Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 5:17 AM
Subject: Orangewood Wines News - 6

To Our Wine Aficionados,

Introduction

We launched our recruiting campaign last month and already have Rob on board.  We hope to have another sales consultant signed up shortly.  In anticipation of the rush of new customers and orders, we have a stock of our great wines on hand and our wineries have stocks that we can ship here within a week.  Fasten your seat belts – this is going to be quite a ride.

Box Score

New restaurants: 3

New retail outlets: 1

New sales people: 1

New wineries: -1

Contents

New Sales Person – Rob Haugen
Upcoming Events

June 10th       Cave Creek Coffee Company - Summer Wines

June 13th       Sedona Taste 2004 - Los Abrigados, Sedona

June 25th       Red Kangaroo, Scottsdale - Ventana Wines

July 14th        Vine to Wine Cellar, Prescott

July 20th        Cheuvront’s

July 23rd        Epicurean Wine

New Restaurants and Retail outlets

Sunflower - Tempe

Cattlemens - Peoria

Cheuvront’s - Phoenix

Cave Creek Coffee Company, Cave Creek

Old Wineries

Event Feedback

      AJ’s, Arrowhead

                  Red Kangaroo, Chandler

                  Nello’s, Tempe - Summer Wines

                  AZ Wine, Carefree - Wines of Sierra Foothills

Rambling

New Sales Person – Rob Haugen

We carefully selected the wording for the ad that went into the Sonoran News.  We didn’t include a phone number because we wanted someone computer savvy enough to be comfortable with email.  Before the ad appeared, however, Rob Haugen had decided that he wanted to get into wine sales and had surfed his way to the Orangewood website.  Originally from South Dakota, Rob spent much of his career in banking.  He and his wife Kris have been visiting the California wine country regularly and enjoying meeting the owners and wine makers, not to mention tasting the wines.  Rob wanted to be part of the world of wine and had plans to open a wine store, but when his prospective partner dropped out he looked for a plan B.  We are it, and we are delighted to have him calling on existing and prospective customers in the North East Valley.

Upcoming Events

June 10^th, 6:00 - 8:00 PM        Cave Creek Coffee Company

            I will be pouring wines that we think the Cave Creek Coffee Company should have on their list.  Stop by and see if you agree.  It’s free!

June 13^th, 4:00 - 8:00 PM        Taste of Sedona ($75)

            Jim and I took Terry, from Ventana Vineyards, to see Jeff, the wine guy at Basha’s in Sedona.  Jeff talked us into supporting this charity event.  I will be pouring; Terry is donating; Jim is in Pennsylvania.  We will be paired with a local chef.  It sounds like fun.

June 25^th, 5:00 - 7:00 PM        Red Kangaroo, Scottsdale - Ventana

            This is the regular free gig at Diane and Gary’s place and a chance for you to try the wines from this new (to us) winery. 

New Restaurants and Retail Outlets

Sunflower, Tempe

Sunflower has a store just across McClintock from Nello’s.  Look for the Chateau Benoit Muller-Thurgau there and feel free to ask for our other wines too.

Cattlemens, Peoria

            Napa Cellars Winery has been working to get their wines into some corporate accounts.  This is the first result I have seen.  This steakhouse chain has been around a long time in California, but it was only a few months ago that they opened their first restaurant in Arizona - on 83rd Avenue just South of Bell Rd. The range of Napa Cellars wines - Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon - are being poured by the glass.  If you live on the west side, this would be a good chance to try the Napa Cellars wines.  I recommend trying a glass of each varietal - let me know what you think.

Cheuvront’s - Phoenix

            Ken Cheuvront, one of Arizona’s State Senators, decided to have a hideout not too far from the Arizona seat of government.  Just opposite the Phoenix library on Central Avenue, it’s only a couple miles away from the Capitol.  This is a wine bar but food is also available.  The place is newly completed and is a great hangout, even if you aren’t waiting for the next roll call.  Ken and his staff are looking for wines that are “ahead of the curve”.  We will be providing some soon!  Dick broke into this account because he knew someone who knew someone.  Dick will also be introducing some of our wines there at a July 20th tasting.

