Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 7:59 PM
Subject: Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 7 - March 23rd, 2007
Introduction
We have
been struggling in the sales area for the last two months. With Szymon
moving on to lead the distribution for an Italian importer in Arizona and Dick contemplating relocation,
we were groping for answers. Our initial strategy of moving lots of
accounts to Kelly and Diane put them in overload. Now we have deployed
Diane’s husband, Gary,
recruited Barbara and given me more accounts. As a result, I feel we can
stop dropping balls and continue to provide the service we intend. Please
let me know of any areas where you see need for improvement.
Box Score
New
Restaurants: 4
New Retail Outlets: 3
New Sales People: 3
Contents
New Sales People
New Restaurants
New Retail Outlets
Rambling
New Sales People
Barbara Wright
Barbara Wright has been working in the Food and Beverage
industry for her entire career, most recently at the Mondrian
Hotel in Scottsdale (formerly the James Hotel).
Prior to that she worked with Peter Kasperski
helping to start up his Star Spangled Tavern joint venture, until Peter left to
focus on the Waterfront restaurants. (See also the new restaurant
listings.) Her career began in New York City
and continued in Chicago before she came to Arizona. Barbara
is a wine enthusiast and has taken several wine courses targeted at the
restaurant industry. She will be working in the Scottsdale
and Tempe
areas.
Gary Davey
I’m cheating a little in saying that Gary is a new sales person. His wife is
Diane, who joined us in January, and they will be sharing the workload of
selling wine to their accounts. Gary’s
background with Honeywell qualifies him to be a serious wine consumer, and,
like Diane, his previous ownership of a wine store makes him knowledgeable
besides.
Xandria Duncan
Xandria has been delivering wine for us for over six months
now. She has been working to establish relationships with potential
customers and this has paid off. She is now able to add wine sales to her
résumé that includes project management, bass guitarist and music producer.
New Restaurants
Cracked Crab Steak and Seafood
6006 East Cave
Creek Road,
Cave Creek, AZ
85331
(480) 488-0800
The Phoenician
6000 East Camelback
Road,
Scottsdale, AZ
85251
(480) 941-8200
Rio Brazilian Steakhouse
10425 North
Scottsdale Rd,
Scottsdale, AZ
85253
(480) 991-1952
Star Spangled
Tavern
Market Street at DC Ranch
20751 North Pima Rd
Scottsdale, AZ
85255
(480) 419-8729
New Retail
Outlets
AJ's Fine Food -
Scottsdale
7141 East Lincoln
Dr.
Scottsdale, AZ 85253
(480) 998-0052
The Wine Loft
17
North San Francisco St
Flagstaff, AZ
86001
(928) 773-9463
Vino 100 - Phoenix
Tuscany Village Center
30835 North Cave Creek Road
Phoenix, AZ 85331
(480) 502-8466
Rambling
Last month my father-in-law, Iggy, and I spent an extended
weekend in Napa.
We stayed with my daughter, Debby, her husband, Mike, and my 2 grandsons,
Tobias and Calvin. We had a great trip until Iggy discovered a
discontinuity in the sidewalk and had a great trip followed by a visit to the
emergency room. Fortunately, he did not break anything but he did strain
something and got to experience walker and walking stick technology for a
while.
Of course while we were there we met some of the people from
the wineries we represent. I met with Amy Downs, who is the daughter of
John Johnson, who, together with partner Dave Cofran,
owns Strata Vineyards. I had originally met John a few years ago
while we were both pouring wine at a fundraising auction for my grandsons’
preschool. Amy is the person I deal with there and it’s good to know who
you are talking to. Strata still has plenty of 2002 Merlot, but the 2003
is ready to go. Their grapes were used by Silver Oak in the Cabernet
Sauvignon prior to their purchase of the Twomey
Vineyard.
Next Iggy and I headed for the Alexis Baking Company to see Chris Calkins who
is owner of Destino Wines. Destino is a virtual winery with no
vineyards or winemaking equipment. Chris has contracts with vineyards in Napa and Russian
River for his grapes and
he dictates all the viticulture. He also sets the direction for
winemaking. Arizona distribution of this
wine is a recent transfer from another Arizona
distributor. I had not met Chris before and this was a good first
meeting.
