of Vino Noceto, will be pouring their wines: the
Sangiovese, Sangiovese Riserva and two of the block
designated Sangioveses – the ‘01 Hillside
and ‘01 Marmellata – together with their Frivolo, the delightful
and frivolous Moscato Bianco. Our own Craig Stancliff will be there to
provide his insights on these wines. This is a casual event, a chance to
try the wines, chat with Jim and Craig and take a bottle home for Friday
dinner.
May 20th, 2:00 – 3:00 pm: AJ’s,
AJ’s has a wine education program that runs on
Saturday’s for an hour starting at 2:00pm. Attendance is limited to
18, so it’s a good idea to make a reservation. This is a more
structured event. Jim Gullett, owner of Vino Noceto will be talking about
varietals historically associated with
May 20th 4:00 – 6:00 pm at the Eccentric
Gourmet in Anthem
I will be introducing the new vintages from Young’s
Vineyard. Towards the end of April each year Young’s releases their
new vintages. There are stories of two mile long traffic jams as people
line up to try to get some. This year, however, they have allowed people
to order the wine prior to release. That included us. Laurie and I
flew over there the week before release to taste the new wines and see what we
could buy for all you Arizonans. The wines we needed were the Barbera,
Zinfandel and Syrah – and we got some. We also scored a few cases
of Sangiovese and barely any Petit Sirah and
Roussanne. We will be sampling all of these wines at Phill’s
Eccentric Gourmet in Anthem – it may be your only chance to try some of
these until next April.
New
Locations
Backstreet Wine Salon,
Capital Grille of
North,
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse,
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse,
Terroir Wine Pub,
Hacienda Del Sol Gift Shop, 5601 N Hacienda Del
Sol Rd, Tucson
Rincon Market,
Sunflower Market,
Wildflower, 7037 N Oracle,
Rambling
One problem with not getting the newsletter out
on a regular basis is that lots of things go by that I’d like to write
about, but really don’t fit into something that would go across the
wire. So instead I picked a couple unrelated items that I think are
interesting and hope you do too.
First, one aspect of writing Newsletters is that
I need to have an eye open looking for news-worthy stuff. It’s a
little like photography. Laurie and I go on vacations and we usually have
along a camera. I operate in one of two modes, “with camera”
where I am looking at angles and shadows and interesting things to take
pictures of and “without camera” where I am being me, enjoying the
places we visit and figuring out where the next meal is going to be! So
without a newsletter in mind nothing newsworthy happens!
The second unrelated item is about employee
attitudes. A couple of Saturdays ago I needed to get my boarding pass for
a Sunday flight. You can get boarding passes for Southwest 24 hours ahead
on the web. When I tried to get my pass I got a screen saying there was a
problem, so I tried again. Same problem.
On the screen was a phone number to call. I called it. Within
2 rings I was speaking to someone who took my reservation number fixed the
problem and then waited while I successfully got my boarding pass. So why
is this interesting? First off, I didn’t have to fight my way
through a bunch of “Our menu has changed…” stuff to get to
someone who could help. Second I didn’t have to listen to any of
the “This call may be recorded for quality purposes” or get invited
to any “Please fill out this questionnaire on our response.”
Why not? A company that tries to impose quality or has attitude
improvement programs is starting from the wrong place. I hung up feeling good.
Ciao,
Richard
and Laurie
Richard
(newsletter writer) and Laurie Corles (editor)
Orangewood
Consulting LLC
480.488.4794
or 602.410.3774
http://www.orangewoodwines.com
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