Cave Creek Coffee Company - No prizes for guessing the location

            A couple of years ago we had some wine at this place, but we fell off the menu and have not been able to get back on.  Jim, who is selling our wine up north, usually visits this place for coffee every morning, so we thought he would be well positioned to re-establish a presence.  After about 6 weeks of gentle persistence, Jim signed us up to give a tasting.  Our hope is that our wines will delight their clientele and result in a placement or three.

Old Wineries

In the box score you may notice that we now have one less winery.  Alison found out that another distributor was selling the Domaine Coteau Pinot Noir.  The owner, unbeknownst to me, decided we weren’t selling enough and approached another distributor.  I thought it was a bit rude to do it behind my back, but, ah, well.  We are not interested in competing in that way so we have stopped selling it.  If anyone would like to purchase any of our remaining stock please give me a call.

Event Feedback

AJ’s at Arrowhead

Bill and I spent a couple of hours pouring wine at this location.  It was the first time we have poured wine at an AJ’s, so we were pleased to be doing so.  The Noceto and Chateau Benoit wines went so well that we delivered more wine there the following Monday.  We also kept track of how many people tasted the wines (around thirty) and how many bottles of wine were bought (about 25).  This is an outstanding hit rate and Cellar Master Archie was very pleased.

Red Kangaroo, Chandler

            We had an interesting combination of wines.  Included was the Frank Family Chardonnay, which recently got a 92 rating in the Wine Spectator.  I strong armed a couple of people who would have skipped directly to the red wines into trying this wine - they not only liked it, they bought some!

Nello’s, Tempe - Summer Wines

      Nello’s is always a fun place to visit.  We had quite a respectable turn-out.  Dick was in charge of pouring the wine and talking the talk.  We sold a little wine, Geno had some people stay for dinner and everybody had fun.  The way it should be!

AZ Wine, Carefree - Wines of Sierra Foothills

      The fun continues.   We blew through the all the Noceto Frivolo that was in the store and did severe damage to the supplies of the other wines we were tasting that night.  Dan had prepared for the tasting by visiting Dairy Queen - he regretted guzzling the chocolate shake, in particular.

Rambling

Our new house in Cave Creek is officially complete.  The final roof tiles were added last Tuesday and we took our first dip in the pool today.  It has been quite a long process.  I have been working in my new office for over six months.  As I look through the window waiting for inspiration to hit me, I see quail running around followed by their recently hatched offspring - so small that they look like tiny fluff balls chasing after momma.  I also see the occasional very large roadrunner.  I think a coyote has made her nest across the road, as I see her sneak into the desert there.  Rabbits are plentiful, the youngsters are bigger now, and spend the whole day hopping by my window.  So where was I?

We were already busy, and when we decided to recruit more sales folks we had more work to do interviewing and so forth.  Now we have Rob on board, and we will be working to get him up to speed with the wines and the selling process.  It seems that to get less busy you first have to get busier.  Is that a light at the end of the tunnel? 

Part of the feedback I got from Terry, the National Sales Director for Ventana Vineyards, was that our delivery costs were out of sight.  As a result, I have been talking to other small distributors about delivery, as well as other topics.  Besides finding there is room for cooperation, I have identified some differences in philosophy between Orangewood and others.  One difference is our approach to customer relationships.  We have always recognized that a fundamental of how we operate is our focus on relationships, with both customers and suppliers.  We are continually learning how to do this better.  We have chosen not to work with some customers who were not satisfied with our approach.  Heck, if we aren’t having fun selling wine to someone and they aren’t enjoying buying it, what is the point?

Cheers!

Richard and Laurie

Richard (newsletter writer) and Laurie Corles (editor)

Orangewood Consulting LLC

480.488.4794 or 602.410.3774

http://www.orangewoodconsulting.com/wine.html

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