Heading North on the Silverado Trail, rather than Route 29, we avoided St
Helena, its traffic and traffic lights and turned on Larkmead
Lane to visit Frank Family Vineyards. We met with Rachelle, who is
just incredibly well organized. She is responsible for administration and
human resources and deals with everything seemingly without effort. I
thanked her for her help and patience. She took us along to meet Dennis -
the wine room guy who has had a major role in establishing this brand firmly in
the minds of all visitors. We tried the 2003 Napa Valley
and 2003 Rutherford Reserve Cabernet Sauvignons. Yum! Dennis also
poured the Pinot Noir and Winston Hill Cabernet Sauvignon, both of which are
available only in the tasting room. They gave us a bottle of the Winston
Hill to take home for dinner. The winemaker, Todd Graff, showed up around
then - he claimed it was because it was lunch time. I think it’s because
he can detect the opening of a Winston Hill from a quarter of a mile
away. Todd said he had recovered from his last visit to Arizona and is in training for his April
visit. Scott, the national sales guy chose not to meet us; instead he
stayed home with his one day old first son.
Over the hill into Sonoma, we found the Copain Custom Crush in Santa Rosa. It is here, along with
several well known wineries, that Mike Kuimelis makes the Mantra Wines’
Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandels. He led us through the facility to the
conference room where all the wineries entertain Robert Parker. We
sampled the now released 2003 Revelations Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. We
will shortly be bringing that into Arizona
as the 2002 vintage is about gone. Mike’s parents own vineyards in Dry
Creek and Alexander
Valley. Much of the
fruit has been supplied to Seghesio, but as Mantra
grows, less fruit is being sold. This vertical integration allows Mantra
to make high quality wine less expensively.
Back to the Napa Valley
and on the Silverado trail south of Calistoga just by a certain curve in the
trail is where the Barlow Vineyards are. Barr and his farther, Warren, tasted us on the
2003 vintages of Barrouge and Merlot. Both will
be released once the current vintages are gone. The Barrouge
is deliberately named as a blend, even though in the 2002 vintage with 80%
cabernet sauvignon and the 2003 with 85% it can legally be called Cabernet
Sauvignon. However, calling it a blend gives them freedom in the future
to blend the best wine they can. With Bordeaux varietals Cabernet Franc and Petite Verdot maturing in the vineyard, they have some
opportunities for even more stunning wines.
On Saturday afternoon Iggy and I, plus my daughter Debby and family, went along
to see Dick Peterson (a.k.a. Richard Grant Peterson). He has a wonderful estate
that has a large plantation of Christmas trees. At Christmas they sell
trees (you get to cut them down yourself), have hot drinks, take your photo and
generally have a fun and festive time. Two acres of the property have
been converted to grow the Wrotham Pinot Noir.
These are vines imported from Wrotham England, and
thought to date back to the Roman occupation of that area. Bud break was
not too far away. When we visited it was bud bulge and pruning was
imminent. Dick demonstrated how he prunes these vines and contrasted that
with the more usual cordon method of pruning. The cordon method has the
advantage of being easy to explain to hired helpers. Another feature of
these vines is that they are resistant to mildew and do not require the otherwise
ubiquitous use of sulphur. After increasing my
knowledge of viticulture by several hundred percent we sat beside the lake and
sipped the Richard Grant Wrotham Pinot
sparkling blanc de noir - “English Champagne” - and watched my grandsons race
around the lake. Geese and ducks hang around there, and two of the geese,
Gimpy and Marshall,
are there all the time. Gimpy is named for obvious reasons, she
limps. Her constant companion chivalrously allows Gimpy to eat while he
stands watch. Dick decided that Marshall
is a gentleman’s name and has so named this goose.
From
all of us at Orangewood Wines
Richard
(newsletter writer) and Laurie (editor)
Orangewood
Wines